BRADFORD 54, PUNXSUTAWNEY 50

Dec. 17, 2004

It marked the second consecutive game that the Owls have had trouble putting an opponent away. Tuesday night Elk County Catholic rallied from a 7-point deficit in the final four minutes to stun the Owls.

On Friday, Bradford (4-2 overall, 1-1 D9 League) was able to hold onto the win thanks to the play of point guard Shane Hvizdzak, who scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter including hitting 5 of 6 foul shots in the game’s final minutes.

"It was great to see Shane step up like that in the fourth quarter and at the end of the game when it was on the line," Bradford head coach Dave Fuhrman said. "It is important that your point guard be a good foul shooter when you are trying to milk the clock at the end of the game. Shane came up big on the line to seal it for us."

Punxsutawney (5-1, 1-1) actually got to within two points of Bradford in the fourth quarter – 47-45 – thanks to the play of Dennis Manges, who scored eight of his 10 points in the quarter.

"Punxsy battled us all the way, as I knew they would," Fuhrman said. "Coach Vassallo had his team playing excellent basketball, and they are the most improved team in our league. I was worried how we would bounce back from the touch loss at Elk County Catholic Tuesday, but our guys responded. This really was a ‘must’ win for us."

Stuart Morris added 15 points for Bradford including three three-pointers. Shawn Spindler snared 11 rebounds to go with eight points while also guarding Punxsutawney’s Kolby Mumau, who had scored 50 combined points in the Chucks previous two games including a school-record eight three-pointers against Cameron County Monday. With Spindler on him, Mumau was held to one three-pointer and three points on the night.

"Shawn played excellent defense on Mumau," Fuhrman said.

Sophomore Devin Mesoraco led Punxsutawney with 17 points.

Punxsutawney cost itself the game at the foul line hitting just 12 of 21 free throws. Manges was 2-for-6 and Mesoraco 7 for 11. Bradford was 5 for 7 from the line.

Braydon Kopas 2 0-0 4, Kolby Mumau 1 0-0 3, Chris Reesman 0 2-2 2, Adam Vassallo 3 1-2 8, Dennis Manges 3 2-6 10, Devin Mesoraco 5 7-11 17, Steve Knox 3 0-0 6. Totals 17 12-21 50.

Stuart Morris 6 0-0 15, Shane Hvizdzak 5 5-6 16, Evan Luciano 3 0-0 6, Shawn Spindler 4 0-1 8, Mike Feldman 2 0-0 5, Eric Arnett 2 0-0 4. Totals 22 5-7 54

Three-pointers: Punxsutawney 4 (Manges 2, Mumau, Vassallo). Bradford 5 (Morris 3, Hvizdzak, Feldman)