ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Those 17-0 runs are killers.
Olean High scored the last 17 points of the first half as the
unbeaten Huskies captured the 2005-06 IAABO Holiday Classic Big
School Championship with a 63-48 victory over Bradford at St.
Bonaventure’s Reilly Center on Thursday.
The Owls were seemingly in control with a 25-17 advantage midway
through the second quarter, but the ensuing Olean onslaught proved
to be tougher to swallow than bad fruitcake.
“Eric (Arnett) picked up his third foul about 40 feet from the
basket and that killed us,” said Dave Fuhrman, BHS head coach. “We
were playing an effective matchup zone, and he goes out of the game
and they (Huskies) run off 17 points on us.
“They also killed us with offensive rebounds, and how many loose
balls did they pick up under the basket and score off them?”
Fuhrman added. “We have guys 6-5 and 6-4 inside, but size is
overrated in rebounding. You gotta get a body on somebody and we
don’t do it.”
The early stages of the first period was a see-saw affair until
a three-pointer from the right wing by Tommy Morris gave the Owls a
10-6 lead with 2:16 left. The Bradford margin was 12-8 when a
trifecta by Most Valuable Player A.J. McFadden (22 points) and a
layup at the buzzer from Brian Shoup cut the Owls’ lead to 14-13
after one.
The Huskies (7-0) led 17-14 when two more triples by Morris and
another by Ryan LaBrozzi staked the Owls to the aforementioned
25-17 bulge.
“They (Huskies) were playing a 1-3-1 and we put him (Morris)
down on the baseline,” Fuhrman recalled. “Our guys did a good job
of attacking it (zone), got it down to him and he stuck the
shots.”
Shoup then scored five points, and McFadden tallied 10 more on a
pair of trifectas and two layups as Olean carried a 34-25 cushion
into the intermission.
“We lost McFadden in that 17-point run,” Fuhrman admitted. “He
got a lot of standstill corner jump shots and he made them. That
was the game right there.”
After the break, four points by Ben Lanich and three-pointers
from the top of the key by Shane Hvizdzak and LaBrozzi cut the
Owls’ deficit to 38-35 with 3:20 left in the third quarter.
Shortly thereafter Arnett and Lanich were tagged with their
fourth personal fouls, and Olean extended its lead to 47-39 at the
end of three as McFadden buried two more bombs from the left
side.
“To our kids’ credit, we climbed back into the game at 38-35 and
we had the ball,” Fuhrman noted. “Then they (Huskies) got another
run (9-2) on us and got their lead back up to 10 points. They shot
67 percent in the second half and we shot 25 percent.”
An eight-foot kiss off the glass by Arnett to start the fourth
stanza pulled the Owls within six at 47-41. In the next three
minutes Bradford got within seven on two occasions, but Olean
finalized the affair with a 10-2 spurt as the Owls dropped to 5-5
on the season.
“You score 48 points and you’re not going to beat a team like
Olean,” Fuhrman lamented. “I knew they (Huskies) wanted to beat us
badly and I told our guys that.”
Lanich had 12 points and seven rebounds; Hvizdzak registered 11
points, seven assists and five steals; and Morris had 11 points for
the Owls.
Lanich and Hvizdzak were named to the all-tourney team.
“Those guys played well,” Fuhrman stated. “It’s hard for Shane
(Hvizdzak) because he has to play major minutes and Ben (Lanich)
battles inside for a sophomore.”
Bradford will host St. Marys in a District 9 League contest on
Tuesday.
