Brandon cagers come back to defeat East

Brandon’s varsity basketball team is feeling a little bit better about itself these days.
The Blackhawks won their two most recent Flint Metro League games to improve to .500 in league competition.
Their most recent win came when they came back from a 24-17 halftime deficit to defeat visiting Lapeer East 44-39 on Feb. 10, improving the Blackhawks? record to 5-10 overall and 4-4 in the league.
The Blackhawks outscored the Eagles 12-6 in the third quarter to trim the East lead to one, 30-29, at the end of the period.
Tom Schaefer stepped up for the Blackhawks, drilling three 3-pointers in the game and leading Brandon with 14 points, while Gjon Nicaj chipped in with 11. Chris Francis and Ryan Guerra led the Eagles with eight points apiece.
Sparked by a third-quarter surge, the visiting Blackhawks defeated Fenton 52-44 on Feb. 6.
The two teams kept it close through the first half, with the host Tigers holding an 18-15 lead at halftime. However, the Blackhawks took command of the game in the third, outscoring the Tigers 19-6 to take a 34-24 lead at the end of the period.
The Blackhawks had an advantage at the free throw line, shooting 20-of-31 (64.5 percent) compared to Fenton, which shot 15-of-29 (51.7 pecent) from the charity stripe.
Adam Howard led the Blackhawks with 15 points, shooting three 3-pointers, while Nicaj added 13 points and Joe Turcsak 11, including 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line.
Adam Stevenson led the Tigers with 11 points.
The Blackhawks return to action Feb. 19 when they host Flint Northwestern at 7:30 p.m.