When a player takes over a basketball game like Deondre Terwilliger did on Wednesday night, there’s really not much that the opposition can do.
The senior poured in 37 points en route to a 74-63 Bradford win over St. Marys (4-4) in District 9 League action.
After both teams traded buckets in the game’s opening minutes, Terwilliger hit a layup while getting fouled to put his team up 6-5. The Owls never looked back from there, closing the first quarter on a 13-0 run and jumpstarting what proved to be an offensive explosion for Terwilliger.
The five-foot-nine guard was a third team Big 30 All-Star two years ago, but missed a large portion of last season with a knee injury. Wednesday’s performance put an exclamation point on his comeback efforts this season, and according to his coach, it’s been the extra work that Terwilliger has put in that really made his performance against the Flying Dutch possible.
“He did a great job,” Owls head coach Brian Hobbs said. “He’s been struggling with his shot a little bit. We’ve come in the gym and worked on it and he also does a ton on his own. I’m really happy to see him do what he did tonight. He worked so hard all summer long and over the last couple of years. He’s had a lot of adversity in front of him with his injury.”
Terwilliger hit all five of his team’s three-pointers. At one point in the game, Terwilliger hit from beyond the arc on three straight shots, and paced a 24-point fourth quarter for his team to close out the game.
It has been no coincidence that Bradford has handily won its last two games with Terwilliger scoring 20 points on Saturday to go along with his 37 against St. Marys.
“I can’t be happier for him, that’s a nice job,” Hobbs said. “We just hope he continues with that, and if he has anything to do with it, he will.”
The Owls (4-5) picked up their first win in District 9 League action, and their second consecutive victory overall. Their pace of play, in addition to another strong rebounding effort, dug the hole that was just too big for the the Flying Dutch to overcome. The Owls had a 47-28 edge on the glass, led by Danny Manion with 15 boards.
For Bradford, it’s the second straight game that they’ve had at least a 14 point lead at halftime, as well as holding a team to under 10 points in the first quarter. Hobbs attributes that to his team’s energy level out of the gate, and having them playing with hunger as soon as the ball tips.
“Early on, in the first six games we started down,” Hobbs said. “We started telling the guys in the last couple of games, ‘Hey, you’re down eight — play like you’re down eight.’ I think that’s been good for us to trick our mind a little bit and to play harder early on.”
With the scoring and the wins also comes the confidence. After a 2-5 start to begin the season that saw some really tough losses, Hobbs is beginning to see some differences in his team.
“I think Saturday gave us some confidence, as I told the guys,” Hobbs said. “I thought we were right at that tipping point before Saturday’s game where our defense was coming along pretty good, but we just needed to make those shots. Saturday we did. Guys are getting their confidence back in their shot and we are kind of taking that turn I think. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but I think we did a nice job and we built some confidence offensively. Defensively though, that’s what fuels us and we did that well tonight too.”
Weather permitting, Bradford will host Cameron County (5-1) on Friday night in a game that will feature two teams that are currently playing their best basketball of the season.
AT BRADFORD
St. Marys (63)
Jared Groll 5 1-4 12, Nathan Schneider 5 7-9 17, Parrish 4 1-3 11, Reiter 4 1-1 10, Lindemuth 0 3-3 3, Goodrow 0 2-2 2, Chiappelli 1 1-2 3, Catalone 1 0-0 2, Lasko 1 0-0 2, Caretti 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 17-26 63
Bradford (74)
Deondre Terwilliger 15 2-6 37, Tyler Gigliotti 6 5-6 17, Kuzmeskas 3 1-3 7, D. Manion 1 3-7 4, P. Manion 0 4-5 4, Pattison 1 0-0 2, Whelan 0 1-2 1, Nuzzo 0 1-2 1, Bryant 0 1-2 1. Totals: 26 18-34 63
St. Marys 5 20 38 63
Bradford 17 34 50 74
Three-point goals: Bradford 5 (Terwilliger 5), St. Marys 5 (Reiter 2, Parrish 2, Groll); Total fouls: St. Marys 25, Bradford 20; fouled out: St. Marys (Groll)
JV: St. Marys won 48-37
