BRADFORD – The Newton Indians earned a 52-50 overtime conference win over the Bradford Railroaders.
“That was a thriller,” said Bradford coach Michael Cantrell. “We knew coming here being their home opener would be a very big challenge for us. We knew they would be well prepared; they would be fired up.”
Bradford senior Owen Canan scorched the nets for 32 points while Newton got balanced scoring in the game, which saw 58 free throws taken.
“There were a lot of elements we couldn’t control,” Coach Cantrell noted. “I was glad how we competed and fought through it.”
Newton took the opening quarter 15-10, with Max Newhouse leading the Indians with five points and Canan pacing Bradford with five points.
“We were getting plenty of great looks that first quarter, sometimes they’re just not falling,” said Bradford coach Alex Swabb. “That doesn’t mean you have to do anything differently.”
Bradford won period No. 2 by an 8-6 score with Canan a perfect 6-6 at the line sending the teams to the break with Newton up 21-18.
The Railroaders doubled up on the Indians in the third, taking advantage of 10 Canan points, including two 3-pointers, giving Bradford a 34-29 advantage with one quarter to play.
Bradford held a 42-39 lead with 10.8 seconds on the fourth-quarter board only to have sophomore Cole Alexander drill his second triple of the night to knot the score at 42-42 sending the game to overtime.
Newton earned the overtime win by going 8-10 at the free-throw line to go along with a Newhouse bucket, taking the OT period 10-8.
“We knew it would be tough,” said Cantrell. “I am so proud of our kids; we’re young. It was a great high school basketball game.”
Owen Canan led Bradford and all scorers with a game-high 32 points.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids,” said Coach Swabb. “They played incredibly hard, they played a great game, that’s a good team. Owen can only do so much and yes he is a great player, he does a lot for us and there is no overlooking that. We rely on him a lot but one person can’t win you a game, they all know that and they all stepped up.”
BOXSCORE:
NEWTON 52, BRADFORD 50
NEWTON – L. Cornett 17, M. Newhouse 16, C. Alexander 7, R. Koffer 4, B. Wackler 4, T. Robinson 3, I. Hainline 2 – TOTALS 9 22-31 4 52
BRADFORD – O. Canan 32, R. Wirrig 10, G. Chowning 3, A. Harleman 2, A. Felver 1 – TOTALS 9 17-27 5 50
3-POINTERS
Newton 4 (C. Alexander 2, L. Cornett 1, T. Robinson 1)
Bradford 5 (O. Canan 3, R. Wirrig 2)
SCORE by QUARTERS
15-06-08-13-10 52 Newton
10-08-16-08-08 50 Bradford
