BRADFORD – The Railroaders dropped a Monday night conference varsity basketball game to the visiting Preble Shawnee Arrows, with the difference coming at the free throw line, where the Arrows made 17-29 (58 percent) while Bradford shot 80 percent, making 4-of-5 throws.
“We’re not a very deep team, so when foul trouble comes out, it’s difficult to overcome,” said Bradford Coach Alex Swabb. “We had plenty of opportunities in that second half to hit shots. The ball just didn’t bounce our way, and that second half when we needed them to, and that’s what it came down to. They hit the shots they needed to, and we couldn’t convert the ones we needed to.”
The Railroaders raced out to a 9-2 lead, bringing a timeout from the Arrows’ bench. Bradford extended its lead to 11-2 at 2:17 on the first before Preble Shawnee’s Isaac Blankenship drilled a 3-pointer to close out the first quarter, with Bradford leading 11-5 behind the scoring of senior Owen Canan’s nine points, including his first of three treys on the night.
The WOAC teams battled to a 15-15 second-quarter score, with Shawnee’s Brody Foxbower knocking down eight points and Canan leading Bradford with seven points, including his second three of the first half, sending the teams to the break, with the Roaders leading 26-20.
“We got plenty of great looks, looks that we were very confident in the kids that got them hitting those shots,” Swabb stated.
Leading 30-24 at 5:52 in the third quarter, fouls began to pile up on the Roaders, with the Arrows getting their first lead of the night, 33-32, at 3:38 the period. A smothering Preble Shawnee defense limited Canan to 2-for-2 at the third quarter free throw line while Brody Morton was logging nine Arrows points, including 3-3 at the charity stripe. The Arrows took the third by a double-digit 18-8 score to lead 38-34 with one quarter to play.
Bradford battled back early in the fourth to retake a 42-40 lead on a Canan Jumper with 6:10 on the clock. The Arrows’ 6’2” Brayden Robinette took over the game, pouring in 13 fourth-quarter points to lead Preble Shawnee to a 10-point WOAC win.
“We will live Greg (Chowning) taking wide-open threes every day of the week, and if he’s not able to convert tonight, then unfortunately, sometimes this is where the results go,” Coach Swabb said. “We got plenty of looks with Rallie (Wirrig) inside we wanted to get. Sometimes, things just don’t fall your way, and that is what happened to us in the second half tonight.”
With the 2024-2025 season winding down, Coach Swabb believes his team is showing progress with the OHSAA tournament on the horizon.
“I am very confident in us,” Swabb said. “I don’t think our record reflects the talent we have. We had a rough stretch there in the middle of the year, but we’re a very competitive team, and regardless of who we show up with when we pull that tournament draw, I am very confident in us being able to compete with no matter who we pick.”
Owen Canan led Bradford and all scorers with 24 points. Robinette paced the Arrows with 18 points.
Preble Shawnee improves to 10-6 overall and 7-1 in the WOAC, Bradford drops to 6-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
BOXSCORE:
PREBLE SHAWNEE 55, BRADFORD 45
PREBLE SHAWNEE – B. Robinette 18, B. Morton 11, B. Foxbower 10, R. Smith I. Blankenship 7 – TOTALS 16 17-29 2 55
BRADFORD – O. Canan 24, R. Wirrig 9, G. Chowning 4, Z. Harleman 4, T. Manuel 4 – TOTALS 16 4-5 3 45
3-POINTERS
Preble Shawnee 2 (I. Blankenship 1, R. Smith 1)
Bradford 3 (O. Canan 3)
SCORE by QUARTERS
05-15-18-17 55 Preble Shawnee
11-15-08-11 45 Bradford
