EMPORIUM, Pa. — The bus ride home must have seemed like one long, never-ending detour for the Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team Wednesday night after a frustrating 41-36 loss to Cameron County in the first round of the District 9 Class A Playoffs.
Making the setback especially difficult to swallow for the Golden Tide, which finished the season 14-10, was the realization that a great defensive effort went for naught because of 14-for-56 shooting from the floor.
\”I told the kids if somebody would have told me we would give up 41 points, I would have been pretty confident in the result,\” coach Matt Wassil said after his second Curwensville team played much tougher than its No. 11 seed but couldn\’t finish off the No. 6-seeded Red Raiders. \”Giving up 41 points and losing the game, I wouldn\’t have believed it if some had told me that.
\”We just didn\’t put the ball in the basket. We had some opportunities. It just seemed that every time we drove, we couldn\’t finish, especially in the second half. It wasn\’t that we only got 28 shots, or 30 shots. We got the shots we needed. We just didn\’t make anything. Just an ice-cold night.\”
After playing what Wassil termed \”not a great (first) quarter, but solid,\” and taking a 12-6 lead with Shawn Sopic\’s four consecutive field goals fueling a 10-0 run after Cameron County jumped in front 4-2, the Golden Tide experienced lengthy stretches of virtually no offense in each of the last three quarters.
The Golden Tide missed nine shots in a row to start the second quarter before Craig Bartlett converted a steal into a driving, spinning layup with 4:16 left in the half. Those were Curwensville only points in the first 6:31 of the period. Because of 10 turnovers, Cameron County wasn\’t lighting up the scoreboard either, so Curwensville was able to take an 18-12 edge into the lockerroom when Philip Michaels fired a long pass right through the Red Raider zone to Bartlett under the hoop for an easy two and then Bartlett popped in a short jumper that just beat the buzzer.
However, the Golden Tide had wasted an opportunity to really build on its six-point lead because of 3-for-17 shooting, especially after limiting the Red Raiders\’ top two scorers, Jordan Crane and Dan Sullivan, to one and two free throws, respectively.
\”We knew they liked to isolate those guys, No. 2 and No. 4, and we game-planned for that,\” Wassil said. \”We knew that our other guys had to help make their other guys scorers, and early on we did that really well. We were making other guys take shots, and I think that keyed our defense.
\”If we had even put together a normal half for us, we would have been up 15 or 16. We played such great defense in that first half, and our offense kind of let us down in that second quarter. Cause even if we put up the same number, 12, we\’re up 12 points instead of six.\”
Offensively, the third quarter resembled the previous one for the Golden Tide, Sopic on the receiving end of Michaels\’ nifty fast-break pass for the only points in the first 5:37. Unfortunately, the Red Raiders didn\’t cooperate, posting 13 points in that span for a 25-20 lead. They outscored the Golden Tide 17-10 to go in front 29-28 as Crane got involved in the attack with a quartet of jumpers from various spots on the floor, while Charles Holjencin, who nailed a trey, and Mike Malizia added two field goals apiece. Maliza\’s putback with 4:10 left in the quarter gave the hosts their first lead, 21-20, since the early moments of the game.
David Kalgren\’s driving layup and Joey Palmer\’s free throw put Curwensville ahead for the last time at 31-29 with 6:45 remaining. Charles Holjencin got Cameron County even. After Malizia and Crane went one-for-two at the foul line, Bartlett hit a soft jumper from the right baseline to produce the last tie score at 33 with 4:22 left.
Almost four minutes passed before the Golden Tide scored again. Meantime, two Red Raiders missed the front end of one-and-ones before Sullivan canned two foul shots with 1:52 left. In the final minute, Malizia\’s putback and free throw and Crane\’s foul shot made it 39-33. Bartlett\’s three-pointer from the right wing only served to cut the deficit in half with 24.6 seconds to play. Charles Holjencin and Jarek Holjencin tacked on the clinching free throws.
\”In the second half, we started to commit fouls and made it easier for them to score,\” Wassil said. \”Late in the game, we meant to put them on the line, but those could have been one-on-ones had we not committed some silly fouls out around halfcourt with four and a half minutes to go.\”
Sopic and Bartlett shared game-high scoring honors with 13 points apiece. Sopic also led the Golden Tide with nine rebounds.
\”Strange as it might sound, because he is known more for football, but as a coaching staff, we said coming up here the one guy we don’t think we have to worry about is Shawn Sopic,\” Wassil said. \”And it’s just because of his ultra-competitiveness. I just had that feeling that this playoff atmosphere would be right up his alley. And he didn’t disappoint. He proved us right. Now, he didn’t have to defend one of their better offensive players, but as far as rebounding and scoring, he definitely played one of his best games of the year.
\”Craig played pretty well offensively for us. It’s nothing against him, but he had some opportunities there that just didn’t drop for him. He made some nice moves, and it just wouldn’t go down. He had a couple jump shots rattle in and out. Craig is another one of our seniors who has played well throughout the year.\”
Sopic, Philip Michaels and Brandon McDonald, all starters who seldom went to the bench during the season, are the other seniors. Soph Ben McGary, a starting guard, will return along with junior Palmer and soph Kalgren, who were instrumental in the Golden Tide\’s success with their play off the bench.
Cameron County, on the other hand, started all underclassmen and certainly will be a team to be reckoned with next season. The Red Raiders (18-7), who got 11 points from Crane and 10 points and 12 rebounds from Jarek Holjencin, aren\’t looking ahead just yet, though. They are booked for a 9-A quarterfinal at No. 3 seed Coudersport (22-1) Friday at 7 p.m.
In other 9-A action Wednesday night, eighth seed Johnsonburg (17-8) downed ninth seed Allegheny-Clarion Valley (14-10) 72-52, fifth seed Clarion (19-7) ousted 12th seed Northern Potter (8-17) 63-45 and seventh seed Rocky Grove (18-7) eliminated 10th seed North Clarion (14-10) 55-53.
Johnsonburg travels to top seed DuBois Central Catholic (22-1), Clarion visits fourth seed Keystone (22-1) and Rocky Grove journeys to second seed Elk County Catholic (23-2) in the other quarterfinal games Friday.
CURWENSVILLE — 36
Philip Michaels 2 0-0 4, Craig Bartlett 6 0-0 13, Ben McGary 0 0-0 0, Shawn Sopic 6 1-2 13, Brandon McDonald 0 0-0 0, David Kalgren 1 0-0 2, Joey Palmer 1 2-3 4. Totals: 16 3-5 36.
CAMERON COUNTY — 41
Jordan Crane 4 3-6 11, Dan Sullivan 0 4-5 4, Charles Holjencin 3 1-4 8, Jarek Holjencin 4 1-2 10, Mike Malizia 3 2-4 8, Andrew Kesterholt 0 0-0 0, Jon Lundberg 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 11-21 41.
Three-Point Field Goals: Curwensville 1 (Bartlett); Cameron County 2 (C. Holjencin 1, J. Holjencin 1).
Score by Quarters:
Curwensville 12 6 10 8 — 36
Cameron County 6 6 17 12 — 41