BRADFORD 75, PUNXSUTAWNEY 62

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Dec. 14, 2007

“We absolutely couldn’t stop Kopas in the first half. We tried three different defenders on him, and nothing seemed to work.” - Bradford head coach Dave Fuhrman talking about Punxy's Dane Kopas who scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half

PUNXSUTAWNEY – The Bradford Owls stormed back from a 12-point halftime deficit to defeat Punxsutawney 75-62 in D9 League action Friday night.

The Chucks led 42-30 at halftime behind 6-foot-2 sophomore swingman Dane Kopas. Kopas torched the Owls defense for 20 first-half points including four 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 24 points.

“We absolutely couldn’t stop Kopas in the first half,” Bradford head coach Dave Fuhrman said. “We tried three different defenders on him, and nothing seemed to work.”

As a team, Punxsutawney was on fire in the first half hitting 7 of 9 three-pointers.

But Bradford made some adjustments at halftime coming out in a 1-31 halfcourt trap in the second half.

That defense help fuel a 24-10 Owls third-quarter advantage that completely erased Punxsutawney’s lead. Bradford continued the momentum in the fourth quarter outscoring the Chucks 21-10.

“My top assistant, Mike Manning, suggested we go to our 1-31 halfcourt trap,” Fuhrman said. “It really helped us. It seemed to make us more aggressive and intense defensively, and we forced some turnovers. Plus, we put our point guard Tommy Taylor on Kopas, and he did an outstanding job on him in the second half holding him to four points.”

Randy Confer led Bradford with 21 points including 15 in the second half, while Drew Kelly had 20 points including four 3-pointers. He scored 14 tallies in the second half. Ryan LaBrozzi chipped in with 12 points, while Ben Lanich added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Tommy Bush added 19 points for Punxsutawney, while Mike Cook had 12.

Bradford is now 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the D9 League, while Punxsutawney fell to 1-5 overall, 0-2 in league play.  

BRADFORD 75, PUNXSUTAWNEY 62

Score by Quarters

Bradford     17   13   24   21     75

Punxsy      21   21   10   10     62

Bradford: 75

Taylor 4-0-0-9, Viola 0-0-1-0, LaBrozzi 5-2-2-12, Kelly 8-0-0-20, Teribery 0-0-0-0, Mackey 1-0-0-2, Fuhrman 0-0-0-0, Lanich 5-1-4-11, Confer 10-1-4-21. Totals 33-4-11-75

3 Pt. FG:  Kelly 4, Taylor 1

Punxsy: 62

Furman 0-2-3-2, Bush 6-4-4-19, Muth 1-0-0-2, Neal 1-1-3-3, Kopas 9-2-2-24, Cook 5-0-0-12

Totals 22-9-12-62

3 Pt. FG:  Kopas 4, Bush 3, Cook 2