No. 2 Bridgeport doubles up Grafton, 62-31

Outside of a second-quarter lull in which Grafton drew within five twice, Bridgeport led wire-to-wire unthreatened, controlling the action with efficient inside-out offense and aggressive defense.

Bridgeport’s balanced offense was powered by a trio of double-digit scorers in Landon Sanders, Jack Spatafore and Carter Zuliani.

Sanders influenced the game on both ends, netting four of the Tribe’s five 3-point jumpers and recording game-highs in points (17) and steals (5).

Spatafore acted as Bridgeport’s steady hand, providing a much-needed two-way boost with 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals while Zuliani finished with 11 points, five rebounds and an assist.

Defensively, the Tribe came up with 12 steals and forced 22 Grafton turnovers to keep the Bearcat offense from finding a rhythm.

Greyson Ramezan spearheaded Grafton’s effort to overcome the relentless Bridgeport defense, finishing as the lone Bearcat in double figures with a team-high 11 points.

Bridgeport’s defensive discipline set the tone early, holding Grafton to just one field goal and forcing six turnovers to generate an abundance of easy transition scoring opportunities in the opening frame.

Stingy defense acted as the catalyst to allow the Tribe to outscore the Bearcats 17-4 in the opening frame. Sanders made his two-way impact felt, sinking two 3s and nabbed four steals to key the Tribe’s hot start.

Grafton’s lone points in that span came on a pair of free throws Jacob Moats and a post layup from Jonathan Maier off an assist from Caden Taylor.

The Bearcats found their footing in end second, stringing together a 13-5 push in which they trimmed the Tribe lead to five twice.

“Coming into the game we challenged our team and I felt they responded the right way,” coach Johnson said. “Bridgport’s a phenomenal team and have a legit chance to win it all so for us to dig deep and hang with them like we did showed that we’re headed in the right direction.”

Grafton began its march back with an initial 8-2 surge over the opening four minutes of the second, capped off by a Jonathan Maier 3 which cut Bridgeports lead to seven, 19-12.

The Bearcats first cut the lead to five, 20-15, on a Ramezan 3 with 3:10 left.

Bridgeport answered with a key Spatafore coast-to-coast score off a steal, yet Grafton again pulled within five, 22-17, on a Caden Taylor floater.

However, the Tribe rallied to tally the final seven points of the first-half with Sanders hitting a 3 and splitting a pair of shots at the charity stripe on the final minute to push Bridgeport’s lead to 29-17 at the break.

Grafton pulled within 10, 29-19, on a Ramezan driving paint finish on the Bearcats’ opening possession of the third but never got any closer.

Bridgeport answered with a 13-2 surge over the next five minutes with a Spatafore putback pushing its lead to 20, 41-21.

Carrying a 43-25 lead into the fourth, the Tribe sealed the win by outscoring Grafton 19-6 in the fourth,

Zuliani added the exclamation point with back-to-back transition dunks as part of a 11-0 game-ending Bridgeport run, the latter of which came on an off the glass assist from Sanders to seal a resounding Tribe victory.

Both teams are scheduled to return to action on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. with Bridgeport (12-1) hosting Elkins while Grafton (0-11) will travel to play Buckhannon-Upshur.

“I learned that we’re going to have to continue to stay on this team about hunger and humility,” Marshall said. “We’re a very good team but we need to understand that we’re good because of what we do and how we play. We need to find that consistent mental and physical focus to really take the next step.”