Bradford High wasn’t able to stick to its inside-outside attack
strategy, but the Owls were otherwise all over the court
defensively and walked off of it with a 43-38 season-opening win
over Latrobe in the Bradford Tip-Off Tournament on Friday.

The Owls’ defense played at a frenetic pace and held the
Wildcats to just one first-quarter field goal and only 10 points in
the first half.

“I liked our effort,” emphasized Dave Fuhrman, BHS coach. “We
hustled hard and they did get after it. If we play that hard we’ll
have a chance to win most nights.”

Offensively, however, BHS was frustrated by Latrobe’s trapping
defense and turned the ball over too many times. The hosts were
limited to 33 shot attempts in the game, but did convert 18 of
those for a 55 percent showing.

“Thirty-three shots is not enough shots to get in the game and
that’s because we turned the ball over too much,” Fuhrman reasoned.
“Those are missed opportunities to score.

“We’re very fortunate they didn’t shoot better than 25 percent
(13-for-51).”

But ask Fuhrman what he thought of the win and he’ll tell you he
does not care what it looked like.

“We’ll take any kind of win. I’m not a Picasso, I’m not into
fine arts. We’re into winning basketball games and that’s the
bottom line.”

Tom Morris and Tom Taylor scored five points each in the first
period to make it 12-5 Bradford after the opening eight
minutes.

A pair of quick baskets in the second period by Randy Confer
stretched the hosts’ lead to 20-5 with 5:05 left in the first
half.

While Bradford kept the lead at 14 points on baskets by Ben
Lanich and Dan Vecellio to open the third quarter, Latrobe would
warm up against the Owls’ zone and cut it to six, 24-18.

The Owls responded with an 11-2 run for a 35-20 score, but they
could not close the Wildcats out.

The visitors canned four more trifectas to pull within three,
41-38, with only 1:25 on the clock.

Ryan LaBrozzi then came up with a crucial block of a Latrobe
three-point attempt on the far end of the court, was fouled and
canned the freebies to seal the victory.

LaBrozzi finished with a game-high 16 points, Morris netted 10
marks and dished out five assists, while Lanich corralled nine
rebounds.

“LaBrozzi had a nice game. I thought he played very well,”
Fuhrman said. “That’s what we need out of him.”

The Owls held a size advantage and that translated to a 28-17
margin on the boards.

“We played a lot of different defenses and I’m pleased with the
way the guys adjusted on the fly. We did a good job answering their
run.”

Highlands toppled Erie McDowell 59-42 in the other varsity
opening-round game.

Highlands will try to avenge last year’s opening loss to
Bradford when the Rams and the Owls clash for the crown at 6 p.m.
today.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us tomorrow (today),
no doubt about it,” Fuhrman admitted.

“They play an uptempo game, trapping and pressing a lot, too, so
we’ll have to do a much better job taking care of the
basketball.”

“They beat a very good McDowell team in that first game and
they’ll want to beat us badly – they remember the whipping we gave
them last year.

“But if we play with as much intensity and hustle as we did
tonight, we’ve got a shot.”