By HUNTER O. LYLE
DUKE CENTER, PA — In their true breakout game of the season, the Bradford boy’s basketball team showcased the full extent of their arsenal as they dismantled Otto-Eldred, holding the Terrors virtually scoreless as they racked up a 45-20 win in the Randy Stebbins Memorial Tournament title game.
One day prior, the Owls got off to a shaky first quarter against Kane before turning to their speed and high-octane pressure defense, which carried them to a 38-27 win over the Wolves. Taking notes from yesterday, Bradford wasted no time implementing both aspects, starting with a full-court-press. Although O-E managed to break through on their first possession, it was hardly easy. Facing double-teams and traps in the open court, comfort with the ball was something that quickly was stripped from O-E.
“The message was to be louder and tougher than they were,” said Bradford head coach Andrew Terwilliger. “Like I’ve said in the past, we have a philosophy that we go by, play hard, play smart and play together, so that was the emphasis for today.”
Speeding their opponents up into frantic passes that continuously resulted in turnovers, Bradford’s own offense had plenty of opportunities to put points on the board, which they did early. Tyler Simmons and Marcus Terwilliger opened the scorebooks, combining for the Owls’ first 10 points as everything, inside and out, seemed to be working for Bradford.
The opposite seemed to be coming true for the Terrors. Unable to get past the Owls’ length in the driving lanes, O-E was relegated to the perimeter where they looked to shoot themselves out of their current hole. However, the jumpers failed to draw iron and after the initial eight minutes of play, they looked up at a 12-5 deficit.
The one advantage the Terrors had found through the first quarter was their persistence on the offensive glass, where Jack Sherry and Wyatt Blendinger had given them multiple second chance opportunities. Entering the second, however, Bradford took control of that as well.
Led by their frontcourt duo of Danny Marasco and Carter Roulo, the Owls defiantly ripped down boards, including four consecutive offensive rebounds on their first trip down the floor. Coming away with multiple chances at a time, Bradford kicked out to the perimeter and reset their attack. Combined with a heavy emphasis on production from the post, the Owls’ bigs began setting up shop in the Terror Dome’s paint.
“We made a few adjustments from yesterday, had a few talks about things that (our bigs) needed to fix on their end to build their confidence,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “They made those adjustments and it worked. I was happy to see that.”
Meanwhile, the Terrors offense failed to get off the ground. Scoreless for over five minutes, O-E watched as the lead swelled to 15 going into the halftime break.
“We saw (the pressure) yesterday and we thought we were prepared but (Bradford’s) length is pretty difficult. They’re big, bigger than we anticipated,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Rob Wight. “We tried a couple different looks and I felt like when we executed, we got a couple easy looks. We just weren’t executing. We weren’t really focused from the go.”
Entering the third quarter, the Owls gave the greenlight to Roulo. Constantly looking inside for the mismatch on the block, the junior displayed his finesse at the rim with back-to-back-to-back post maneuvers that produced points in bunches while also protecting the rim and stripping ball handlers on the other end. Streaking for 10 points in rapid succession, Roulo put the Owls up by 22 with just under four minutes remaining.
“I was really happy that (Carter) progressed that way. We had a little chat at halftime. He gets a little foot-happy now and again but we told him that when he comes out in the second half, anytime he’s touching the basketball, don’t dribble. Just turn, face and score,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “He went to work and it was good to see.”
Having an insurmountable lead with plenty of time remaining gave the Owls a chance to experiment with their rotations. Going with lineups saddled with a mix of experience and newcomers, Bradford played out the remainder of the final quarter and a half by giving their younger players a chance to see the court. Soon enough in the fourth, the Terrors relented and swapped in their reserves as well, waving the white flag in front of their home crowd. The loss at the Terror dome comes as the first since 2021 with the 20 points scored being the lowest by an O-E team in the same amount of years.
“If you told us coming into this week – five new starters, whole new program, new coaches – that we were going to be 3-1 with a win over Port (Allegany) in there and on top of the North Tier League, we’d take it,” said Wight. “You don’t ever want to lose games but it’s going to be a growing curve, it’s going to be a process. There’ll be games like tonight as we learn and grow together but at the end of the day, we’re focused on the two NTL games we have this week. Games like this are just a great learning opportunity for prepping for the big picture.”
Roulo’s third quarter put him at the top of the scoring column, finishing with 16 points. Marcus Terwilliger and Tyler Simmons joined him in double-digit scoring numbers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
For O-E, Sherry led the Terrors with seven points and eight rebounds while Mason Rees and Blendinger both scored three points.
“Our confidence is at the highest level right now. We’re going to celebrate this win here. It has been a long time coming. The last time we won this tournament was years ago, I can’t even remember, so it was great to accomplish that with this group of kids,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “They played really hard and worked together.”
AT DUKE CENTER
Bradford (45)
Roulo 7 2-2 16, Terwilliger 5 0-2 12, Simmons 5 0-1 10, Marasco 2 0-0 4, Blatchley 1 0-0 3. Totals: 20 2-5 45
Otto-Eldred (20)
Sherry 3 0-0 7, Rees 1 0-2 3, Blendinger 1 1-2 3, Coon 1 0-0 2, R. Schenfield 1 0-0 2, Collins 1 0-0 2. Totals: 8 2-6 20
Bradford 12 22 32 45
Otto-Eldred 5 7 10 20
Three-point goals: BD (3) Terwilliger 2, Blatchley, O-E (2) Rees, Sherry; Total fouls: BD 7, O-E 9; Fouled out: None.
