The basement of District 9 is a strange and unfamiliar place for
the Bradford Owls – and they decided they didn’t want to stick
around too long.
After losing their league opener at the hands of league-leading
Elk County Catholic, the Owls have ripped off three straight league
wins, including Tuesday’s 69-61 overtime victory over St.
Marys.
Bradford (6-5) now trails the unbeaten Crusaders by one game in
the loss column atop the D-9 standings.
“We’re in the midst of a run of league games,” said Dave
Fuhrman, BHS coach. “I told the kids after that first loss at home
to Elk to focus on winning and making that return trip to Elk
County (Jan. 18) a meaningful game.”
That goal seemed on shaky ground early Tuesday, as the
much-improved Dutch led 15-14 after eight minutes of play.
The teams then swapped buckets until the 5:00 mark of the second
when junior guard Tom Morris drained one from deep for a 21-19 edge
and to spark a 14-2 run that stretched through the 5:24 mark of the
third quarter.
“We had a dry spell there in the second quarter,” recalled Brice
Benson, St. Marys coach. “We were getting some decent looks and
they just weren’t going down. “It was just a matter of us not
making shots.”
Louis Pisani and Kurt Baumgratz combined for 12 points in the
last 5:24 of the third to pull St. Marys within five, 42-37, going
into the fourth.
Pisani then took matters into his own hands, scoring eight of
the visitors’ next 10 points for a 48-47 score with 4:51 left.
At the 2:55 juncture, Pisani embellished some contact on a
three-point shot and was awarded three freebies. He sank all three
for a 53-53 tie.
“I didn’t think it was a foul, but that’s what you have to do,”
Fuhrman said. “You go down and hopefully sell the call. To his
(Pisani) credit, that’s what he did.”
A similar call was made with just 33 ticks remaining and the
Bradford faithful were furious. This time Baumgratz stepped to the
line and made all three free throws to knot it at 56-all.
After an Arnett put-back with 17 seconds on the clock, Nate
Higgins forced the overtime on two foul shots with 1.1 seconds
left.
The Dutch were 15-of-16 from the charity stripe in the fourth
quarter.
Bradford scored first in the extras as Ryan LaBrozzi got the
shooter’s roll on a pull-up in the paint and went on to outscore
St. Marys 11-3 in the four-minute period for the 69-61 win.
“Usually the team that scores first in the overtime is the one
that wins it and that’s what happened tonight,” Fuhrman observed.
“We didn’t do a good job at the line (2-for-7) but we had a big
enough cushion that the missed free throws didn’t hurt us.”
Leading the Owls were Morris with 17 points and four assists;
Hvizdzak with 16 points, seven boards, four assists and four
steals; Lanich with a double-double of 13 points and 13 boards; and
Arnett with five points and 11 rebounds.
“Those are the kind of numbers we need to get out of Shane and
Tommy,” Fuhrman commented. “Shane had a good night. We need him on
the floor, there’s no doubt about that.
“Lanich put up another double-double and you can’t ask for much
more from a sophomore than what we’re getting out of him.”
Pisani’s 31 points led St. Marys, while Baumgratz threw in 12
marks.
“Pisani is definitely one of the most improved players in the
league,” Fuhrman declared. “He played a heck of a game.
“Benson has done a great job and he’s got St. Marys playing
hard. They never quit tonight.”
“Our kids battled back from deficit after deficit,” Benson said
of his Dutch. “We’re beginning to see some fruit for all the word
work we put in over the summer.”
St. Marys is at DuBois on Thursday, while Bradford is on the
road against Clearfield on Friday.
