It’s been five years now since the Bradford boys basketball team last won a District 9 championship. After coming up a game short last season, this year’s Owls squad is looking to get over that last hurdle.
Bradford returns three starters and five letterwinners from last year’s team that fell to Clearfield 42-36 in the D-9 Class AAAA title game. Despite that defeat, the Owls put together one of their most successful seasons in recent years, finishing with a 14-9 record and earning a share of the D9 League crown with perennial power Elk County Catholic.
“Every year we set some goals, and two of those goals are to, one, win a District 9 AAAA championship, and two is to win our league,” Bradford head coach Brian Hobbs said. “We were co-champions last year. The guys know that that doesn’t come easy. They also found out the same thing in the district championship game: it doesn’t come easy. You’ve really gotta work.”
According to Hobbs, who is entering his eighth season leading the Owls, the 2017-18 team displayed a mental toughness that had been lacking in recent years and allowed Bradford to achieve the kind of success it hopes to build on.
“Last year I thought we did some good things grinding games out,” he said. “We had a couple games that were close ones that we needed to get and that made the difference once we got to playoffs.”
To claim the program’s first district title since 2013, the Owls will need to rely on a group that mixes seasoned veterans with some new faces while dealing with a few key departures.
Chief among those no longer suiting up for Bradford is top scorer Deondre Terwilliger, who averaged close to 15 points per game as a senior. Also gone is double-double threat Dan Manion, now a member of the St. Bonaventure baseball team.
“We’ve got some work to do,” Hobbs said about replacing last year’s production. “But we’ve picked up some new guys this year and a couple of younger guys have stepped up and surprised us a little bit.”
Junior guard Tyler Gigliotti figures to bear a good deal of the scoring load for the Owls. A third team All-District 9 selection as a sophomore, Gigliotti is Bradford’s leading returning scorer (14.6 ppg).
With his old backcourt mate Terwilliger no longer around, Gigliotti’s all-around game will be even more crucial to Bradford’s success.
“Even last year, he played a complete game,” Hobbs said of Gigliotti. “He’s done a nice job with his pull-up in the last couple scrimmages where he’s penetrating, recognizes the defense is there, and he’ll pull up. We kinda lean on him to take on that leadership role on the offensive end and get guys where they need to be.”
While Gigliotti will be the Owls’ primary outside scoring threat, senior forward Donny Pattison will be the go-to man down low.
Coming off an All-District football season, Pattison averaged 4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last year. Hobbs foresees an uptick in production to go along with Pattison’s fiery leadership.
“He’s more of our vocal leader, and man, he just plays so hard,” Hobbs said. “There’s one speed with him and it is pedal to the floor. He does a good job on the boards. We ask him to defend the opponent’s best player most of the time. We really ask him to do a lot. Sometimes that stuff gets overlooked.”
Joining Gigliotti and Pattison in the starting rotation will be some combination of senior Blake Bryant and juniors Steven Knowlton, Peyton Manion, and Dae’Mone Patterson.
At 6’5”, Bryant figures to provide a strong presence in the post. Knowlton (5.1 ppg) is a streaky shooter who can score in bunches but needs more consistency.
“He’s a guy who can score 20 in a night and the consistency with him is something that we’ve gotta figure out,” Hobbs said of Knowlton.
“Peyton is another guy that does the dirty work,” he added. “He can play inside and out and is always doing whatever the team needs.”
Hobbs singled out Patterson as someone to keep a close eye on.
“He’s really come a long way,” Hobbs said. “He’s kind of changed his attitude and is doing some good things for us both on the offensive end and defensive end.”
One strength of this Bradford team could end up being its depth, as Hobbs sees the Owls being able to go 10 men deep in any given game.
“We don’t have a whole lot of separation,” he explained. “We’re splitting hairs to find out who’s going to give us the best opportunity on the floor and who’s going to start. Hopefully that all kind of irons itself out as we go along.”
Hobbs mentioned the likes of senior Gavin Babcock and juniors Caleb Nuzzo, Evan Schmidt, and Owen Kane as players who could make notable contributions off the bench.
“We’re really gonna count on Caleb, especially early on, to take care of the ball for us,” he said. “We need him to get in there, maybe give (Gigliotti) a rest here and there, or any of those three guards that are out on the floor.
“Owen has really shown that he can handle the ball and make good decisions,” he said, adding, “Evan comes in and plays down low for us and does some good things.”
Babcock might be the most interesting name of the bunch. A transfer from Oswayo Valley who averaged 14.4 points per game last season, Hobbs said Babcock is still adjusting to Bradford’s system, but could be a major factor before long.
“One of the key things, and he did this at Oswayo Valley, he can just play the game,” Hobbs said. “Once he gets into the flow of what we do, and with our guys, I think things will go well for him.”
The one thing Hobbs is stressing as the season begins is the necessity to get off to a good start, something the Owls haven’t been able to do in recent years. Bradford started 2017-18 with five losses in its first seven games — though by the end of the season the Owls entered the playoffs on a five-game winning streak.
“Typically over the last couple years for whatever reason, it’s taken us a little while,” Hobbs noted. “We’ve kind of lagged early on and then things click immediately. We’ve really gotta try to find that a little bit earlier now.”
As always, though, Hobbs is stressing a ‘one game at a time’ mentality.
“In the past we’ve learned that every game is important and to achieve our goals of a league championship and AAAA district title we need to take it game by game,” he said.
Below is Bradford’s schedule:
DECEMBER
7 – KANE
11 – at Wellsville
14 – at Otto-Eldred Tournament
15 – at Otto-Eldred Tournament
18 – DUBOIS CC
20 – at Johnsonburg
29 – at IAABO Tournament
30 – at IAABO Tournament
JANUARY
4 – at St. Marys
7 – COUDERSPORT
11 – at Brookville
16 – DUBOIS
18 – PUNXSUTAWNEY
23 – at Elk Catholic
28 – CAMERON COUNTY
30 – ST MARYS
FEBRUARY
1 – at Brockway
5 – at DuBois
8 – BROOKVILLE
9 – WARREN
12 – ELK CATHOLIC
15 – at Punxsutawney
