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EDWARDSBURG — If the last couple games are any indication, it appears the Edwardsburg boys basketball team has found its groove again.

After losing four consecutive games, Jared Frick’s Eddies picked up their second straight win over visiting Brandywine 71-42 Tuesday. The non-league triumph improves Edwardsburg to 9-5 overall, while Brandywine falls to 7-6.

Edwardsburg, which started the year 7-1 before losing four straight, was coming off a big 44-39 Wolverine Conference win over first-place Plainwell last Friday.

Brandywine gave Edwardsburg all it could handle in the opening half and trailed its hosts by just 10 points, 35-25, at intermission. But the Eddies locked down defensively in the third quarter and outscored the Bobcats 20-0 to build a commanding 55-25 advantage entering the final period. 

Edwardsburg outscored Brandywine 18-17 in the fourth quarter to pick up the win over its backyard rivals.

Nine different Edwardsburg players got involved in the scoring led by senior sharpshooter Brody Schimpa with 18 points, including three triples.  

Michael Wright, a 5-11 junior, added 15 for the Eddies, including four triples, while Joe Shively finished with eight, senior postplayer Matt Anders (6-5) had seven, freshman Reed Gates and senior Conor Solarek tossed in six each and Blaise Crist added five.

Shively also had a pair of three pointers for Edwardsburg.

“Conor has been great all year and is one of our best athletes. He’s become more assertive and that’s really helped our team. Michael Wright has started the last two games and hit alot of nice shots for us tonight. Reed is one of the most fundamental freshmen I’ve every coached and Blaise has embraced his recent role of coming off the bench and providing the little intangibles,” Frick said. 

Edwardsburg ended the night shooting 28-of-50 (56 percent) from the floor, including 10 three-pointers, and 5-of-8 (63 percent) at the foul stripe. 

“We shot the ball very well tonight. It makes us very difficult to guard when we get alot of different guys involved in the scoring. We have a busy schedue ahead of us, including another big conference game on Friday at Otsego. It’s good to see us picking up the intensity again,” Frick said.

“We’re excited. This is a good win for us over a program that still has alot of that championship culture. I know they lost (Goins) in the second half, but they are well-coached and they have other guys who play hard.” 

Edwardsburg outrebounded Brandywine 27-19.

Solorek and Schimpa led the Eddies on the boards with six each, while Anders pulled down five and Wright and Gates grabbed four apiece. 

After falling behind 5-0 to start the game, Brandywine pulled within six points (14-8) late in the first quarter on Goins’ drive to the basket. But Shively, Maverick Gates and Wright all hit triples to close out the period and put the Eddies in front 26-16.

Brandywine whittled its deficit to nine points twice during the second quarter. Anders made a late free throw to provide the Eddies with the double-digit lead (35-25) at halftime. 

Brandywine played the entire second half without star junior scorer Nylen Goins who suffered an ankle injury late in the second quarter. Goins sat the bench the rest of the game with ice on the ankle.

Also missing from the Bobcat lineup was sophomore point guard Emerson Gogley who was sick.

Ryder Richard, Brandywine’s 6-foot-0 junior, picked up the slack for the Bobcats scoring a game-high 22 points. Goins added 10 in the first half, while Elijhia Burt and Will Hubbard added four each and J.J. Henry finished with two points for the Bobcats, who were 17-of-51 (33.3 percent) from the floor and 5-of-13 (38.4 percent) at the free-throw line. 

Leading rebounders for Brandywine on the night were Ryder with six boards and Hubbard scooped up five. 

Brandywine head coach Nathan Knapp admitted his team missed Goins’ presence on the floor in the second half. 

“Nylen makes a difference for us when he’s on the floor. You  still have to be able to defend and rebound though and we just didn’t do a very good job in those two areas tonight. Edwardsburg is too good of a team to give them wide-open shots. We talked at halftime about when bad things happen you must rally around each other and step up and play. Our effort was there tonight, but we just made too many mistakes,” Knapp said.

Brandywine visits Dowagiac at 7:15 p.m. Friday in Lakeland Conference action.