Despite its name of the charity stripe, the foul line is often unforgiving for many basketball teams.
On Saturday, Bradford High shot under 20 percent from the line, but got just enough offense from its backcourt of Adam Boyer and freshman Tyler Gigliotti in a 40-38 non-league victory over Otto-Eldred.
“I thought we played hard,” Bradford High coach Brian Hobbs said. “I didn’t think we executed like we needed to at times. We’ve got a different mix of guys coming off the bench, so our chemistry is not quite where we want it to be at this point in the season. I’m happy with our effort as far as just getting after it.”
Boyer again led the offense with a game-high 16 points, nailing three 3-pointers and slicing his way through the Terror defense from his point guard position. With guard Nate Higbie slowed by an injury, Boyer has taken over the last two games and upped his production.
He’s averaging 19 points per game in the last two contests after scoring 22 earlier in the week in a loss to St. Marys with Higbie sidelined. Meanwhile, top returning scorer Deondre Terwilliger sat out with an injury Saturday.
“Adam, the last two games he had 22 and 16 tonight,” Hobbs said. “Especially with Nate limited and Deondre out, we’re looking for that scorer. He’s come through for us. We’re happy with his play.”
Gigliotti, thrust into just his fourth start of his career on Saturday, came through with 15 points for the Owls.
“Tyler has just played solid,” Hobbs said. “For a freshman, we’re happy where he’s at. He’s battling and taking a few lumps here and there, but he’s really played solid. Those two guys (Boyer and Gigliotti), we’re looking to them and leaning on them to do a little bit more scoring than in the past.”
The Bradford backcourt’s offensive output was almost for naught, thanks to its paltry foul-line effort. The Owls’ shot just 2-for-11 from the line, including Higbie missing both shots with 4.3 seconds left after the Terrors’ Damon Palmer banked in a 3-pointer to cut Bradford’s lead to 40-38.
After the second miss, Seth Drummond secured the rebound, dribbled to midcourt where he was met with a defender and had his half-court heave come up short, securing the win for the Owls.
“We get one more opportunity,” Otto-Eldred coach Dan Dalton said of Palmer’s 3. “He gave us one more shot, one more chance.
“We ran out of time.”
In the fourth quarter, a trey by Boyer pushed Bradford’s lead to 35-25. However, Dylan Close scored six of his eight points in the final minutes as the Terrors closed the gap, including a layup with 48 seconds left that brought the score to 40-35.
That up-tempo action was part of Dalton’s decision to try to speed the game up as Hobbs’ squad tried to slow things down and work for open looks. Otto-Eldred’s press first implemented in the second quarter helped that process, as the Owls broke the press, but made passing miscues in their halfcourt offense.
“Hobbs went to that little slow-up in the second quarter, which I don’t blame him,” Dalton said. “I wanted to speed it up a little in the third a little bit, maybe get a couple of turnovers off it.”
Hobbs admitted he would have coached differently, asking his team to keep playing in its wide-open offense instead of slowing it down.
“We tried to change the tempo up a little bit, and if I could do it over again, I wouldn’t,” Hobbs said. “We would keep attacking. That press gave us a little bit of trouble. We kind of played in their hands.”
Sawyer Drummond was the lone Otto-Eldred player in double figures with 11. He also added six rebounds and two blocks, while Spanish-exchange student Juan Bosco Ramiro Alonso added a spark off the bench with four rebounds and eight points, including a late 3-ball that cut Bradford’s lead to six, but fouled out late in the fourth.
Higbie added five assists for the Owls, while Danny Manion and Donnie Pattison led the team in rebounds with seven and five boards, respectively. For the Owls, it was a different mix of players combining on the court, which led to miscues.
“I thought we played hard,” Hobbs said. “I didn’t think we executed like we needed to at times. We’ve got a different mix of guys coming off the bench, so our chemistry is not quite where we want it to be at this point in the season. I’m happy with our effort as far as just getting after it.”
The Owls play at Johnsonburg on Wednesday before heading to Brookville for a D9 League game. Otto-Eldred plays Northern Potter on Monday and Kane on Wednesday.
