COMMODORE — Bouncing back from an overtime loss a night earlier, the Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team claimed third place in the Purchase Line Lions Club Invitational Tournament with a 66-50 victory over Penns Manor Thursday night.
Philip Michaels paced the Golden Tide with 21 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while Brandon McDonald turned in a solid all-around game with 11 points and seven rebounds. Shawn Sopic pulled down 10 missed shots.
\”Philip really carried us in the first half with 15 points,\” coach Matt Wassil said. \”Notoriously, our first quarter scoring has been bad, sometimes even into the second quarter. We have really struggled on offense early in five or six games.
\”But Philip got our offense in gear, and when one of your best players is playing at a high level, your other kids gain some confidence and, in turn, play well, too.
\”Joey Palmer sparked us in the second quarter, too, with six points. Scoring 32 in the first half is not outstanding but certainly is acceptable.\”
Led by Patrick Marshall\’s 10 points, Penns Manor (1-10) battled back in the third quarter to slice Curwensville\’s 32-19 halftime lead to 42-37.
\”One thing we didn\’t do well in that quarter was rebound,\” Wassil said. \”For whatever reason, we went through a lull. We got lazy and were slow to the ball. Marshall really hurt us. He\’s not a big kid, but he was hustling and outworked our kids.
\”Then, in the fourth quarter we picked it up. Shawn Sopic did an excellent job on the boards with eight of his rebounds.\”
Wassil lauded the work of McDonald.
\”Brandon has been Mr. Consistency,\” he said. \”We can pretty much guarantee he\’s going to give us eight to 10 points and six to 10 rebounds. Sometimes what he does gets overlooked, but he really has been a rock for us. We can really count on him to be really solid.\”
Wassil was pleased with the Golden Tide\’s overall defensive effort, noting \”If we don\’t have that lull in the third quarter, we hold them to under 50. If you do that, you\’re not going to lose too many games.\”
Michaels, who led all scorers with 33 points, and Sopic were named to the all-tournament team.
For Penns Manor, Marshall wound up with 17 points and Chris Gahagan had 12.
Curwensville (5-3) returns to action Wednesday at DuBois Central Catholic in an Allegheny Mountain League South Division game.
CURWENSVILLE — 66
Philip Michaels 8 2-5 21, Craig Bartlett 3 0-0 6, Ben McGary 0 2-2 2, Shawn Sopic 2 1-2 5, Brandon McDonald 5 1-3 11, Joey Palmer 3 3-4 9, David Kalgren 2 0-2 4, Ryan Gardner 2 3-3 7, Mark Dell\’Antonio 0 1-2 1, Tyler Johns 0 0-0 0, Andrew Starr 0 0-0 0, Derek Dixon 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 13-23 66.
PENNS MANOR — 50
Troy Trimble 1 1-5 3, Patrick Marshall 7 3-5 17, Tony Miller 0 2-2 2, Carson Rhea 3 0-0 6, Chris Gahagan 5 2-4 12, Vincent Gray 0 0-0 0, Zane Palmer 1 0-0 2, Jordan Alsop 3 0-0 6, Tony Lester 0 0-0 0, J.R. Bash 1 0-0 2, Joe Gillo 0 0-0 0, D.J. Clawson 0 0-0 0, Evan Lavanish 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 8-16 50.
Three-Point Field Goals: Curwensville 3 (Michaels 3).
Score by Quarters:
Curwensville 12 20 11 23 — 66
Penns Manor 5 14 18 13 — 50