By HUNTER O. LYLE
BRADFORD, PA – Meeting the Dutchmen for the second time this season, the Bradford boy’s basketball team had no shortage of motivation.
Not only were they looking for revenge for their loss in the prequel meeting, but the Owls were facing a team that is almost certain to be their first round matchup come playoff time. As the cherry on top, it was Senior Night.
“The emphasis on this game was more than you could imagine. The source of energy we talked about was that these guys beat us the last four times we’ve played them. If that doesn’t motivate you, I’m not sure what other choice of words I could say at this point,” said Bradford head coach Andrew Terwilliger. “You expect the players to get their heads straight and get some momentum and have some fire in them based off of that.”
However, after taking control in the first half, an empty gas tank in the second let the night come crashing down as Bradford was unable to rise to the occasion, ultimately losing 44-36.
Despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back – the Owls hosted DuBois on Tuesday – Bradford came out of the locker room with plenty of energy and intensity. As usual, they looked to set the tone with a high-octane pace, made possible with constant long outlets that routinely found men down the court in a foot race to the basket. Coupled with some tough offensive rebounds down low from Danny Marasco, Bradford sparked a 6-0 run midway through the first quarter, but held a slim 10-8 lead going into the second.
St. Marys’ offense, on the other hand, relentlessly looked for room inside the paint, which was not readily available. As their drives broke through the first layer of the Owls’ zone, the Dutchmen were met by several collapsing defenders that immediately clouded their looks at the rim. However, persistence paid off and as their attack continued to stress test the opposition, St. Marys began to break through, at least in the early minutes of the second.
Tying the game on their first touch of the second quarter, the Dutchmen then turned towards their own defense to turn the tide. Implementing a full-court-press in an attempt to weigh down Bradford’s motor, St. Marys took away the highly used outlet passes, forcing the Owls to travel the length of the floor manually.
Initially, their plan worked. Needing to create shots in half court sets, Bradford’s shots, both inside and out, frequently missed their mark and their offense began to sputter as they settled into a lull. Clinging to a one-point advantage after the first four minutes of play, the Owls eventually found a spark by forcing a few St. Marys turnovers. Back out on the fast break, Bradford capitalized with a pair of scores from Marcus Terwilliger and Landon Lohrman.
“We were just trying to run our game. Last night against DuBois, we did excellent. We got into a nice flow, we had a lot of movement on the ball, a lot of post touches and tonight we talked about how we had to win in the paint,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “We had the mismatches and in the first half we took advantage of it.”
However, St. Marys whittled it back down to a one-possession game heading into the break as they knocked a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Coming back to the hardwood, St. Marys gave the Owls a taste of their own medicine. Out of the gates, the Dutchmen began escalating the pace with quick scores and even quicker passes. Drives to the rim were continuously finished off with last-second passes to the opposite block, creating open looks for their cutting big men. Although Bradford initially kept in stride, scoring tick-for-tack with several well-aimed jumpers, the wear and tear began to show.
After trading baskets and swapping leads back-and-forth for the first few minutes, the Owls started to lag behind. As their jumpers began drying up, turnovers began to appear in bunches and, as they were unable to effectively penetrate the paint, Bradford soon found themselves in the midst of a drought. Going scoreless for close to five minutes, the Owls looked up at a 31-25 deficit with just eight minutes left to play.
“It’s always tough playing back-to-back games. Yesterday was a really tough game. DuBois is really tough and physical and we hung right in there with them,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “Then we come back today and play another one, so there was a level of probably being a little worn out. I felt that I saw that in some of the players and I was trying to get the right combination in there and just couldn’t get a flow going.”
Despite scoring on their first touch of the fourth – a 3-pointer from Marcus Terwilliger – the Owls’ offensive woes carried over into the final quarter. Unable to turn opportunities into points, Bradford watched as St. Marys continued to drive and dish for layups and floaters. With the help of some well-time offensive rebounds, the Dutchmen tacked on six unanswered points to pull away by nine.
As the clock wore down, Bradford’s scattered scores weren’t enough to significantly cut into the lead. With just a minute to go, they still faced a seven-point margin on the scoreboard and, as St. Marys began to run out the clock, the Owls were forced to intentionally foul. Closing the game out with a couple of makes from the free throw line, St. Marys preserved their season sweep with a victory in hostile territory.
“Any loss that we take on, I take responsibility for it. I feel that, as a coach, I didn’t prepare them well enough to work through that,” said Andrew Terwilliger. “I try to take that off their shoulders. It’s hard enough for them to take the loss, but I take responsibility for it. We probably could have prepared better than how we did.”
All three of Bradford’s seniors made their way into the score books during the loss. Marcus Terwilliger finished with 12 points, also coming away with three rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Marasco and Lohrman both scored two points each, respectively. Marasco also tallied four rebounds and two blocks while Tyler Simmons ended with 12 points and one assist.
Going forward, Bradford has just five games left on the regular season schedule. First, they will finish off their three-game home stand on Friday with a matchup against DuBois Central Catholic, before seeing Johnsonburg and Elk County Catholic next Wednesday and Friday and Smethport and Warren the following week. As they look to finish on a high note, they inch closer and closer to another rematch with St. Marys in the District 9 Class 4A postseason.
AT BRADFORD
St. Marys (44)
Nedzinski 8 0-0 16, Shutz 5 1-2 12, Beimel 2 0-2 5, Assalone 2 1-2 5, Herzing 1 0-0 2, Regulski 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 4-10 44
Bradford (36)
Simmons 3 4-4 12, Terwilliger 5 0-2 12, Roulo 2 0-4 4, Reese 1 0-0 2, Troisi 1 0-0 2, Marasco 1 0-0 2, Lohrman 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 4-10 36
St. Marys 8 16 31 44
Bradford 10 18 25 36
Three-point goals: SM (), BD (4) Simmons 2, Terwilliger 2; Total fouls: SM , BD 13; Fouled out: None.
JV: St. Marys 25, Bradford 24
