ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The 2005-06 IAABO Holiday Classic opened
the present it was wishing for as Bradford High and Olean High
romped to easy victories in the boys’ Large School Division at St.
Bonaventure University on Tuesday.
The Owls lit up Pine Valley (N.Y.) like a Christmas tree 61-44
and the unbeaten Huskies (6-0) blew out Archbishop Walsh 66-38 to
set up a collision between the long-time rivals in Thursday’s
championship game (7:45 p.m.) at the Reilly Center.
“They (Huskies) are very good and have a lot of guys who can
score,” said Dave Fuhrman, Bradford head coach. “It’s been a great
rivalry over the years and we’ve actually had our way with them the
past few years. They want to beat us badly and we’ll have to be up
for the challenge.”
The Owls (5-4) had no real trouble with Pine Valley (4-4) in
jumping out to an 11-4 lead behind five points and four rebounds
from Ben Lanich, who finished with 10 points and 10 boards.
It was 11-6 when Bradford finalized the first quarter with an
8-0 run on buckets by Dan Vecellio, Grant Ferguson and a free throw
by Tom Taylor.
The period ended when Taylor launched a shot from the Pine
Valley bench area and his prayer was answered at the buzzer.
“That (Taylor’s three-pointer) was just how I drew that up – a
set play from 35 feet,” Fuhrman chuckled. “You believe that one and
I’ll tell you another.”
Following a layup by the Panthers’ Cody Troutman to commence the
second period, the Owls tallied 11 straight points to take their
biggest lead of the night at 30-8 with 3:52 left in the half.
Pine Valley whittled its disparity to 30-12, but Ben Walter’s
trifecta from the right corner with three seconds remaining gave
Bradford a 33-12 cushion at the intermission.
“We got out of the gate strong,” Fuhrman recalled. “After that
we kind of went through the motions. We looked like we were tired
and didn’t have a lot of energy after the good start. We’re a third
of the way into the season and we should be in basketball condition
by now.”
Troutman, who led all scorers with 19, registered 11 points in
the third stanza as the undersized Panthers cut their deficit to
42-30 with 1:16 showing.
“He (Troutman) is a good player and we did a good job on him in
the first half,” Fuhrman noted. “I don’t know if our guys relaxed
after we got the big lead, but you’ll have a tendency to do
that.”
The Owls’ Doug Rose canned a layup with 53 seconds left and then
a steal by Ferguson led to a Tommy Morris-assisted layin by Taylor
for a 46-30 bulge after three.
Bradford’s Shane Hvizdzak started the fourth quarter by sinking
a pair of free throws and then 90 seconds later drilled a
three-pointer. Morris converted both ends of a one-and-one for a
53-33 advantage at the 5:56 juncture, but a Pine Valley rally
pulled the opposition within 12 (53-41) with 3:42 on the clock.
The teams traded baskets and then two points each by Lanich,
Eric Arnett and Ferguson sealed the deal for the Owls.
Arnett had 12 points, Hvizdzak added 10 points and five steals
and Morris handed out eight assists.
