By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

BRADFORD — After playing a top 10 team in Division III in Preble Shawnee last night, the Bradford boys basketball team had to take on a top 10 team in Division IV in Troy Christian on Jan. 13. After a close first half, they lost 65-43.

Coach Alex Swabb said he was extremely proud of the way his team came out and fought the whole game. They left it all on the court.

“I’m nothing but proud of the way we played this game tonight. This is the toughest weekend we’re going to have the entire season. You run into a top 10 team in the state in Division III and you back to back it with a top 10 team in the state in Division IV,” Swabb said.

It was a fast paced game from the start. Before you could blink, Troy Christian was up 4-0. Bradford did lose junior Griffin Trevino to an injury a minute into the game.

Even with playing five guys for a whole half, Bradford was only down 29-24 at halftime. With about three minutes left in the first half, junior Owen Canan gave the Railroaders their first lead of the game.

But the Eagles went on an 8-2 run to close out the first half to get the lead.

As the second half went on, Troy Christian started to make more shots and Bradford couldn’t keep up. In the third quarter, Eagles senior Parker Penrod made three three-point shots to extend the lead.

Swabb said it was tough to get back into the game when Troy Christian started to get hot shooting the ball.

“Really, what it comes down to is we played a pretty solid game tonight. We just ran into a very good team that got very hot and hit the open shots when they were there,” Swabb said.

Bradford hung around as long as they could. The defense was getting some stops, but they couldn’t get the offense going along with it.

The Railroaders weren’t as crisp on offense as they have been this season. Some errand passes led to turnovers and they couldn’t get some shots to fall.

With a very limited rotation, Bradford started to get tired. They couldn’t match their high energy start as the second half went on.

“The way we came out and brought the energy to start that game, maybe we gassed out a little bit early in the third. It wasn’t hard to tell. Maybe that’s because of how much energy we had to exude last night. When you got the schools we’re from and you got the short rosters we have, all you can ask of a kid is to give everything they have. They did that tonight,” Swabb said.

The Railroaders continued to fight and give it all they had. The Eagles were too much to handle as Troy Christian continued to get good looks offensively.

Swabb said the effort was there the whole game. They will be in a good spot if they can play the rest of the season like they did in this one.

“If we play every game the rest of the year the way we play tonight, with our effort and our intensity, I would be very proud of how this season would end,” Swabb said.

Canan led the team with 14 points. Senior Hudson Hill had 10 points and junior Dalton Branson had nine points. Senior Landon Wills had seven points and junior Zage Harleman had three points.

Bradford is 8-5 on the season with a 4-2 WOAC record. They will have time to catch their breath before hosting a tough Arcanum team on Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

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