By Stu Swartz
With fouls mounting and their lead shrinking, Goshen High School’s boys basketball Redskins needed a spark Friday night at Bremen.
Josh Randall, 5-10 senior, delivered four timely ‘3s’ and another by 5-9 junior reserve Alex Aguilar helped the Redskins hold off the determined Lions, 51-42.
Randall led the Redskins with 15 points as Goshen achieved its first 3-0 season start in 20 years.
The Redskins play their home opener tonight against the Penn Kingsmen with game time approximately 7:45, following a varsity girls game between GHS and Penn at 6.
“Josh Randall has played very poised for us two games in a row,” said Goshen coach Brian Bechtel. “He was the only guy hitting shots there for awhile and we also wanted him in there at the end of the game for free-throw shooting.
“Both Aguilar and Brock Bender (6-1 junior) gave us great minutes off the bench defensively and Alex also hit a big ‘3’.”
Cam Snyder, 6-1 senior, tallied 13 points and 6-2 junior Ethan Hussey 12 for the Redskins. Hussey grabbed eight rebounds, Snyder and 6-2 junior Marshall Crawford both seven and 6-6 senior Nathan Stegelmann six.
“Every time we come to Bremen, it’s a struggle and this is the first time we have won here in six years,” said Bechtel.
“Bremen made some runs at us. We did a good job answering them in the first half and not so good in the second. We did play some solid defense near the end when it counted most.
“We have to quit fouling so much. I like the aggressive attitude of our kids, but we need to stay away from the silly fouls. We never could sustain momentum because we continually put Bremen on the line.
“Our decision-making was not always good, but we did get off to a good start for the third game in a row and that builds confidence.
“I thought our student following was a huge bonus for the team in this game. The energy of their classmates propelled us to win this game.”
Hussey stole the ball and was fouled, hitting two free throws 23 seconds into the game for a quick Goshen lead. Stegelmann followed with a rebound goal and 6-0 senior Ryan Bartley scored on a baseline drive for a 6-0 Redskin command.
It was 11-4, but Bremen scored six points in the last 1:05 of the quarter to get within one.
Snyder hit a free throw and Randall back-to-back 3-pointers for an 18-10 Goshen advantage with 5:21 to go in the second quarter.
In the last 2:19 of the period it was Snyder on a 17-footer, Hussey on a sweet 12-foot bank shot, Snyder hitting two free tosses and Hussey a turn-around 10-footer for a 32-18 halftime score.
But the Lions wouldn’t go away, scoring the first nine points of the second half to get within 32-27. Goshen scored just six points in the quarter and led 38-31 going into the fourth. Aguilar’s ‘3’ from the left corner ended third-period scoring.
Bremen got within two at 40-38 and again at 42-40 with 3:24 to play.
That’s when Randall stepped up again, nailing a ‘3’ from the left side with 2:49 remaining.
Goshen was finally able to get some defensive stops and iced the game at the free-throw line — two by Hussey at 1:06, one by Snyder at 0:53, one by Hussey at 0:39 and two by Randall at 0:23.
The Redskins won despite going just 15-for-38 from the field, 5-for-20 from 3-point range. Defense helped rescue Goshen as Bremen was 13-of-45 from the floor.
Junior Varsity
Goshen’s JV also moved to 3-0 with a 36-20 victory.
Jonathan Good scored seven points for the Redskins while Brock Bender, Andrew Bowers and Taylor Kolbus each had six, Mac Hussey and Alex Aguilar both two and Andrew Litwiller one.
(Box Score on Page B-3)
