DUKE CENTER — This will be a game to forget for Oswayo Valley.
The Green Wave have some talent, but Otto-Eldred thoroughly handled them on Tuesday at the Terror Dome. O-E won 76-36 in a rebound game after Sunday’s overtime loss to Bradford.
“I actually think that loss against Bradford is gonna help us as the year goes along,” said O-E head coach Steve Bell. “We learned a lot of lessons out of that. And we talked about them all night long. I thought we played for all four quarters tonight.”
In that game, O-E led by as many as 20, but couldn’t withstand a Bradford comeback. In this game, there would be no such comeback attempt. The Terrors got hot early, leading 29-11 by the end of the first quarter in a sign of things to come.
By halftime, it was 41-18 in favor of O-E.
Simply put, everything and everyone was working. Otto-Eldred knocked down threes all night long. They passed well and found the open man to get good looks when running offensive sets.
They rebounded well and shot 10-of-13 from the free throw line. No one player dominated for the Terrors; it was a team effort with multiple players stepping up and playing well.
“It was a nice win tonight,” Bell said. “Nice to play a lot of players, nice to get a lot of scoring, they’ve been working hard so it’s nice to have a night like this.”
Gavin Jimerson led all scorers with 17 points and he was once again a dominant presence in the paint. He attacked down low and drove through contact, putting up 11 points in the second half.
Jimerson didn’t just use his size on offense, he racked up 13 rebounds, including four on offense, to help O-E with second-chance points. He also had six assists.
Part of the reason that O-E had such ease scoring down low came from the 3-point shooting of Austin Cousins and Manning Splain.
Splain and Cousins combined for seven 3-pointers, scoring four and three, respectively. Even more impressive, they weren’t flinging threes for the sake of it, they were taking good, clean, open looks that helped space the floor on offense and put more pressure on OV’s defense. And they rarely missed. Cousins finished with 11 points while Splain had 13.
“Yeah we got some kids that can shoot the ball,” said Bell. “I think it’s tough to play zone against us. That’s gonna be beneficial as the year goes along.”
Splain also had four assists while Cousins tallied four rebounds and four steals to help out on defense.
Shene Thomas played well against Bradford but he fouled out, which hurt O-E down the stretch. He played a much cleaner game against OV and showed off an impressive shooting touch.
Thomas scored 12 points in the second quarter alone and finished with 16 on the night. He wasn’t the tallest player on the court but he rebounded well, finishing with seven. Landon Francis grabbed five boards but was key directing the offense, tallying six assists and running the point.
The game could have looked very different.
Early on, O-E’s offense was cooking and Oswayo Valley was getting clean looks, but their shots weren’t going in. O-E’s defense stiffened in the middle two periods and the Green Wave couldn’t find a rhythm until it was too late.
Cayden Black led OV in scoring with 15 points, including two 3-pointers late in the game. He ran the point and did a good job attacking the basket, no matter who was in front of him. Ian Bilski had 14 points for OV and showed great touch from range at the end of the game.
Both teams have a day to rest and recover before games on Thursday. Oswayo Valley will host Smethport while O-E will visit Cameron County.
“We have a tough game against Cameron County Thursday night,” Bell said. “Should be a good one. We gotta get back in the gym tomorrow and work on a few things.”
AT DUKE CENTEROswayo Valley (36)Black 5 3-4 15, Bilski 6 1-3 14, Mertsock 2 1-4 5, Skiver 1 0-1 2, Bailey 0 0-2 0, Wiley 0 0-1 0. Totals: 14 5-15 36Otto-Eldred (76)Jimerson 7 3-4 17, Thomas 6 4-4 16, Manning Splain 4 1-2 13, Cousins 4 0-0 11, Walker 3 1-1 7, Francis 2 0-0 5, Max Splain 1 1-2 3, Love 1 0-0 2, Caldwell 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 10-13 76OV 9 18 22 36O-E 21 41 58 76Three-point goals: OV 3 (Black 2, Bilski), O-E 8 (Splain 4, Cousins 3, Francis); Total fouls: OV 13, O-E 17; fouled out: NoneJV: O-E 47, OV 30
