Brendan Warner’s shooting kept Bradford in the game, but in its first of two meetings with DuBois, the Owls boys basketball team could not keep up with the multi-threat offense of their District 9 League rival.
DuBois combined to hit 11 3-point shots, holding its lead at a comfortable margin throughout Wednesday evening’s contest.
Warner — known and referred to by his peers as “Boo” — scored 19 points to lead Bradford. DuBois landed three players in double-digit scoring, however, as the Beavers claimed a 64-48 road victory in front of a sizable crowd at Bradford High.
“The thing about it is the effort is always there. We had some good looks and we cut (the deficit) to 10 or 11, we just couldn’t get it to single digits again,” Bradford head coach John Bennardi said. “We missed a lot of shots in the paint and those are the kinds of things we need to finish. It’s not like us to give up that many points but when you get a hot-shooting team, it’s hard to overcome sometimes.”
DuBois shot the 3-pointer well from the jump, building an early lead that stayed above 11 points throughout the second half. Maddox Bennett scored a game-high 21 points for the Beavers, gashing the Owls in the paint and providing a productive compliment to DuBois’ long guards.
Tyson Kennis scored 19 points and Cam Thompson added 10 for the Beavers. After Warner’s hot first half for the Owls, a team-wide effort helped Bradford keep the deficit near a dozen in the third quarter, but it quickly grew closer to 20 afterward.
Chase Wineberg scored nine points for Bradford and Jake Franz scored five.
“(Warner) has really gained confidence this season and he’s done a nice job,” Bennardi said. “I’ve talked to him the last two years about shooting with confidence — he has picture perfect form and it’s just a matter of confidence. You’re going to have days where you miss shots, but he’s also learning that if you don’t make shots from the outside, you can go inside and hit a short jumper to get back in rhythm.”
DuBois had lost five consecutive games prior to Wednesday. It broke out of the skid with a 60% shooting effort from the field, however, and 44% from 3-point range.
“We’re a young group and we’ve done a good job in some games of taking other teams’ best players out of the game, but in other games we haven’t,” Bennardi said. “I give (DuBois) a lot of credit — you shoot 44% from three, it’s tough to beat anybody.”
The Beavers improved to 2-1 in the D9 League and 6-9 overall, striving for a postseason berth as the lone Class 5A team in District 9.
Bradford, meanwhile, fell to 5-11 and has lost seven of nine games since its league win over Punxsutawney. The Owls are 1-3 in the D9 League and will travel to DuBois Feb. 7.
“I appreciate the effort from everyone and I don’t think anyone has given up on the season; we still have a chance to qualify for a lot of things,” Bennardi said. “We just need to put one together here and have a signature win then build off of that. It’s a matter of continuing to work.”
Gudalis 2 0-0 5, Farrell 1 0-0 2, Thompson 3 2-2 10, Bennett 7 0-0 21, Hickman 0 1-2 1, West 0 3-4 3, Williams 1 0-0 3. Totals
Bradford (48)Ward 1 1-3 3, Johnson 0 4-6 4, Reese 2 0-0 4, Franz 1 3-4 5, Warner 7 0-0 19, Wineberg 4 1-1 9, Gleason 0 4-6 4. Totals
Three-point goals: DuBois 11 (Bennett 7, Thompson 2, Williams, Gudalis), Bradford 5 (Warner 5); Total fouls: DuBois 16, Bradford; fouled out:
JV: Bradford won.
