By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

HOUSTON — It was a total team effort from the Railroaders on Feb. 7. The Bradford High School boys basketball team traveled to Houston High School and defeated the Wildcats, 59-35.

Head coach Jay Hall said he was thrilled with the team’s effort against a tough team in Houston. Playing against a team like them helped Bradford get better before the playoffs start.

“It’s a lot rougher up here, we know it and we expected it. There was some parts tonight where it made us better because of the way they play,” Hall said. “A lot of credit to those kids, they play hard.”

It took awhile for the Railroaders to light up the scoreboard. After the first quarter, they were up 10-6. They raced out to an early lead, but was slowed down when Houston started to press them.

Then Bradford took over the game. The Railroaders scored 25 points in the second quarter.

It all started with the defense. Bradford was able to create turnovers and score in transition. They got down the court fast and scored before Houston could set up their defense.

“I saw our defensive energy pick up and then all of a sudden, we get points on the board. You sit down and guard and anticipate and deflect passes, then all of a sudden you get layups in transition. It’s not the offense, it’s the defense that creates the offense,” Hall said.

Senior Landon Monnin capped off the second quarter with a buzzer beater three pointer. Bradford kept up the same intensity throughout the second half to claim a 20+ point lead.

Hall said the team was great at being able to turn their defense into offense at the beginning of the year. In this game, they showed they could still be that kind of team.

Hall also noticed the team enjoying the game more. He said since senior Parker Davidson went down with injury, he felt like the team has put pressure on themselves to step up and forgot about the fun aspect of the game. In this game, he saw more smiles from his team.

The team was without Davidson at the game. Hall said Davidson had surgery on his knee. He also said the team is still thinking about him and all hope for a speedy recovery.

Playing or not, Davidson still has a big role on this team.

“We miss him. He’s still a very large part of what we do. Everybody contributed today. Tonight is just not about tonight, they put in a lot of work,” Hall said.

Sophomore Owen Canan led the team with 14 points. Junior Hudson Hill was second with 12 and junior Tucker Miller had 11 points.

The Railroaders are now 13-8 with a 7-3 conference record. They will end their regular season with a home game against Newton before they take on WOAC rival Ansonia in the first round of the Division IV Southwest District Sectional.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]