By GREG CLARK
Era Sports Writer
You’ve heard the expression “it’s better to be lucky than good” a million times.
Bradford High head coach Brian Hobbs wants to hear none of that noise after his boys’ basketball squad survived a 48-47 District 9 League win over St. Marys at the BAHS gym Wednesday evening.
“We had a little luck on our side again tonight,” Hobbs admitted. “To be honest with you, I’m tired of being lucky. I want to be good. We need to stick to the game plan and pay attention.”
This affair seemed to be a mismatch on paper as the Dutch (2-14, 1-6) had lost 10 straight while the Owls had won 6-of-7, but St. Marys gave the hosts all they could handle and then some.
“Everybody in the league is right here,” Hobbs said as he motioned with his hand parallel above the desk. “There’s nobody better than the rest.”
It appeared that way early as the Owls’ Tyler Wilber scored all three of his buckets in the first quarter for a 9-7 lead after one.
The 6-6 Shajuan Carrero came off the St. Marys bench late in the opening period and registered four straight baskets to keep the Dutch close at 15-13 with 5:24 left in the half.
“He (Carrero) is a big kid and uses his body well,” Hobbs noted.
Mike Wilber and Anthony Zimbardi then drilled consecutive 3-pointers from the left wing, and Mike Wilber added a layup to give Bradford a 23-13 margin with 1:31 showing.
The Owls still led by 10 at 25-15 when Rudy Gleixner connected on a deep 3 at the buzzer to cut the Dutch deficit to 25-18 at the intermission.
In the third quarter Mike Wilber drained two more treys and Zimbardi hit one, but Gleixner was bidding to become another famous Rudy when the 5-11 junior registered three triples to keep St. Marys in the hunt at 38-36.
“He (Gleixner) stuck some 3s and we just lost him,” Hobbs recalled. “After a kid hits two of them, you have to be able to find him.”
Trailing 40-36 after three, the Dutch stole the ball on three straight possessions and converted 4-of-6 free throws to deadlock the contest at 40-all.
“The three steals were at the top when we were trying to reverse the ball,” Hobbs declared. “You have to learn from your mistakes and not do the same thing over and over again.”
Then with 3:13 left in the game, St. Marys took its first lead at 45-43 on two foul shots by Brett Lanzel.
After Mike Wilber had knotted the battle at 45-45 with a pair from the charity stripe at the 2:23 juncture, six seconds later the Owls’ David Ackerman took a charge and then with 1:57 remaining Matt Yurkewicz sent Bradford in front 46-45 with a free throw.
The Dutch regained a 47-46 lead on a Gleixner-assisted layup by Carrero at the 1:22 mark and then owned possession of the rock, but Ackerman drew another charge with 52 seconds left.
“Those were two big plays,” Hobbs stated. “He (Ackerman) was willing to give himself up for the team.”
Then with 17.5 remaining Mike Wilber was fouled and calmly swished both free throws for the 48-47 advantage.
Following a time out, Quinn Cunningham found Gleixner inside the circle, but Gleixner’s fade-away16-footer was off the rim and so was his trifecta attempt at the horn.
Gleixner had 19 points and Carrero added 11, while Mike Wilber led all scorers with 21 and Zimbardi pitched in with 13 points.
Bradford (9-8, 6-0) will visit DuBois on Tuesday.
ST. MARYS (47)
Vollmer 1-4-10-6, Cunningham 1-0-1-2, Gleixner 5-5-6-19, Bennett 1-0-0-3, Lanzel 2-2-2-6, Carrero 5-1-2-11, Totals 15-12-21-47
BRADFORD (48)
M. Wilber 6-6-6-21, Yurkewicz 2-2-4-6, Riley 1-0-0-2, Zimbardi 4-3-4-13, T. Wilber 3-0-0-6, Totals 16-11-14-48
By Quarters
St. Marys 7 11 18 11 – 47
Bradford 9 16 15 8 – 48
Three-point FGs: St. Marys – Gleixner 4, Bennett; Bradford – M. Wilber 3, Zimbardi 2
JV Score: St. Marys 40-32 (Brandon Charnisky 9, Rob Rice 9)
