KNOX — Cold shooting doomed Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team to defeat in the opening round of the Keystone Tipoff Tournament Friday night as Philipsburg-Osceola built leads of eight points in the first half and 12 in the fourth quarter and held off the Bisons 40-35.
Coach Forrest Campman\’s Bisons played catch-up most of the game, with their last lead at 6-5. The Mounties, coached by former Bison standout guard Matt Barnes, pulled ahead 12-9 by the end of the first quarter and extended the margin to eight points before Clearfield closed to within five, 19-14, at the half.
However, the Bisons failed to score for more than seven minutes in the second half while the Mounties turned a four-point edge into a 37-25 cushion with 2:26 left. The Bisons trimmed the deficit to 39-33 with under 40 seconds to play and their comeback hopes faded when they didn\’t cash their next possession.
Mike Johnson led the Bisons with 12 points, while Mike Supko had 12 for the Mounties, including a trio of three-pointers. Clint Mills added eight points, all in the second half, for the Mounties.
Turnovers totals showed Clearfield with 14 and P-O with 12, but the points off turnovers were crucial, according to Campman. The Bisons had only four while the Mounties scored 12.
The Bisons will return Saturday for the four o\’clock consolation game against District 9 League opponent DuBois, which lost 68-45 to Keystone.
The host Panthers bombed away from the outside for 11 three-pointers. Dan Ferringer connecting on five of them in a 20-point performance and Kyle Rhoads nailed three in a 25-point show.
Top scorers for DuBois were John Hartzfeld with 13 points, Emile Khoury with 12 and Matt Stoltz with nine.
P-O and Keystone will decide the championship in a 5:30 tipoff.
Led by Matt Shiner\’s 21 points, the Clearfield junior varsity defeated Philipsburg-Osceola 35-16 and will play Keystone in the title game Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
CLEARFIELD — 35
Lhota 1 0-0 3, Janocko 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 2 1-4 5, Johnson 6 0-1 12, Kline 2 0-0 4, Campman 2 0-0 5, Hryn 2 0-0 4, Hipps 0 0-0 0, Shiner 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 1-5 35.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 40
Supko 4 1-1 12, Decker 1 1-2 3, Mills 4 0-1 8, Curtis 1 1-2 4, Whitman 3 0-1 6, Komisar 3 1-3 7. Totals: 16 4-10 40.
Score by Quarters:
Clearfield 9 5 11 10 — 35
P-O 12 7 12 9 — 40
Three-Point Field Goals — Clearfield 2 (Lhota 1, Campman 1). Philipsburg-Osceola 4 (Supko 3, Curtis 1).
