(Editor’s note: This is the first installment in a series of articles about the 1994-1995 Bradford boys basketball team, which finished the year 27-1 and made the Western Semifinals of the PIAA state tournament.)
The pieces were there for Bradford to replicate its successes from the year before.
With four letterwinners returning to the roster and a successful summer in 1994, Dave Fuhrman, then the coach of Bradford boys basketball, had a good feeling about the season ahead.
Bradford returned Jerry Burgos, Mike Manning, Andy Terwilliger and Cory Hayden from a squad that had just won the District 9 League and D9 Class AAA titles a year before, and had put together a solid summer that included a team camp at Lock Haven University and scrimmages with Wellsboro and Meadville, both of which BAHS won.
“After the summer we had, I felt pretty good,” Fuhrman said. “I said to (assistant coach) Mike Manning after the Meadville scrimmage that boy we have a chance to be pretty good this year.”
But, Fuhrman noted at the time, 10 of Bradford’s first 11 games were either on the road or at neutral courts, and all of them came against good teams.
“I’m cautiously optimistic about our prospects for the season,” Fuhrman told The Era’s Ron Kloss at the time. “We know teams are going to be gunning for us, but I feel our kids are ready to take on the challenge.
“Our preseason schedule is going to be tough. Ten of our first 11 games are on the road against quality opposition. It will be important for us to get off to a fast start to gain some confidence.”
And that’s just what the Owls did.
Bradford began its season by winning the Brookville Tip-Off tournament with a 69-40 blasting of the host Raiders in the opening round and then a 61-48 win over a solid Brockway team. In both games, Burgos led the Owls in scoring with 17 points against Brookville and 16 against Brockway.
And though the Owls had another meeting with Brookville right after the tournament — a 64-43 shellacking of the Raiders — everybody knew what the next big test for the Owls would be: a Dec. 9 date with the Olean Huskies.
Bradford and Olean entered the game ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Big 30, respectively, setting up a marquee matchup before the teams would meet again in the IAABO Tournament at St. Bonaventure.
“After we won (the Brookville Tournament), I think everybody looked at that game against Olean because we were ranked first and second in the Big 30,” Fuhrman noted. “Olean was good that year. We had beaten some good teams, and a very good Brockway team, but Olean was really good.”
The game, held at OHS, lived up to its billing. Behind a surprising game-high 27 points from Terwilliger, the Owls prevailed as the area’s No. 1 team, 73-65, in a game that Olean had led 36-32 at halftime.
After that win, Bradford found itself with plenty of momentum. The Owls blasted each of their next five opponents — Warren, Clearfield, Ridgway, Erie East and Salamanca — by at least 20 points, a streak that concluded with a 75-39 drubbing of Salamanca that set up an Olean-Bradford rematch in the IAABO championship.
“When we beat (Olean) at their place, that gave our guys a lot of confidence moving forward,” Fuhrman said. “But we knew we’d see them again in the IAABO a couple weeks later, and we knew it’d be another really tough game.”
It ended up being even tougher than the first meeting, as it took an Olean turnover on the Huskies’ final possession to seal a 57-55 victory that sent the Owls to a 10-0 record to begin the season.
For Bradford, Terwilliger was once again the surprise hero, posting his second 27-point performance against Olean to pace the Owls. His performance was buoyed by 14 points from Burgos, who joined Terwilliger on the All-Tournament Team. Terwilliger was named IAABO MVP for his efforts.
“Andy Terwilliger always took his game to another level when we played Olean, it seemed,” Fuhrman said. “He was one of the better shooters I ever coached; he could really stroke it and could come off screens to turn it into a shot. He just always seemed to take it to another level against Olean.”
And behind his huge games against the Huskies, as well as consistent nights from Burgos (15.6 points per game), Hayden (8.7 ppg) and Manning (10.9 ppg) to that point, the Owls were off to the quick start they were looking for.
“You probably never expect to be undefeated, but I can’t say I was surprised with the way we started,” Fuhrman said. “I knew after we beat Brockway that we had a chance to be very good. Everybody looked at the Olean games as big tests, and when we got by those, I think we knew this was going to be a special team and a special season.”
