“It was a struggle for us to work the ball around to start. You don’t win basketball games scoring seven points in the first half,” said Brocton head coach Darnell Pritchard.

The only electricity in the Brocton gym through halftime emanated from the space between the bleachers, as the pep band entertained the crowd with performances throughout the night, featuring guitars and drums in what is a unique tradition at Brocton.

After halftime, however, the boys on the floor picked up the tempo and made the contest much more exciting for the crowd to enjoy.

Brocton made obvious strides in the second half, but it was not enough to earn a win to kick off the season, as the visiting Timberwolves left Brocton High School with a 47-33 nonleague victory.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Brocton’s Jacob Walker (24) dribbles during the first half of a non-league boys basketball game against Cattaraugus-Little Valley on Thursday night at Brocton High School.

Cattaraugus-Little Valley (2-0) scored the game’s first four points in a slow first quarter. Brocton (0-1) evened the score at 4-4 on a pair of buckets from CJ Spiller. Then, with 1:20 left in the opening frame, Owen Wright hit a go-ahead 3-pointer to take a 7-4 lead into the second quarter.

While Brocton only managed four points in the first frame, the Bulldogs followed with just three points in the second period. Spiller made a free throw with 6:29 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs’ only points the rest of the period came on a bank shot by Owen Pryll with 1:20 left in the half. Wright had six more points for the Timberwolves in the second quarter, and led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission, as Cattaraugus-Little Valley led the contest 17-7.

The third quarter was much less sloppy than the first two periods, as Brocton matched its first half output in less than three minutes to begin the third quarter.

Jacob Walker got the scoring going with a jump shot just 12 seconds in, compared to more than four minutes passing before the first points for the Bulldogs at the beginning of the contest.

“Once we kind of got settled in, then we started to get in the flow of things. We started to look better offensively in the second half,” Pritchard said.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Brocton’s Christian Morello, middle, battles in the paint with Cattaraugus-Little Valley’s Grady Merrill (33) and Theron Crawford in a nonleague boys basketball game on Thursday night at Brocton High School.

Both teams traded buckets back and forth through the first three minutes of the second half. Wright drilled a corner three with 5:13 left in the period to extend the Timberwolves’ lead to a dozen, 26-14, but rather than fold, Brocton answered the call and fought its way back into the contest. The Bulldogs scored the next seven points, punctuated by a 3-pointer at the top of the arc from Walker that triggered a Timberwolves timeout. Brocton pulled to within five points, 26-21, with 3:46 left in the third quarter. Walker added a pair of free throws with two minutes left to put Brocton down four, 27-23.

“Walker got downhill and he was attacking from the get-go. I think that just really opened everything up for us,” Pritchard said of Walker’s second half surge.

But even after Brocton pulled to within four, once again, it was Owen Wright that came up with a big shot to put some distance between the teams. Wright hit a corner three, from the same spot he did earlier in the period, to extend the lead to 30-23. A pair of Grady Merrill free throws closed out the quarter for a 32-23 Cattaraugus-Little Valley lead entering the fourth quarter.

Walker hit a runner in the lane to bring Brocton within seven points less than a minute into the fourth quarter, but the Timberwolves maintained the advantage the entire period. Cattaraugus-Little Valley scored 10 of its 15 points in the fourth quarter from the free throw line, including six free throws from Tucker Barrick. Brocton was outscored 15-10 in the final period of Thursday’s defeat.

“All in all, I thought it was a good game. I’m really proud of my guys. They played hard,” Pritchard said. “I can’t say that they didn’t leave it all out there, because they did. They were all working their tails off, diving on the floor, doing everything I asked of them, so I was happy with that.”

Wright did not score in the fourth quarter, but still led all scorers in Thursday’s contest with 17 points. Barrick finished with 14 points, while Grady Merrill added nine points for the Timberwolves.

After not scoring at all in the first half, Walker led Brocton on the night with a dozen points after the break. Spiller had eight points on the night, while Evan Ludwig had six points in the third quarter, and Christian Morello had four points in the fourth quarter. Brocton played without Anthony Gatto, a multi-sport standout athlete who is expected to play a big role this season, due to an illness.

“We want to be a team where anybody can have a good game on any given day. Today, it was Jacob (Walker) and we are definitely going to highlight on that to show him this is his capability.”

Thursday was the first game of Pritchard’s tenure as the varsity boys basketball coach in Brocton. He took over for Collin Mulcahy, who switched titles to lead the modified basketball program to give him more time with his family.

“I’m very grateful to get the opportunity,” Pritchard said after his first game leading the Bulldogs. Pritchard found himself facing his alma mater in his coaching debut, as he was once a star player for the Timberwolves before playing collegiately at Keuka College.

“It’s mixed feelings playing the school I went to. I know everybody there. Josh (Forster) is an amazing coach and a great guy, so it’s good to talk to him. He is a guy I’ve been able to use as a mentor and lean on. He’s been in my corner every step of the way,” Pritchard said. “It’s bittersweet. You always want to leave with a win, but it’s nice playing my alma mater.”