The Bradford Owls had the odds stacked against them on more than one occasion Wednesday night.
But each time, Bradford battled through and found a way to pull off a thrilling mid-season victory.
Down two starters and two points with less than a minute to go in double overtime, the Owls rallied with four points in under 20 seconds and stunned DuBois for a 60-56 victory in a key D9 League contest.
“We were hoping as a coaching staff that our guys were going to be able to be ready for this game,” BHS coach Brian Hobbs said. “We thought that this could possibly be a turning point, a tipping point, for us to get confidence in ourselves as teammates and confidence in ourselves playing in tight games.”
Bradford (6-6, 1-2) was certainly brimming with confidence early. The Owls jumped out to an early 13-6 and held a 26-19 advantage at the half.
In the third quarter, however, DuBois (9-4, 1-3) flexed its offensive muscle and outscored Bradford 24-13 to take a four-point lead.
But the Owls, losers of two straight games by a combined eight points, were’t folding this time around. That was evident as soon as the fourth quarter began.
“We worked situations all week long because we had some close games,” Hobbs said of his team’s preparation. “We had the close one in Brookville and against Coudersport, and we came out on the wrong end of those, but tonight we really grinded and our hard work this week paid off.”
Bradford clawed back to tie the game at 50 at the end of regulation and forced the game into its first overtime.
In that period, the Owls’ Tyler Gigliotti — who finished with a game-high 17 points — was injured after going up for a contested layup. Still, the Owls powered through and scored the final two points of the OT to tie the game at 54.
But the real drama came in the second extra period.
Down Gigliotti and fellow starter Owen Kane, the Owls’ Gavin Babcock broke a 56-all tie on a layup with 11 seconds to play to give Bradford its first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game action.
Babcock was sprung wide open on a great pass from Steve Knowlton, who hit a game-tying layup a few seconds earlier for his first points of the ballgame.
“I love when Steve is on the floor,” Hobbs said. “Every once in awhile there are a few mental mistakes, but he makes up for it in his intensity and his ability to play good defense on the ball and then he runs the floor. Had a nice pass to Gavin, and I thought he did a real nice job.”
Donny Pattison then sealed the game for Bradford by taking a charge with less than three seconds left before Babcock iced the game with two clutch free throws.
“We’ve got some injuries now that hopefully a night’s rest will shake off, but I thought our bench played solid tonight,” Hobbs said. “In the case that we do have to use other guys, hopefully they gained some confidence in their abilities tonight.”
Maybe most vital to the Owls’ victory was their ability to neutralize DuBois big man Chase Husted. Bradford double-teamed the 6-foot-8 forward, and limited him to just 10 points before he fouled out in the fourth quarter.
“We thought that’s what we had to do; we fronted him,” Hobbs said of the defensive strategy. “Just make those passes into him tough. He had to catch them over top or on the move and I thought Donny did a good job and when Blake was in there he did a good job.”
Pattison led the Owls with 10 rebounds, while Babcock added seven to help Bradford even the rebounding total with the Beavers at 27.
Hobbs also credited Babcock, who finished with 16 points, for helping to pick up the slack when Gigliotti got hurt.
“I thought Gavin did a really nice job offensively,” the coach said. “He handled the ball pretty well tonight and hopefully Gigs is OK or he’ll have to do even more.”
The Owls, which started the season 4-1, had lost five of their last six games coming into Wednesday’s game. Hobbs, however feels confident that his team can build some momentum off a victory as emotional as Wednesday’s.
“Hopefully we can move forward and keep playing well,” he said. “There will be a real test for the guys coming up, but I think we gained some confidence tonight from a bunch of guys.”
AT BRADFORD
DuBois (56)
Justin Manduley 5 3-4 14, Jonathan Cruz 4 4-4 13, Alex Beers 5 2-3 13, Chase Husted 4 2-2 10, Lindholm 2 0-0 6, Farrell 0 0-2 0. Totals: 20 11-15 56
Bradford (60)
Gavin Babcock 6 2-2 16, Tyler Gigliotti 5 5-6 17, Bryant 3 0-0 6, Nuzzo 2 1-5 6, Kane 4 0-0 9, Knowlton 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 8-15 60
DuBois 11 19 43 50 (54) (56)
Bradford 13 26 39 50 (54) (60)
Three-point goals: DuBois 5 (Lindholm 2, Manduley, Cruz, Beers), Bradford 6 (Gigliotti 2, Babcock 2, Kane, Nuzzo); total fouls: DuBois 19, Bradford 18; fouled out: Husted (DuBois)
JV: Bradford won 31-30
