BRADFORD 62, PUNXSUTAWNEY 44

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Jan. 17, 2009

BRADFORD – Led by Ryan Mackey’s double-double the Bradford Owls upset the Punxsutawney Chucks 62-44 Saturday afternoon in Bradford ending Punxsy’s seven-game winning streak and unbeaten D9 League record.

Mackey led the Owls (7-5 overall, 3-3 D9 League) with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Bradford shot 55 percent (23 of 42) from the field while averaging a 61-45 loss earlier in the season to Punxsutawney (9-3, 5-1), which had just moved up to the No. 2 ranking in the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com District 9 rankings the night before.

“I’d like to take this game and bottle it,” Bradford head coach Dave Fuhrman said. “We picked a good time to play our best game of the season. Our team couldn’t have executed the game plan any better.”

Bradford also won the rebounding battle 29-17 and committed just eight turnovers. Three other Owls in addition to Mackey reached double figures with Cory Viola scoring 11 off the bench and Mike White and Pug Fuhrman each adding 10 points.

“Our guys ran excellent half-court offense,” Fuhrman said. “We spaced the ball, screened well and shot it well. We also played great defensive limiting Dane Kopas to five points and Tommy Bush to eight points.”

Punxsutawney, which shot just 34 percent from the floor, was led by Cory Neal’s 15 points.

The win got Bradford within two games of the top of the conference in its attempt to take home a second straight D9 League title.

“The league is very balanced this year, and every game is a battle,” Fuhrman said. “It should be an interesting second half. Hopefully, we can continue to improve and, perhaps, after starting the league 0-3 we’ve gotten ourselves back in the hunt in the league race. Our challenge now is to play like we did today on a consistent basis. But I’m extremely happy with our team’s improvement, and you can see our confidence growing.”

Bradford can cement itself back in the league race Wednesday when it travels to Elk County Catholic, while Punxsutawney entertains Clearfield the same night.

Bradford 62, Punxsutawney 44

Score by Quarters

Punxsy 9 8 17 10 – 44

Bradford 15 16 19 21 – 62

Punxsy – 44

Starr 3-0-1-6, Puleio 0-0-0-0, Weaver 0-0-0-0, Tibbs 0-0-0-0, Kyle Neal 0-0-0-0, Bush 3-1-2-8, Walker 1-4-4-7,Corey Neal 5-4-6-15, Dale 0-0-0-0, Kopas 1-3-3-5, Stumpf 1-0-0-2, Amundson 0-1-2-1Totals 14-13-18-44

Bradford – 62

Fair 0-1-2-1, White 3-4-4-10, Grandy 0-2-3-2, Frombach 0-0-0-0, Viola 5-0-3-11, Coats 2-0-0-4, Burgoon 0-0-0-0, Mackey 9-1-3-19, Kline 1-3-4-5, Faucher 0-0-0-0, Fuhrman 3-2-2-10, Borowski 0-0-0-0 Totals 23-13-21-62

Three-pointers – Punxsy 3 (Bush, Walker, Corey Neal). Bradford 3 (Fuhrman 2, Viola)