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Trotwood's Bradley helps crush Fairborn

Relaxed after signing to play football at Pitt, ‘Bam’ scores 26 points.

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer 1:12 AM Saturday, February 4, 2012

TROTWOOD — Trotwood-Madison boys basketball coach Rocky Rockhold has noticed a difference in Bam Bradley since Wednesday.

Friday night, everyone got to see the change since Bradley signed a letter of intent to play football at Pitt. The senior tallied 26 points and 10 rebounds in the Rams’ 93-65 win over Fairborn.

“He had a good couple of days of practice,” Rockhold said after the Rams improved to 7-6. “He never said it, but you could tell he was glad the pressure was off. You could tell he played free tonight.”

For Bradley, the transition from football field to court has taken longer than he thought it would.

“Coming from football so late, it has taken time to get into basketball shape,” Bradley said. “Every week I feel like I am in more and more basketball shape so I can go out and play how I play.”

Fairborn, playing without seven players suspended after last week’s brawl with Miamisburg, made a game of it in the first half. Kendrick Williams (29 points) scored eight of Fairborn’s first 13 points as the Skyhawks turned an 8-0 deficit into a 13-10 lead with 2:41 left in the opening period.

Trotwood, however, used the pounding inside game of Bradley and the athleticism of Jamar Hammonds (32 points, 10 rebounds, six steals) to take a 22-15 lead after the first eight minutes.

The Skyhawks, behind 13 second-quarter points from Williams, trimmed the deficit to 46-42 at the half, but ran out of steam in the second half.

“These guys have been on an emotional roller coaster,” Fairborn coach Nathan Chivington said after his squad fell to 10-6. “I am truly proud of these guys. It hasn’t been easy and Trotwood kept bringing people and fresh legs. We just had to hang in the best we could and hopefully be close enough at the end; they are just completely drained right now.”

Trotwood extended the lead to 70-55 after the third quarter as Fairborn was held to 6-of-26 shooting in the second half. The Rams put the game away with a 16-4 run to start the fourth.

“We have an opportunity to go on a run now,” Rockhold said. “We have to push and see what happens in the tournament. We just have to dig in, execute and do what we need to do.”

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