COUDERSPORT — When Coudersport defeated Otto-Eldred 60-24 back on Jan. 8, the Terrors were mired in a losing streak.
Coming into Thursday night’s game, O-E was riding a 7-game winning streak. Unfortunately for the Terrors, the result was the same the second time around.
Coudersport extended its own winning streak to 14 games with a complete 76-33 victory.
Owen Chambers scored a game-high 29 points while Jared Green added 21 of his own.
“The guys are working hard,” Coudy head coach Brian Furman said. “They’re really focusing on defense; I think they’re doing a pretty good job there, and trying to take care of the ball on the offensive side.”
That’s usually a good formula to win basketball games, and the Falcons executed that mantra to perfection in a dominant first quarter in which they outscored the Terrors 28-6.
From the word go, Coudersport played suffocating defense that forced O-E into turnover after turnover. This in turn led to easy fast break baskets, something that Coudy has done time again this season during their dominant run of play.
Chambers and Green combined for 21 points in the first quarter alone (Chambers with 13, Green with 8), getting into the paint while also hitting shots from the outside.
The Terrors, meanwhile, simply couldn’t find any rhythm on offense. Coudersport’s in-your-face defense made every pass a chore for the opposition, and even when Otto was able to get open shots, they weren’t making enough to keep things close.
About the only source of offense for the Terrors early on came from Sawyer Drummond, who got some hard-earned buckets in the paint. He would finish with a team-high 16 points.
But with how well Coudersport was converting on every trip down the floor, it was a tall order for the Terrors to hang around. The Falcons’ style of play forces the opposition to play a nearly perfect game, a big reason why they’re so tough to deal with according to O-E coach Dan Dalton.
“They flat-out shoot the basketball,” Dalton said about the Falcons. “They’re hard to defend. They’re just a well-balanced team, you know? They’re basketball players. That’s what they are.”
Coudersport went into the half with a 44-21 advantage. But even with that big lead, Furman’s squad wasn’t about to let up. The Falcons started the third quarter on an 11-3 run to make sure the Terrors didn’t get any ideas about getting back within striking distance.
With how well his team is playing, Furman often finds himself in the enviable position of simply not screwing things up on the bench.
“We try to do a lot of our coaching in practice and let the kids play during the games,” he said. “It’s a pretty good group and I think they work well with that philosophy.”
With the clock running in the second half, both teams emptied their respective benches, a positive Dalton was able to take out of an otherwise disappointing evening.
“We talked about a loss like this. This doesn’t define us,” he said. “They knew what they were getting into tonight; they knew they were playing one of the best teams in District 9, no doubt. We came in and tried to work on a couple things in the second half to see if we could get better. I thought some of my kids that came off the bench gave us some good minutes. I think they got better in that process.”
Otto-Eldred (11-6 overall, 7-5 NTL) will face another important league game on Monday when it hosts Cameron County, which is on a winning streak of its own (six games after Thursday’s win over Austin).
Meanwhile, Coudersport (15-1 overall, 13-0 NTL) will gear up for one of the games of the season on Saturday when the Falcons travel to face undefeated Ridgway in a huge non-league contest.
“Ridgway is really good,” Furman said. “We’ve seen them play a couple times and we have a little bit of film on them. It’s certainly going to be a test for us, but our guys are gonna be ready and hopefully we can go down there and have a good game.”
AT COUDERSPORT
Otto-Eldred (33)
Sawyer Drummond 7 2-2 16, Sheeler 1 1-2 3, Co. Sebastian 1 0-0 2, Dalton 1 0-0 2, Reed 0 0-2 0, Jordan Sherwood 4 0-0 10. Totals: 14 3-6 33
Coudersport (76)
Owen Chambers 11 1-1 29, De. Keglovits 4 0-0 9, VanWhy 1 0-0 2, Jared Green 7 7-7 21, Di. Keglovits 1 0-0 2, Easton 0 0-2 0, Ricke 3 1-1 8, Daniels 0 1-2 1, Gleason 2 0-0 4. Totals: 29 10-12 76
O-E 6 21 29 33
Coudy 28 44 70 76
Three-point goals: O-E 2 (Sherwood 2), Coudy 8 (Chambers 6, De. Keglovits 1, Ricke 1); Total fouls: O-E 10, Coudy 4; fouled out: none
JV: Coudy won 65-20
