RANDOLPH, N.Y. — In what was considered one of the tougher tests for Otto-Eldred boys’ basketball this season, the Terrors passed with flying colors because of a big second half. After trailing at the end of the first half, the Terrors came out with a 60-35 win.
The first quarter was tight as the Terrors led 8-7 four and a half minutes into the game. The Cardinals later led 11-8 but Shene Thomas made two three pointers putting Otto-Eldred in front 14-11. The quarter ended with the Terrors leading 16-13.
Drew Hind for Randolph was a problem in the first half. He made two free-throws and a mid-range pull up jump shot to put Randolph ahead 17-16.
Thomas converted a three-point play to make it 19-17, but Randolph then scored seven straight points to make it 24-19 Cardinals. Manning Splain made a three-pointer for Otto-Eldred to end the first half scoring. Randolph led 24-22 at halftime with Hind scoring 20 points.
“Maybe it’s on me, maybe I’m too systematic,” Otto-Eldred head coach Derrick Francis said about the low scoring first half. “I don’t let them free lance. We need to figure that out, that’s on me.”
Landon Francis opened the second half with a 3-pointer to put the Terrors ahead 25-24. Otto-Eldred then turned on a gear that wasn’t seen from them in the first half. They got out to a 38-29 lead with 2:35 remaining in the quarter after back-to-back three-pointers from Francis and Splain. Otto-Eldred went into the fourth quarter leading 40-31.
The Terrors had no thoughts about letting the Cardinals get momentum and form a fourth quarter comeback. Otto-Eldred made three 3-pointers in a row with two of them from Francis and another from Davey Schenfield to make it 52-33.
The Terrors show continued with a one-handed alley-oop dunk from Francis to Thomas to electrify the Otto-Eldred contingent. The Terrors had a smooth finish to what was a mostly competitive game winning 60-35. Otto-Eldred improves their undefeated record to 4-0.
Thomas led Otto-Eldred with 20 points while Francis scored 15 and Splain had 13. Hind was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points, but no other Cardinal was able to score more than 6 points.
“I think as a whole we did well on Drew,” Coach Francis said. “Hunter App surprised me because he challenged him.”
The Terrors will look to keep up their winning ways when they play at home against Cameron County on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Randolph will be at home against Falconer Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
“We have seven seniors and there’s one goal,” coach Francis said. “It’s one game at a time, their story is almost over, they want to make a story and finish it.”
AT RANDOLPH
OTTO- ELDRED(60)
Splain 5-0-0-13, D. Schenfield 2-3-3-8, Francis, 5-0-0-15, M. Schenfield 1-0-2-2, App, 1-0-0-2, Thomas 7-3-3-20
RANDOLPH(35)
Hind 9-5-5-24, Nelson 2-2-4-6, Brooks 1-0-0-3, Huntington 1-0-0-2
Otto-Eldred 16 6 18 20 — 60
Randolph 13 11 7 4 — 35
Three-point goals: Otto-Eldred (12) — Francis 5, Splain 3, Thomas 3, D. Schenfield
Randolph (2) — Hind, Brooks
