By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
BRADFORD, PA – Unable to get their offense clicking for the majority of the game, the Bradford boys’ basketball team fell to Cameron County in the final seconds, losing 43-41 and tallying their eighth loss of the season.
Entering this game, the Owls were in the midst of a spiral. After opening the season with their best start in recent memory at 4-2, Bradford fell into a tail spin as they dropped the following five games.
“With young teams normally no matter what sport you coach, you have that one bad quarter or half a quarter that is kind of the difference maker,” said Bradford head coach John Bennardi. “I think it’s just a matter of us being more consistent, and they’re growing towards it. They’re 15 years old, most of them, and they’re going to get there.”
Despite scoring on their first possession of the game from a post hook from Carter Roulo, Bradford would struggle to put points on the board from thereon. Luckily, the Red Raiders wouldn’t find any better luck. Constantly getting the ball down low, Cameron County missed countless shots from less than a foot or so away. Even as they controlled the offensive glass, the Red Raiders couldn’t take the lid off of the basket.
In the meantime, Bradford found scattered scoring from their bigs Marcus Terwilliger, Danny Marasco and Roulo. After the initial eight minutes of play, the Owls held an 8-2 lead.
The Red Raiders would find their rhythm early in the second quarter. After an initial layup brought them to within three, an successful and-one from Ryan Shaffer sparked what would become a 10-0 run. At the five minute mark, the Red Raiders would take their first lead of the game with a fastbreak score.
The Owls wouldn’t hesitate to respond. Following a momentum-breaking timeout, Tarren Reese would end the scoring drought with a drive to the rim that resulted in two points. Tyler Simmons would follow that with a mid-range jumper before hitting a 3-pointer to tie the game at 19 with 2:45 left in the half.
In the closing seconds, Terwilliger would earn a trip to the charity stripe with 1.1 left on the clock. After making the first, the second careened off the rim, however Roulo would clean the glass for a made putback, giving Bradford a three-point lead heading into halftime.
“Offensively we got a lot of open looks, we just got to knock down more shots,” said Bennardi. “The offense was fine when we were moving the ball. We were deliberate, got some good looks, we just needed to make them.”
Having made the proper adjustments in the intermission, both teams came out ready to score in the third quarter. With CC using their size and Bradford using their speed, they would tally tick-for-tack baskets, swapping the lead several times in the ensuing minutes.
Once again, the Owls would get a chance to take the lead from the free throw line late in the quarter, with Roulo sinking both shots. But, never straying too far from the momentum, the Red Raiders would answer back in the last eight seconds as Shaffer earned his own trip to the free throw line – albeit sinking just one of the two shots.
Coming into the fourth quarter with just a one-point lead, every possession mattered, but the Owls would find that out the hard way. To open the quarter, Bradford suffered four turnovers on their first five chances down the floor. Between sloppy or mis-timed passes and aggressive ball-defense from the Red Raiders, Bradford struggled to get past halfcourt.
Cameron County would use that window of errors to streak down the floor for six quick points while holding the Owls scoreless for close to four minutes.
“In tight games, you can’t let yourself get sped up. When the offense looks like it’s in disarray, I think it’s because of that,” said Bennardi. “We’ve handled it pretty well all season, just in some instances there’s a lot going on in the game.”
Tyler Simmons takes a contested jumper during the Owls’ sixth consecutive loss. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Although Roulo would break the initial drought, Bradford would once again go scoreless for another three minutes and as the clock wound down, they found themselves behind by four with a minute to go. Marasco cut the deficit to two with a head-down drive but by then the Red Raiders were already in the bonus. All they had to do was make their shots at the line.
As fate would have it, however, the Owls would get a much needed break. Stepping to the line, Shaffer would miss both of his chances to seal the game, giving Bradford the ball with 32 seconds left. Also making it into the bonus, Terwilliger would bring the game to a one-point deficit at the charity stripe. He and Roulo would then trap a Red Raider ball handler to force a CC turnover, before Terwilliger would go 1-for-2 at the line, tying the game.
Tied at 41 with just 11 seconds left, Shaffer would drive hard to the basket, pump faking two defenders into fouling. This time, he would go perfect from the free throw line to give the Red Raiders the lead. Desperately needing a basket, Bradford would inbound the ball but would manage to only get within 3-point range.
Getting a shot off before the buzzer, the prayer would end up wide left. Despite a valiant effort to bring themselves back, the Owls would drop their sixth consecutive loss.
Roulo would lead the Owls in scoring with 15 while Terwilliger followed closely behind with 10. Simmons finished with five and Marasco and Tarren Reese ended with four each.
“The season’s not lost at all. If we go to the playoffs, which I think we should because everyone is in the same boat as us, we’re going to be dangerous,” said Bennardi. “We’ve got to get healthy. We got another guy hurt (Marasco went down with a rolled ankle for several minutes in the third quarter), Troisi’s out, (Talan) Reese is out, but we just keep battling.”
AT BRADFORD
Cameron County (43)
Shaffer 5 10-17 21, Farren 7 2-5 16, Bure 2 0-0 4, Shepard 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 12-22 43
Bradford (41)
Roulo 6 3-4 15, Terwilliger 3 4-6 10, Simons 2 0-0 5, Marasco 2 0-4 4, Reese 2 0-0 4, Blatchley 1 0-0 3. Totals: 16 7-14 41
Cameron County 5 19 32 43
Bradford 8 22 32 41
Three-point goals: CC (1) Shaffer, BD (4) Marasco 2, Blatchley, Simmons; Total fouls: CC 17, BD 19; fouled out: None.
JV: Cameron County 41, Bradford 23
