COVINGTON – The Bradford Railroaders won the sixth annual Buccaneers Holiday Classic with a 56-40 win over the Covington BUCCS.
“That was a great job by everybody tonight,” said Bradford coach, Alex Swabb. “I couldn’t be more proud of these kids.”
“It shows how far we’ve come,” Swabb continued. “Prior to just a few years ago, success was not easy to come by in this program. It’s a testament to these kids and how hard they’ve worked. Landon Wills, Owen Canan, and Hudson Hill – those three kids were there when it first started and I am glad to see all their efforts starting to pay off for them.”
The neighboring schools played to a 12-12 score after one period of play before the Railroaders put some distance between the teams taking period No. 2 by a 19-13 count sending the teams to the break with Bradford holding a 31-25 advantage.
Covington and Bradford played to a 10-10 standoff in the third giving the Railroaders a 41-35 advantage with one period to play.
The BUCCS scored first in the fourth to make it a four-point game at 41-37 only to have the Railroaders take advantage of a 15-3 scoring run to close out play and earn a 16-point tournament win.
“We knew defense was going to win this game whether it was for us or them,” Swabb stated. “We knew if we didn’t come out and set the tone tonight they were going to set the tone and we were going to play their game all night and was not going to be a good situation for us.”
Bradford was a torrid 18-22 at the free throw line with tournament MVP, Owen Canan knocking down a perfect 10-10 at the charity stripe for the Railroaders. Covington went 9-15 at the line.
“The aggressiveness is something we really work on,” said Swabb. “Getting to the line is like a secondary effect of that.”
Canan led Bradford and all scorers with a game-high 24 points.
“He’s an incredibly talented kid,” Coach Swabb said of Canan. “He works in practice incredibly hard. He deserves all the success he gets. He’s one of the hardest workers I know on this team. He puts in the work and I am happy to see the benefits from it.”
Buccaneers Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team: Owen Canan, Tournament MVP, Bradford; Landon Wills, Bradford; Hudson Hill, Bradford; Regan Christ, Arcanum; Britton Miller, Covington; Brogen Angle, Covington.
BOXSCORE:
BRADFORD – O. Canan 24, L. Wills 15, H. Hill 9, D. Branson 6, Z. Harleman 2
COVINGTON – B. Miller 13, B. Angle 12, T. Palsgrove 6, B. Hite 4, G. Kimmel 1
3-POINTERS
Bradford 4 (D. Branson 2, H. Hill 2)
Covington 3 (B. Angle 2, B. Hite 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-19-10-15 56 Bradford
12-13-10-05 40 Covington
