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Ansonia
junior Logan Moody drives against Bryce Arnett of Bradford in
first quarter action in Ansonia.
The Tigers won the Cross County
Conference battle 72-52 over the Railroaders. George Starks Photo.
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Ansonia lights up
Bradford in third quarter barrage
By George Starks
Sports Editor
ANSONIA - “They shot the lights out in the third quarter. Everything
they put up went in. You can’t stop that.”
Those were the words of Bradford boys basketball coach Curtis Enis
Friday night after the Ansonia Tigers dropped a 72-52 victory on his
Railroaders in Cross County Conference play.
Trailing by 30-18 count going into the break, the Roaders were not out
of things by any stretch.
In fact, Bradford had taken the momentum away from the homestanding
Tigers in the second quarter but there was still 16 minutes of
basketball to be played. It was the third eight minutes that would make
the difference.
Ansonia put on a three point shooting clinic that would have made some
collage teams jealous.
Treys from seniors Seth Keller (11 points), Zach Brown (12) and junior
Derek Kaiser (team high 17), brought the Roaders to a near halt as a 12
point halftime lead bloomed into a 55-29 advantage after three quarters.
“That was team basketball right there,” said Ansonia coach Darrick
Barga. “We came out in the second half like it was zero to zero. We
were ready to play. They shared the ball and if one was open, then he
took the shot. If he wasn’t, he passed the ball until a shooter was
open. I’m very happy how we played together as a team at both ends of
the floor.”
Coming out to start the second half, Bradford employed a 2-3 zone and
the Tigers became zone busters.
“We figured they would go to a zone,” said Barga. “I just couldn’t be
happier about the way we moved the ball and found open guys, inside and
outside. When you’re working against a zone, you have to get the ball
inside first and we did that. I really didn’t know how well we were
going to shoot tonight because we haven’t been shooting that well in
practice. The kids have worked hard in practice the past four weeks and
it paid off. I was worried about that. Everybody had a great game
tonight. Kids came off the bench and got the job done”
With four players in double figures (Dusty Holcomb 10 points), it was
Kaiser that surprised Barga. The Tiger junior dropped in 12 of his 17
points from beyond the arch
“Derek has been getting tired and very frustrated with himself,” said
Barga. “I told him to go out and relax and tonight he just played, and
the whole team was comfortable out there. We were patient. There was no
rush or forcing the issue, we just played good team ball.”
While the final score wouldn’t indicate it, Enis was pleased with the
way his team played.
“I thought we played well but when a team shoots the ball as well as
Ansonia did tonight, what can you do,” said Enis. “My kids played great
defense but things like this happen. They shot lights out. Every time
they put the ball up, it was finding a way to get in. We were getting a
hand in the shooters faces and we played good defense. The kids were
getting down because they were doing everything I wanted them to do but
in the same aspect, every time the ball is shot, it goes through the
net. This is one of those games where you look back, critique some of
the things that went wrong and improve on it.”
The 52 points scored by Bradford were the most points scored in four
years in a game according to Enis.
“We were hitting our shots, we put 52 on the board and on some nights,
that’s good enough to win,” Enis pointed out. “I think about half of
Ansonia’s points came on three pointers (33 of 72 points total).”
Alan Yount led Bradford on the floor with a game high 22 points.
Ansonia will be idle until next Friday as they host Arcanum. The
Trojans fell to Bethel Friday, 57-38. Bradford will host Tri-Village
next Friday. The Patriots topped Franklin Monroe on opening night.
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Austin
Sell jumps center for Bradford as the 2011-12 boys basketball
season got umderway
Friday in Ohio. Bradford opened up at Ansonia,
while Versailles visited Greenville, Franklin
Monroe traveled to
Tri-Village, Arcanum hosted Bethel and Mississinawa Valley tangled
with
the Indians at Newton. George Starks Photo.
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