HYDE — All the Clearfield boys\’ basketball team needed was a
little patience.
The Bisons turned in a patient game on both offense and defense and
erased a 3-point Johnsonburg lead over the final minute of play
Thursday evening at Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium to capture a thrilling
36-35 come-from-behind victory. The much-needed win snapped
Johnsonburg\’s 4-game win streak and provided head coach Forrest
Campman with the answers he was searching for following a
disappointing loss to Huntingdon earlier this week.
\”It\’s gonna be every game down to the wire,\” Campman said. \”It\’s a
situation that these kids are so tight that when you lose it\’s a
downer, but when you win its a great pick me up. There is a lot of
emotion in these type of games.\”
The Bisons geared their style of play as to what they needed to do
in order to be competitive against a Johnsonburg team capable of
scoring plenty of points. Patience on offense with plenty of ball
movement and clearing out underneath the basket to gain
high-percentage shots combined with patience on defense and limiting
Johnsonburg\’s Calvin Grumley to just 12 points sparked Clearfield to
the win.
\”We perservered,\” Campman said. \”It\’s a 32-minute game. We changed
out style – for tonight – just to see if we could slow the game down.
I was worried because our bench hadn\’t played well. Tonight, Jarrin
(Campman) gave us a good game off the bench, and Todd Hryn won the
game at the end for us.\”
Mike Johnson led Clearfield with 17 points. Calvin Grumley, who is
chasing the all-time scoring mark in District 9, led Johnsonburg with
12 points.
Clearfield led nearly the entire game, but Johnsonburg erased a
4-point deficit late in the third quarter to get right into a highly
competitive game. Paul Imgrobno\’s layup with 1:40 left in the third
pulled the Rams to within two, 29-27, and his buzzer-beating 3-pointer
from near mid-court gave the Rams a 1-point advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
Johnsonburg extended its run into the fourth quarter as Grumley hit
a layup and a foul shot to complete a 8-0 Rams\’ run that resulted in a
4-point lead, 33-29. Clearfield came storming back on offense and
continued its patience game – and found a Johnsonburg team waning in
the patience department.
The Bisons continually swung the ball around the perimeter. With
both teams lacking size under the basket, Clearfield was able to spot
the deficiency and create movement along the baseline that moved
Johnsonbug defenders out from under the basket and give Bison guards
an open area to attack.
James Zimmerman hit a jumper in the paint – conincidentally in one
of those open spaces – to cut the Bisons\’ deficit to two, 33-31, but
the Rams responded with Wayne Zilkofsky hitting a layup at the other
end of the floor to secure Johnsonburg\’s 4-point lead, 35-31, with
5:30 remaining.
Clearfield continued its patience game and didn\’t get caught up in
the fact the clock was winding down. The Bisons kept going with its
offensive-oriented, ball-movement strategy and it paid off as Mike
Johnson was fouled on his way to the basket. Johnson converted one of
two foul shots to pull Clearfield within three, 35-32, with 4:12
remaining.
Johnsonburg came storming back and Grumley was fouled as he tried
to drive the lane. Grumley missed his foul shot and Clearfield
converted on the other end as Johnson hit a layup to pull the Bisons
within one, 35-34, with 55.5 seconds remaining in the game.
Grumley was fouled again as he tried to penetrate the lane, and
agains missed his foul shot. The Bisons took control and rushed the
ball to the other end of the floor. Clearfield kept the ball along the
perimeter until point guard John Lhota pushed the ball inside to
Johnson at the right side of the basket. Johnson failed to get off a
shot, but was able to make a nifty pass through two Johnsonburg
defenders in the paint to Todd Hryn.
Hryn took the pass and hit a layup with 12.0 seconds remaining to
give Clearfield a 36-35 lead. Johnsonburg had one final shot at the
basket, but its long-range shot didn\’t go in and Clearfield\’s bench
erupted in celebration and poured out onto the court to celebrate
victory.
\”They put up a lot of points in some games,\” Campman said. \”I am
looking at Johnsonburg and they would rather see the game go into a
full-court game and let Grumley cut loose and do whatever (he wants).
Our game plan tonight was to know where Grumley was at and not get
over-extended. We double-teamed a couple times tonight and it killed
us once when they hit a 3-pointer. We didn\’t double all the time, we
played him straight up. Grumley only had 12 points, but those were 12
he had to earn. You are talking about the kid who could end up the
leading scorer in District 9 history.\”
Clearfield is now 4-3 on the season. The Bisons return to action
December 29 at the Purchase Line Tournament.
\”This will obviously help us in practice over the next couple of
days heading into the Purchase Line tournament,\” Campman said. \”We\’ve
won that tournament two years in a row. I think we want to win that
one again. I look at our schedule and I don\’t know if there is any
team much better than us. But, I can\’t say we are much better than
every team on the schedule. We are going to have to compete every game.\”
In junior varsity action, Clearfield downed Johnsonburg 56-38. Matt
Shiner led Clearfield with 18 points, while Parker Herrington added 17
in the win.
Johnsonburg – 35
Calvin Grumley 4 3-6 12, Paul Imbrogno 3 0-0 7, Zach Padasak 2 0-3
4, Zilkofski 1 0-0 2, Jordan 3 0-0 8, Patrick 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 3-9 35
Clearfield – 36
John Lhota 0 0-0 0, Jarrin Campman 2 0-0 6, Andrew Janocko 0 0-0 0,
Mike Johnson 7 3-6 17, Kyle Kline 1 0-0 2, Todd Hryn 1 0-0 2, James
Zimmerman 4 0-0 9, Drew Hipps 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 3-6 36.
3-pointers: Johnsonburg 4-9 (Jordan 2-3, Imbrogno 1-2, Grumley 1-2,
Padasak 0-1); Clearfield 3-10 (Zimmerman 1-1, Campman 2-4, Hipps 0-2,
Lhota 0-3).
Halftime score: Clearfield 20, Johnsonburg 15.