PIQUA – The Bradford Railroaders earned a 51-33 first-round OHSAA DIV tournament win over the Ansonia Tigers.
“I’m very proud of how we played,” Bradford coach, Alex Swabb said following the game.
“The kids did fight hard,” said Ansonia coach, Tony Overton. “They do play hard.”
Bradford grabbed a 22-14 lead after one-quarter of play led by 11 Hudson Hill points including three 3-pointers, six Landon Wills points including 4-4 at the free throw line, and five Owen Canan points. Trevor Hemmerich paced Ansonia with seven points including a triple.
“The kid is a great shooter,” Swabb said of Hill. “We lean on him a lot, he provides us a ton of momentum when he knocks down those big shots. That’s a four-year starter – he’s the perfect kid to lean on. He’s who we go to in big moments and he delivered very well for us tonight.”
Period No. 2 was ice cold as the Railroaders could only muster two points while Ansonia was adding five points to the board sending the teams to the break with Bradford holding a 24-19 advantage.
“It was an absolute struggle for us,” Coach Swabb said of the second quarter. “We had a lot of good looks that weren’t falling for us because we were missing some layups.”
The Railroaders doubled up on Ansonia 12-6 in the third and took its first double-digit lead of the night, 34-24 with 1:28 showing for a 36-25 score with three quarters in the book. Hill led Bradford with seven third-period points including his fourth trey of the game.
Bradford wasted little time putting the game in the win column outscoring the Tigers 15-8 in the fourth good for an 18-point win to advance in tournament action.
“We only won six games but we won six games,” said Ansonia coach, Tony Overton.
“Great group, very competitive group, loyal,” Ansonia coach Tony Overton said of his seniors. “When Garrett Stammen went out they lost their king. I knew it was a problem but I didn’t know how big an issue it was. We had huge expectations, very disappointing being 6-17 but I’m proud of the boys’ efforts and looking forward to the future.”
Hill led Bradford and all scorers with a game-high 19 points.
BOXSCORE:
BRADFORD 51, ANSONIA 33
BRADFORD – H. Hill 19, L. Wills 15, O. Canan 7, Z. Harleman 4, G. Trevina 4, R. Wirring 2 – TOTALS 13 10-18 5 51
ANSONIA – T. Hemmerich 12, L. Bowman 9, M. Barga 8, J. Schmitmeyer 4 – TOTALS 10 1-3 4 33
3-POINTERS
Bradford 5 (H. Hill 4, Trevina 1)
Ansonia 4 (L. Bowman 3, T. Hemmerich 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
22-02-12-15 51 Bradford
14-05-06-08 33 Ansonia
