It wasn’t long after the display of Senior Night flowers and
balloons when the Owls popped Clearfield’s balloon with a 68-48
District 9 League victory over the Bisons at the Bradford High
School gym Friday evening.
With an all senior starting lineup of Grant Ferguson, Shane
Hvizdzak, Tyler Calkins, Eric Arnett and Rob Gault, the Owls never
trailed in the contest and jumped out to an 8-3 lead midway through
the first quarter.
“I thought our guys played with a lot of energy tonight,” said
Dave Fuhrman, Bradford head coach. “Of course, it was Senior Night
and the guys were a little more pumped up than they usually are. We
played our five seniors about half of the first quarter and I
thought those guys did a good job getting us off to a good
start.”
Regular starter Tom Morris then came off the bench to bury a
three-pointer from the right corner and Hvizdzak followed with a
triple from the opposite wing, and it was 14-3 Owls with 2:24 left
in the opening stanza.
Clearfield’s John Lhota tallied four straight points to cut the
visitors’ deficit to 14-7, but putbacks by Ryan LaBrozzi and Morris
gave Bradford an 18-10 advantage after one.
Then the Owls used crisp Ben Roethlisberger-type passing to
commence the second period with a 10-0 run. Buckets from Hvizdzak
and Arnett, and then a pair of trifectas by Morris staked Bradford
to a 28-10 bulge with 5:38 left in the half.
“We moved the ball well and shared the ball well,” Fuhrman
noted. “We were reversing the ball and skipping the ball over the
top of them (Bisons). We passed exceptionally well tonight and that
led to good shots. We were 27-for-50 tonight for 54 percent and it
was the kind of shots we got because we made the extra pass.”
After the Owls enjoyed a 35-19 margin at the intermission,
Arnett came out of the locker room on his own mission as the 6-5
center tallied 10 of Bradford’s first 12 points for a 47-21
disparity at the 5:13 juncture.
“We came out in the second half playing really well,” Fuhrman
recalled. “It was a 16-point game, so the issue still hadn’t been
decided. Eric (Arnett) ran the floor well and we got it inside to
him. He had 10 of his 17 points early in the third quarter.”
The Bisons’ Mike Fannin then registered a non-traditional
four-point play when he was fouled after banking home a
three-pointer from the left elbow. Mike Johnson followed with a
layup to cut the Clearfield deficit to 47-27, but Ferguson found
his sweet spot in the left corner and buried two bombs to help the
Owls to a 57-34 lead after three.
Bradford then opened its biggest lead at 64-36 on a free throw
by Morris with 4:45 remaining.
Then with under a minute to play, the student section’s Black
Hole erupted when Calkins drilled a 14-footer in the paint and
Gault followed with a four-footer.
“We were trying like heck to get him (Calkins) and Bobbles
(Gault) a basket,” Fuhrman chuckled. “There are a lot of kids in
this day and age that are quitting at the drop of a hat if they’re
not out there for major minutes. We appreciate our guys because
they’ve stayed with the program and have been very loyal even if
they haven’t played a lot of minutes. They work hard in practice
and make the other guys better. It was good to see them have a
little fun out there and score some points.”
Arnett had 17 points, Morris contributed 17 points and nine
assists, and Ben Lanich hauled in nine rebounds for Bradford (13-8,
9-2). Fannin led Clearfield (7-13, 4-7) with 14 points.
The Owls will host powerhouse State College today in a
non-league contest at 2:30 p.m.
“We have a tough one tomorrow,” Fuhrman admitted. “That’s why I
wanted us to play well tonight so we will go into this game with
the right frame of mind.”
The Bradford JVs were also victorious Friday night following a
51-38 decision over Clearfield. Dan Vecellio had 15 points and Tom
Taylor added 10 points as the Little Owls improved to 16-5 on the
season.
