ALLEGANY, N.Y. – The Bradford boys had a chance to perform on one of the biggest stages in the region on Thursday night, but the result wasn’t the one they were hoping for.
The Owls fell to the Nichols (N.Y.) Vikings 45-26 in their first game of the IAABO Tournament held at the Reilly Center on the campus of St. Bonaventure.
While the score might signify a lopsided affair, the Owls (2-5) didn’t play all that poorly; they just couldn’t make any of the shots they needed to. A key factor was a 2-for-20 shooting performance from beyond the arc.
“That’s kind of been the story all season, just being able to finish, finish around the hoop and finish on the perimeter too,” Bradford coach Brian Hobbs said. “We’ve got some good perimeter shooters, but we’re just not getting our shots off in time, we’re rushing them a little bit, we’re not executing on the offensive end.”
Both teams struggled to find their offensive footing early under the bright lights of the Reilly Center. It was the Vikings (3-4), though, that found theirs first, jumping out to a 8-2 lead thanks to a nice steal and easy bucket by Trent Banaszak.
While the Owls were able to find opportunities, the ball simply didn’t want to go into the hoop. In fact, neither team found many easy shots in the early going thanks to some strong all-around defense by both sides.
“I thought we did a really nice job defensively in the first half,” Hobbs said. “We held them to 19 points, 45 overall, and that’s about where we want to be at. Our goal is to hold teams to around 40, so we were right there. We just have to give ourselves an opportunity by making buckets.”
The Owls cut their deficit to 9-8 after one thanks to late buckets by Donny Pattison (12 points) and Nate Higbie (seven).
The Owls answered with a nice play of their own to end the half. Adam Boyer came up with the ball deep in his own end. He then spotted Higbie all by himself at the other end of the court. Boyer’s heave was right on target, and Higbie’s bucket made the score 19-14 Nichols going into halftime.
Deondre Terwilliger hit a very deep three to cut the Vikings’ lead to 23-17 halfway through the third quarter. However, that was about as close as the Owls would get for the rest of the night. The Vikings hit some clutch threes to stretch their lead out to double digits, as Bradford really struggled to get anything going offensively in the third quarter.
Nichols was able to open up its style of play a bit, with perhaps the play of the game belonging to the Vikings’ Aidan Horan. After coming up with the ball at midcourt, Horan made a nice behind the back move to give himself an easy bucket in transition that gave Nichols a 31-17 lead. He finished with 12 points.
After taking a 31-19 lead into the final quarter, the Vikings slowly but surely stretched that lead out, getting the stops they needed to and cashing in on the opportunities that were presented to them. William Johnson led the way with a game-high 14 points.
For Hobbs’ crew, it was more of the same in the fourth quarter. They were unsuccessful in making shots from inside or outside, and the coach made sure to let his players know it wasn’t just one thing that they were struggling with.
“I think it’s got to be both,” Hobbs said in reference to the work his team needs to do on both their inside and outside shooting. “I think there’s plenty to improve on in both areas.”
Bradford plays Warren in the consolation game today at the Reilly Center at 2:30 p.m.
North Clarion 79, Northern Potter 35
COUDERSPORT – Nathan Banner and Sam Minich both scored 16 points as North Clarion powered by Northern Potter in the Coudersport Christmas Tournament consolation game Thursday afternoon.
Chase Schmader added 12 tallies, while Noah Meyers had 10.
Tucker Kosa led Northern Potter (2-5) with 12 points.
Elk Catholic 57, Johnsonburg 41
ST. MARYS – Behind Nate DaCanal and Gabe Kraus, Elk Catholic opened up a two-point halftime lead with a big third quarter on their way to a victory over Johnsonburg at the Elk County tournament.
DaCanal had a game-high 21 points, while Kraus was the only other player to have double figure scoring with 14.
The Crusaders (5-0) head into today’s championship game against crosstown rival St. Marys, which pulled what could be considered an upset with a 42-40 overtime victory over Ridgway. Johnsonburg plays Ridgway in the consolation at 4:30 p.m.
At St. Bonaventure
Bradford (26)
Boyer 0 0-1 0, Donny Pattison 3 6-9 12, Terwilliger 1 0-0 3, Higbie 3 0-0 7, Manion 1 0-3 2, Gigliotti 1 0-0 2, Totals 9 6-13 26.
Nichols (45)
Serotte 0 1-2 1, Banaszak 2 5-6 9, William Johnson 6 0-0 14, Aidan Horan 6 0-0 12, Harvey 1 1-8 3, Bair 2 0-0 5, Ellis-Mohr 0 1-2 1, Totals 17 8-18 45.
Bradford 8 19 31 45
Nichols 9 14 19 26
Three-point goals: Bradford 2 (Higbie, Terwilliger), Nichols 3 (Bair, Johnson 2)
Total Fouls: Bradford 13, Nichols 17. Fouled Out: none
At Coudersport
North Clarion (79)
Chase Schmader 2 8-8 12, Banner 8 0-0 16, Weaver 1 0-2 2, Hargenrader 1 1-4 3, Sam Minich 7 0-0 16, Jesse Schmader 2 0-0 5, Logan Minich 5 1-1 11, Meyers 4 2-3 10, Mills 1 0-1 2, Wolbert 1 0-0 2. Totals 32 12-19 79
Northern Potter (35)
Cowburn 1 0-0 3, Tucker Kosa 5 1-2 12, Jeffers 3 0-0 6, Potter 2 0-1 4, Buck 3 2-5 8, Byron 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 3-8 35.
North Clarion 27 52 68 79
Northern Potter 6 17 26 35
Three-point goals: North Clarion 3 (S. Minich 2, J. Schmader); Northern Potter 2 (Cowburn, Kosa)
Total fouls: 14-14. Foul out: Joe Holbrook (Northern Potter)
At St. Marys
Johnsonburg (41)
Kilhoffer 3 2-2 8, Sheldon 3 0-0 7, Rubenstrauch 3 0-0 6, Hefright 1 1-2 3, Akers 3 0-0 8, Surra 3 1-2 7, Freeberg 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 4-6 41.
Elk Catholic (57)
Mader 0 1-2 1, Hoffman 0 5-6 5, Dippold 2 0-0 4, Stauffer 2 0-0 4, Kraus 4 4-4 14, Newton 3 2-2 8, DaCanal 8 5-6 21. Totals: 19 17-20 57.
Johnsonburg 16 24 29 41
Elk Catholic 14 26 43 57
Three-point goals: Johnsonburg 3 (Sheldon, Akers 2); Elk Catholic 2 (Kraus 2)
Totals: Johnsonburg 17, Elk Catholic 15. Foul out: Sheldon (Johnsonburg)
