DUKE CENTER — Seven seniors celebrated their Senior Night Monday with an 81-26 victory over Galeton that saw every senior post points.
While Landon Francis and Shene Thomas both finished the night with double digits (28 and 26 respectively), Jared Obenrader sank 3 3’s for nine total points, Davey Schenfield posted three points, and Hunter App and Charlie Minard each added one.
O-E’s Manning Splain suffered an injury in the first quarter, so while he subbed in to help move the ball down the court in the fourth quarter, he left the game with only the game-opening basket to his credit.
“That was our goal; we talked about it as a group. We wanted to get everybody in the scorebook,” O-E Coach Derrick Francis said of the scoring efforts. “It’s a super unselfish group, as we’ve all seen the last four years.”
Discussing the team’s reaction to Splain’s injury early in the game, Francis noted, “Obviously all of our kids knew Manning went down and there’s no way they weren’t going to play for him. They picked up the slack.”
O-E used three fast-paced 20-plus point quarters to secure the win in front of the home crowd, holding Galeton to single-digit quarters for the night.
Galeton kept pace for the first three minutes of the game, actually taking a two-point lead while scoring remained in single digits. However, O-E used a foul shot from Thomas and a three-pointer from Obenrader to take an 8-4 lead that only continued to build as the clock ticked away.
O-E’s lead was 21-6 at the end of the first and continued with the same momentum throughout the second quarter, with the teams leaving the court at the half with the Terrors up 46-15.
Galeton opened the scoring in the third quarter with a successful free throw from Gavin Shutt. After baskets by both teams, O-E went on an 18-point scoring run to lead 70-20 at the end of the third. The game finished with much of the same energy, as Galeton fought to put five points on the board and O-E rounded out the night with 11.
While tonight saw a celebration for seven familiar names that are nearing the end of their O-E hoops careers, there are players already working hard to prepare to fill those shoes.
“There’s seven seniors, but there are 30 kids in the gym in the summer. That’s 23 kids that aren’t seniors that want to play,” Francis said. “Fortunately for them, they are going against some of the best kids in the district. They are just getting better.”
Otto-Eldred looks to extend its unbeaten season Wednesday as the Terrors travel to Austin.
AT DUKE CENTER
Galeton (26)
B. Ward 2-0-0-5, Malaczewski 4-1-2-9, Shutt 2-2-6-6, Holcomb 2-0-0-4, Shaffer 1-0-0-2. Totals: 11-3-8-26.
Otto-Eldred (81)
Splain 1-0-0-2, Blendinger 1-0-0-2, Schenfield 1-1-2-3, Landon Francis 10-2-3-28, Michael Sheeler 4-0-0-10, App 0-1-2-1, Shene Thomas 9-7-7-26, Minard 0-1-2-1, Obenrader 3-0-0-9. Totals 29-12-16-81.
Galeton 6 9 6 5 26
O-E 21 25 25 11 81
Three-Point goals: Galeton 1(B. Ward); O-E 12 (Obenrader 3, Thomas 1, Sheeler 2, Francis 6) Total fouls: Galeton 12, O-E 7.
