DUKE CENTER — The Eisenhower boys basketball team played Bradford in its season-opening game Friday night in the Otto-Eldred Randy Stebbins Tip-Off Tournament, ultimately falling in a close game 41-37.

The Knights came out strong defensively as they held the Owls to 3 points in the opening quarter and led at the break 7-3 behind senior Kris Bunk’s 4 points.

The game was close all night and the score at the half had Eisenhower leading 18-17.

The second half saw Bradford begin to break away from the Knights behind the hot shooting of senior Chase Weinberg. The Owls opened up an 8-point lead at the end of the third quarter 33-25.

The fourth quarter saw the Knights’ shooting touch return as Austin Hanson connected for 5 points.

Hanson connected on a 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining to bring the Knights to within a point. Eisenhower then stole the ball back, but could not hang on as Bradford forced a turnover. The Knights were forced to foul, sending the Owls to the line, where they made one of two shots to make the score 41-37. The Knights got the ball with 11 seconds, but could not convert.

“I thought our guys played hard and put up a great defensive performance,” Eisenhower head coach Ryan Mangini said. “Holding Bradford to three points in the first quarter is a great accomplishment to start our season. The offense will come. I was proud of the way they battled at the end. If we can continue to put those types of efforts up consistently I believe we can be successful.”

Hanson led the Knights with 11 points and Kyler Black was right behind him with 10 points.

Bradford’s Chase Wineberg took high game honors with 16 points.

The Knights will play again today at 1:30 p.m. in the consolation game against Portville (N.Y.) or host Otto-Eldred.

EISENHOWER (37)

Black 4 1 10, Wonderling 0 0 0, Chase 0 0 0, Bunk 3 1 7, Seymour 2 0 4, Hanson 4 0 11, Guiher 1 0 2, Lindemuth 1 1 3. Totals 13 3 37.

BRADFORD (41)

Ward 1 0 2, Armstrong 1 1 4, Franz 2 5 9, Terwilliger 0 0 0, Warner 3 0 8, Stark 0 0 0, Colley 0 0 0, Wineberg 8 0 16, Reese 0 2 2, Marasco 0 0 0. Totals 15 8 41.

3-point goals–Black, Hanson 3, Armstrong, Warner 2.

Eisenhower 7 11 7 12 — 37

Bradford 3 14 13 11 — 41