COUDERSPORT — With just about every other team in the region having already played at least one contest (if not more), the Coudersport boys were chomping at the bit to finally play some competitive basketball.
It certainly showed on Friday night, as the Falcons dominated Bradford 81-46 in a non-league contest. Leading the way was junior guard Owen Chambers, who scored a game-high 29 points including 20 in the first half alone.
“Owen did his job offensively and was able to knock down some shots,” Coudy coach Brian Furman said. “The effort for the team as a whole was great.”
Coudersport capitalized on some early Bradford turnovers and continued to ruthlessly push the pace to create easy baskets.
Owls coach Brian Hobbs knew his team was in store for a stern test.
“We knew they push and play fast and they can shoot it,” Hobbs said. “With that being their first game there were some question marks as to what they were going to do this year. They’re a good team; they play together all summer long. They know each other’s tendencies and they’re very well-coached.”
The defending North Tier League and District 9 champions showed their pedigree with a brilliant display of passing, whipping the ball from one player to the next.
On the receiving end of several of these passes was Chambers, who hit corner 3 after corner 3 to help give Coudy a 40-17 halftime lead.
“We got lost in transition,” Hobbs said. “We lost Owen; most of his threes came in transition. It was one of our focuses and we just didn’t execute that.”
Coudersport also got a solid all-around performance from defending NTL MVP Jared Green, who finished with 16 points.
“Jared was a monster all over the place: defensively, rebounding,” Furman said. “We’re having him run the point a little bit this year and he did a good job controlling the tempo of the game.”
Bradford was able to find a bit of offense coming out of the half. The Owls focused on getting the ball into the paint, and were able to create some better scoring opportunities than they had in the first half.
“We talked at halftime about trying to get it inside a little more and hopefully getting a few buckets in there would open up the outside, which I thought it did,” Hobbs said. “It just came a little too late. I thought we made a nice run. We switched up our defense a little bit; I thought that was effective.”
Ultimately, though, the deficit proved to be insurmountable. This led to both teams emptying their respective benches, something that allowed Furman to see what he had in the way of team depth.
“That’s certainly something that we’re working on in practice,” he said. “Now that we have some games coming up, we have an opportunity to grow and develop a little bit.”
Deondre Terwilliger led Bradford with 12 points, while Adam Boyer added 10 and Donny Pattison finished with seven.
Coudersport (1-0) will visit Johnsonburg on Monday, while the Owls (2-2) will also be on the road on Monday when they travel to Warren.
AT COUDERSPORT
Bradford (46)
Adam Boyer 2 4-5 10, Pattison 3 1-1 7, Gigliotti 2 2-2 6, Deondre Terwilliger 4 2-4 12, D. Manion 1 0-0 2, Knowlton 1 0-0 2, Whelan 2 0-0 4, Nuzzo 0 2-2 2, Bryant 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 12-16 46.
Coudersport (81)
Owen Chambers 10 4-4 29, De. Keglovits 3 0-0 7, Jared Green 4 7-9 16, Di. Keglovits 3 1-2 7, Ricke 4 0-0 8, Crosby 1 0-0 2, Daniels 1 1-2 3, Easton 1 1-2 4, Burd 2 0-0 4. Totals: 29 14-21 81.
Bradford 7 17 32 46
Coudersport 17 40 50 81
Three-point goals: Bradford 4 (Boyer 2, Terwilliger 2), Coudersport 9 (Chambers 5, De. Keglovits 2, Green, Easton); Total fouls: Bradford 20, Coudersport 20; fouled out: Coudersport (Ricke, Crosby)
JV: Coudersport won
