(Editor’s note: This is part two in a series of articles about the 1994-1995 Bradford boys basketball team, which finished the year 27-1 and made the Western Semifinals of the PIAA state tournament. To read part one, click here.)
Momentum was on the Owls’ side.
After running the table through the month of December to a 10-0 record that included a pair of marquee wins over Olean and an IAABO championship, Bradford’s 1994-1995 basketball team was brimming with confidence and ready to parlay the fast start into something special.
“There wasn’t a fear of a letdown at all,” then-head coach Dave Fuhrman noted. “This was just a group that I didn’t have to talk with them about their focus or maintaining intensity. If you walked into our locker room after the IAABO, you wouldn’t have known if we won or lost. They were always very focused.”
It showed in the Owls’ first two games after a holiday break, as Bradford tore past Titusville 89-46 on Jan. 3 and then topped Punxsutawney 69-30 three days later.
Setting that tone proved vital, as Bradford was locked in a dogfight a game later at DuBois.
The District 9 League foes found themselves neck-and-neck throughout the game, as DuBois led 17-14 after the first quarter before Bradford took a 33-32 lead into halftime and then a 51-50 advantage into the fourth.
From there, though, it was all Bradford, as the Owls’ outpaced their rivals 18-7 in the fourth for a hard-earned 69-57 victory.
“We knew DuBois would be a tough game,” Fuhrman recalled. “The way our pressure (defense) was, sometimes it took a while for our pressure to take effect. We played a pressure man-to-man trapping defense, and maybe it took a while against good opponents to take effect, but ultimately we wore teams down in the fourth, and that’s what happened in that game.”
Also key for the Owls on the night was Cory Hayden’s performance. Though Jerry Burgos led the team with 20 points, Hayden provided the second-half surge Bradford needed by netting 12 of his 17 points after the intermission.
AFTER DUBOIS, the Owls got back to their usual dominance with huge wins over Warren (62-27) and Elk County Christian (68-41).
Then came Bradford’s next gut check, a 58-49 win over St. Marys. An 11-2 run to begin the third quarter and balanced scoring that saw four players — Burgos (13 points), Nate Willson (10), Andy Terwilliger (10) and Mike Manning (11) — score in double digits proved to be the difference for BAHS.
“That’s what made us so tough to defend,” Fuhrman said of his team’s balanced attack.
He added that St. Marys handled Bradford’s pressure better than most teams were able to that year, but noted Bradford’s own effort wasn’t where it should’ve been that night.
“I thought for the first time in the year, our effort wasn’t what it should be. Maybe we thought it would be easy, and it wasn’t. We had to kind of wake up,” Fuhrman recalled. “And this group could do that… We were able to win the game, and that’s a sign of a good team.”
With a chuckle, he added, “But I’m sure I got the message (of intensity) across at the next practice.”
IT CERTAINLY APPEARED that Fuhrman made his point, as Bradford returned to form and handily won its next seven games, all by double-digits. That stretch included a 72-49 rout of non-league foe Altoona, a 75-44 dismantling of St. Marys, a 63-13 romp past Ridgway and a 74-48 win over DuBois to clinch the D9 League championship.
“We had a packed house that night, and I can remember it was probably our largest home crowd of the year,” Fuhrman said of the Owls’ Senior Night win over DuBois. “We were their only league loss, so our guys were pumped up.”
And after that stretch, the Owls stood at 23-0 with only one challenge remaining in their path to an undefeated regular season: a road contest at Elk Christian.
Bradford had easily handled the Crusaders earlier in the year, but with so much riding on the line, Elk Christian made sure to give its best shot in the rematch.
Things were going well enough for Bradford through the first half, as the Owls took a 34-27 lead into the break.
BUT THEN disaster struck. ECC went on a 21-5 run over the span of the third quarter, and Bradford suddenly faced a nine-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter of its season finale.
“That was probably our worst quarter of the entire season,” Fuhrman said. “Even back then, Elk Christian (now Elk County Catholic) was like they are today. It’s a tough place to play, they’ll always give you a great effort, and they’re well-coached. This team was no different. I knew they’d be ready for us, especially with us trying to finish unbeaten.”
With the pressure mounting, though, the Owls remained confident.
“After the third quarter ended and we were coming out of the timeout to start the fourth, Jerry (Burgos) and Mike (Manning) both told me, ‘Coach, don’t worry. We aren’t losing.’
“I just said, ‘I hope you’re right, guys.’”
Burgos ended up leading the comeback charge, as the senior and Hayden scored on back-to-back layups to trim the ECC lead to three before Burgos took a charge on defense and eventually hit the game-tying shot with 23 seconds left to force overtime.
In the extra period, the teams traded baskets until Hayden converted a three-point play to give Bradford the lead for good at 63-60. That was followed by a Terwilliger foul shot to put the game on ice and sent Bradford to a 64-62 overtime win.
“To their credit, they did it,” Fuhrman said of his seniors’ confidence before the comeback started. “Not too many teams could’ve done that.”
AND AS the buzzer sounded, the celebration was on in St. Marys as Owl fans and players rushed onto the court to celebrate Bradford’s first undefeated regular season since the 1941-42 campaign, a stretch of 53 years.
“A lot of things have to go right to finish a season unbeaten,” Fuhrman said. “Elk (Catholic) does it today with a lot of regularity, but a lot has to go right. Our league was a good league, and we played a quality non-league schedule, too.
“It was quite an impressive accomplishment for this group under the circumstances, because it wasn’t like we snuck up on teams, either. We won the (D9) League the year before, and teams knew we had guys coming back to build around.”
It was also just the kind of close call Fuhrman wanted his team to experience before beginning its postseason quest.
“As the season goes on and you get into the playoffs, you’re going to be involved in closer games,” he explained. “So your guys need to have some experience in close games… I thought it was good for us to have a close game and pull it out. We didn’t have a ton of close games in the regular season, so it was good for our guys to experience that heading into the playoffs.”
