The Observer, December 8, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 13
Bradford, Young give offense a boost in Spartans' win over W&J
Coach Sean McDonnell was looking for offense. Co-captain Brandon Bradford answered the call, and the Spartans rebounded from a sluggish first half to defeat Washington and Jefferson, 76-66, last Saturday night in Horsburgh Gym. The win improved the team's record to 2-3.
"We played well enough to win," McDonnell said. "We got two good efforts offensively and played well enough on defense to win." One of those offensive efforts came from Bradford. The junior point guard, not particularly known for his outside shot, had his jumper working on Saturday, making two threes and shooting seven of 11 overall from the field.
"Coach Sean has given me the green light to shoot, and it definitely made me more confident in my shot," Bradford said, who finished with 20 points. "It really paid off for myself and the team. My teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open, and we made the opposing team pay for it."
The other offensive effort came from sophomore guard Steve Young, who scored 20 points and had five rebounds. It was uncertain whether Young would play in the game, as he had missed the previous Wednesday game due to a sprained ankle. Although it didn't appear to be a problem during the game, it's still an issue for the sophomore.
"The ankle definitely bothered me, but our team was in such a good flow that I tried not to think about it," he said. "Right now (Tuesday), it's about the same as it was on Saturday, swollen, bruised and sore."
McDonnell felt that W&J, although 0-7, is still a good team.
"They have three players with 1000 points in their career. I think we'll look back on this game and say we played a good team," he said.
The defense quieted two of W&J's leading scorers, Jon Koch and Brandon Studer. Koch scored 13 points, and Studer had eight.
The Spartans jumped out to an early 19-12 lead in the first half. However, an 18-4 run gave W&J a 30-23 lead with just over three minutes left in the half. Case came back in the second half, however, and tied the game at 42 with 16 minutes left to play. The Spartans didn't look back, closing the game with a 24-12 run.
McDonnell did find a couple areas that could use improvement.
"We're still getting into far too much foul trouble. That's something we have to continue to work with the team on," he said. Case ended the game with 21 fouls. W&J finished with 24. McDonnell also said that the team must do a better job rebounding. One aspect of the game in which the Spartans did show major improvement was free throw shooting. After missing more than half of their 32 attempts in a loss last week at Oberlin, the Spartans came back to make 27 of 31 in Saturday's win. Saturday also marked the first career appearance for A.J. Curry.
The Spartans will be playing this weekend at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Tournament. Four schools, each with strong engineering programs, will face off. The Illinois Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Case, and Milwaukee will play. Case drew WPI in the first round. Last year, they were ranked in the top 10 nationally and played in the NCAA Division III tournament.
"This tournament will be a good test for our team," McDonnell said.
Young believes that the team is capable of meeting the challenge.
"The fact is that if our team plays our game, we can beat any division III team in the nation," Young said. "The problem we are having now is just finding our rhythm."
