CURWENSVILLE-When Coach Matt Wassil huddled his team leading into the fourth quarter, he told his team to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers. The squad listened as the Golden Tide scored 18 points in the final period in route to a 55-52 victory over the West Branch Warriors.
“Everyone hustled in the last quarter and they played smart,” said Coach Wassil in the locker room.
Of the 18 points scored by the Tide in the fourth quarter, David Kalgren accounted for 12 and finished out the game with 24 points while also going 8 of 8 from the free-throw line and gaining seven rebounds. Sam Gardner accounted for 11 points, six of which came in the final quarter.
For the Warriors, Tyler Ferguson led the team with 24 points and seven rebounds while Kyle Bloom managed eight points and eight rebounds.
“Ferguson is an exceptional player. For his height, he is exceptionally quick, so we had to be sure to account for him on both ends of the court,” said Wassil.
Coming out of halftime, Curwensville held a 32-27 lead, however only managed five total points in the third period. Wassil says that the team was getting the same shots as in the first half, but the ball was not going in the net as before.
“We couldn’t buy a bucket in the third quarter,” said Wassil.
Despite the victory, Coach Wassil was critical of his team in shot selection in the fourth quarter.
“We need to do better in choosing our shots with the lead,” said Wassil. “We had too many shots outside, so I told the team that we needed to start driving the basket.”
Curwensville beat West Branch in the junior-varsity match up, 45-32, to start the evening.
Both teams are back in action this Friday night as West Branch (2-3) host Bellwood-Antis with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. Curwensville (2-3) will host Moshannon Valley, with tip-off set for 6 p.m.
Score by Quarters:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
West Branch- 17 10 8 17 52
Curwensville- 14 18 5 8 55
Three-Point Shots:
West Branch- 1: Beverage
Curwensville- 6: Kalgren (2), Gardner (2), Andrew Starr, McGary
Individual Stats:
West Branch: Ferguson-24 points, 7 rebounds; Bloom-8 points, 8 rebounds
Curwensville: Kalgren-24 points, 8 rebounds; Gardner-11 points, 3 rebounds; McGary-9 points, 2 rebounds