The Bradford boys basketball team knew how critical their success against Cameron County center Jake Walters would be to securing a victory on Monday.

With how well they defended him for the full 32 minutes, the Owls may have exceeded even their own expectations.

The six-foot-nine Walters was limited to six points, and Bradford used some clutch defense late to pull off an impressive 39-36 non-league victory over the Red Raiders.

The win moves Bradford to 8-7 on the season, the first time in over three weeks it’s been above .500.

“They are the ninth-ranked single A team in the state and are a real good team,” Bradford coach Brian Hobbs said of his opponent. “They have all of the parts that a good team needs. They have shooters, they have big guys and they have athleticism and good size.”

That diverse scoring attack certainly made for a great game throughout, with the two teams tied at 18 at the half and 27 after the third quarter.

In the fourth, both teams again traded buckets until Cameron County’s Caden Beldin hit a 3-pointer with two minutes left to give the Red Raiders a 36-33 lead.

That would prove to be the last bucket Cameron County (11-3) would score.

The Owls forced four Cameron County turnovers in the last minute and sank four critical free-throws in the waning seconds to secure the win.

For Hobbs, he was certainly impressed to see how his team responded in some critical high-pressure situations on both ends of the court in the final minute.

“A couple weeks ago before our games against DuBois and Punxsutawney, we really worked on our situations,” he said. “Tonight, it paid off.”

For the game, the Owls forced 21 turnovers and three players with at least two steals.

“We knew that we needed to have some good, smart defensive pressure and fortunately that paid off for us,” Hobbs added. “We did a nice job; we were switching on the inbounds and they threw it away a couple of times. That was good for us; that was a good team win.”

Tyler Gigliotti once again paced the Owls offensively with 13 points (including four in the final 90 seconds) and fellow junior Evan Schmidt added a critical eight points off the bench.

But Schmidt’s biggest contribution was his help defensively on Walters, who was held without a point in the first half.

“Blake (Bryant) has some good size on him, and (Evan) Schmidt has been playing better,” Hobbs said. “Evan has been doing some good things for us, and we knew we could trust him to give us a good shot tonight.

“Again, we thought to front (Walters) and not let him get catches because they do a nice job of going inside-and-out, kick to those 3’s and they can shoot it. We just wanted to really limit his touches in anyway we could. I thought Schmidty and Blake did a real nice job on him.”

Beldin had a game-high 15 points for Cameron County, which shot just 13-for-37 in the game despite an array of talented perimeter shooters.

Monday’s defeat snapped a four-game win streak and was just the second time the Red Raiders have lost in their last 13 contests.

Bradford, meanwhile, hopes to use this win as a starting point for what is a grueling stretch to end the season. It begins Wednesday against St. Marys, a team that the Owls scored just 22 points against in their first meeting this season.

“They embarrassed us down there a little bit last time so they are ready for it,” Hobbs said of Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. home game. “They are ready for the battle and we are going to come into practice tomorrow and work on a few things. Being ready to battle and being ready to execute are two different things, but hopefully that’s what happens. But I have faith in my guys that they can go in and do that.”

AT BRADFORD

Cameron County (36)

Caden Beldin 6 2-2 16, D. Brown 3 0-0 9, Walters 2 2-4 6, M. Brown 1 0-0 3, Swartz 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 4-6 36

Bradford (39)

Tyler Gigliotti 4 4-6 13, Babcock 2 2-2 7, Schmidt 4 0-0 8, Knowlton 2 0-0 5, Nuzzo 1 2-4 2, Bryant 1 0-0 2, Pattison 0 0-2 0. Totals: 14 8-14 39

Cam Co.   8 18 27 36

Bradford  11 18 27 39   

Three-point goals: CC 6 (D. Brown 3, M. Brown 1, Beldin 2), Bradford 3 (Babcock, Gigliotti, Knowlton); total fouls: CC 10, Bradford 12; fouled out: none

JV: CC won 41-32