Van Buren's Brandon Tucker drives around a South Iron defender Thursday night in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 championship game in Van Buren. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ Sports Writer

VAN BUREN -- It was a tale of two halves Thursday night for the Van Buren Bulldogs in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 championship.

They went into the half down just three but scored eight points in the second half as South Iron cruised to a 67-35 district championship victory.

"South Iron is just an outstanding team," Van Buren coach Paul Lynch said. "We matched their intensity in the first half and in the second half their depth and experience really showed up."

South Iron's David Prater opened the second half with a post basket at the 7:15 mark before the Panthers got hot from 3-point range. Austin Casteel made a long ball in between two Levi Middleton 3-pointers, the second coming at the 2:53 mark to give South Iron a 41-27 lead.

"We lost our assignments there a few times and then they have the ability to knock down a few and then they really start shooting with confidence," Lynch said. "We did a good job in the first half of not allowing that to happen."

Van Buren (19-9) had just two field goals in the second half as they struggled to set their offense and forced shots down the stretch.

Things started much better for the Bulldogs after a 5-0 start by South Iron, they struck back and tied the game at 5-5 after a 3-pointer from Kyle Burke at the 5:27 mark. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter and South Iron led 14-11 after eight minutes.

Van Buren second quarter with four 3-pointers, three from the hot hand of Tyler Freeze, as they outscored the Panthers 12-6 to take a 23-20 lead at the 4:15 mark.

"They came out and played with as much intensity as they could," Lynch said. "We battled for a half but South Iron is just an outstanding team."

Experience came through in the end for the Panthers, Lynch said.

"South Iron has been in the game before and our kids haven't," Lynch said. "Hopefully we learn from this experience and we are able to be better next year and hopefully get back to this game."

Prater led all scorers with 20 points and Levi Middleton added 13 with Casteel netting 12 for South Iron.

Jack Heiberg was the high scorer for the Bulldogs with 12 points while Freeze finished with 11 on the night.

Van Buren will lose four seniors -- Heiberg, Brandon Tucker, Ian Newberry and Blake Davis dressed their final games.

"I am so proud of our kids, our seniors who stepped up and really led us all year long," Lynch said. "The kids that we have in the program worked hard all year."

This year's finish of 19-9 is much improved from last year's record of 8-16 for the Bulldogs.

"This group stepped up and we won a trophy for the first time at the Bloomfield Tournament and we were in both our conference championship games," Lynch said. "We did have a lot of success along the way as we made it to the district championship.

"We just fell a little short to a better team tonight."