ESPN’s Jay Bilas could’ve been describing the St. Marys Dutchmen
when he said, “They shoot the basketball like it’s a grenade with
the pin pulled out.”

St. Marys brought its high-octane offense into the Owls’ Nest on
Tuesday and spoiled one of Bradford’s season-best offensive efforts
in a thrilling 74-73 high school boys hoops treat.

“We’re an uptempo team,” winning coach Brice Benson declared.
“The three-point shot is an integral part of our offense.

“Our kids are encouraged to shoot the basketball. If we had a
little more size, we’d play a little more conventionally, but you
have to dance with what brought you, so we go with a more wide open
attack.”

The Dutchmen converted 11 field goals and 11 three-point field
goals in the win and put three players in double figures.

Coming into the contest, senior Dutch standout Louie Pisani
needed 27 points to eclipse the 1,000-point mark and he reached
that plateau with seven points to spare, finishing with a game-high
34 points on the night. Levi Welder tossed in 17 marks and Kurt
Baumgratz tallied 13 points.

The Owls, who have struggled scoring the ball throughout the
2006-07 campaign, also had three players in doubles in what
disappointingly turned out to be a losing effort.

Ben Lanich led the team with 24 points (16 in the first half),
Tommy Morris scored 22 points and Ryan LaBrozzi was good for
another 20. LaBrozzi and Lanich finished with double-doubles on 12
and 11 boards, respectively, while Morris collected seven
assists.

The Owls led 35-31 after the intermission and the third quarter
saw the Dutch offense blow up for 25 on five three pointers.

The period featured four ties and 10 lead changes, the last one
as time expired when Drew Kelly found LaBrozzi cross-court on the
left wing for the three-ball and a 58-56 lead.

The Dutch opened the final eight minutes with an 11-5 spurt that
was capped by Pisani’s 1,000th point. With 4:28 to go, the 6-0
guard squared up and with a hand in his face filled it up from deep
to make it 67-63 Dutch.

The score was 74-72 and the clock read 0.4 when Kelly was fouled
in the paint and sent to the line for two free shots.

St. Marys called a timeout in an attempt to ice the sophomore
shooter, but No. 23 stepped to the line and canned the first.

His second shot was halfway down before it bounced right back
out and the Dutchmen escaped with the one-point win.

But Bradford fans didn’t think for one second the game came down
to just one foul shot as the Owls missed plenty of other
opportunities.

For example, the BHS outrebounded St. Marys 43-15 on the boards,
including an incredible 20-2 margin on the offensive end.

The hosts also took 68 shots to the visitors’ 52.

“Those two stats alone should tell you that you should win the
game rather comfortably,” said an exasperated Dave Fuhrman. “When
you outrebound a team by 28 rebounds you’d think you should win the
game on that stat alone.

“We missed a lot of chippies. I can remember one possession
vividly where we missed five shots within about two feet of the
basket.”

Fuhrman simultaneously expressed frustration with the Owls’
defense and credited the St. Marys offense.

“Nobody could guard Pisani. Our help defense was poor. They were
feeling it and we could never stop them. Our defense had been
coming along but they torched us tonight.

“It’s kind of a microcosm of our season. The games when we play
good defense we can’t score and tonight we wasted a good effort
with three guys over 20 and we lost because we coudn’t defend.”

Benson, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more pleased with
the victory.

“Our team was confident that if we played well we could give
them (Bradford) a game up here,” Benson commented. “We were
fortunate enough to make one more play tonight.

“We have the utmost respect for Coach Fuhrman and the Bradford
program and we’re excited to come away with the win.

“I also want to congratulate Louie on making his 1,000th point
tonight. It was a nice way for him to get it.”

St. Marys is now 7-2 in the District 9 League and the victory
puts the Dutch in second place behind cross-town rivals Elk County
Catholic.

Bradford, 9-9 overall and 7-3 league, next has a two-game road
trip Friday and Saturday when they are at Clearfield and at State
College.