CLEARFIELD — Monday night two long time rivals squared off in front of a packed house in Clearfield’s Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.
Clearfield used balanced scoring and forced numerous Golden Tide turnovers on their way to a 71-42 victory in the only meeting between the teams this season. Curwensville may have struggled offensively, but were able to find a bright spot in junior Sam Gardner. Gardner netted a game high 20 points while Jarrin Campman led the way for the Bisons with 17.
The game was tight out of the gate with both teams exchanging baskets in the first four minutes with the score being tied at 10 after a three pointer by Gardner. The Bisons closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run due in part to Campman netting nine points in the frame. At the end of one the Bisons led the Tide 20-10.
Clearfield’s late first quarter run carried into the second quarter, while Curwensville’s offensive woes continued. Gardner continued to try and keep the Tide in the game knocking down two three’s in the frame, but Clearfield big man Cruise Kerr stole the spotlight in the quarter. Kerr netted eight points in the frame while grabbing numerous rebounds and causing problems for Curwensville big man Derek Dixon in the lane. After a put back at the buzzer by Bisons senior Nick Redden, Clearfield headed into the half up 37-18.
After the intermission the Bisons continued to build on their lead with Matt Shiner, Parker Herrington, Chad Zurat, and Campman all knocking down multiple baskets in the quarter; Shiner and Herrington were able to net 13 and 14 points respectively. At the end of three periods the Bisons had jumped out in front of the Tide 60-29.
In the fourth quarter the Tide were finally able to out score the Bisons in a quarter, but it was too little too late. Curwensville star guard David Kalgren was held scoreless through the first three periods and did not score until the 2:15 mark of the fourth quarter, but did still finish the game with six points which was good for the second highest total on the team behind Gardner. At the sound of the final buzzer Clearfield had pulled away with a 29 point victory.
The contest was also the Bisons senior night in which the honored Jeremy Priester, Jarrin Campman, Matt Shiner, Nick Redden, Tyler Wilson, Cruise Kerr, and Parker Herrington.
Curwensville 10 8 11 13 42
Clearfield 20 17 23 11 71
Clearfield – 71
Shiner 5 0-2 13, J. Campman 8 0-0 17, T.Campman 2 0-0 6, Zurat 3 0-0 6, Herrington 5 3-4 14, Priester 0 0-0 0, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Redden 1 0-0 2, Kerr 4 1-6 9, Bowman 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Peterson 0 0-0 0, Fannin 1 0-1 2, Bell 0 0-0 0, A. Redden 0 0-0 0, Malgard 0 0-0 0, Metz 0 0-0 0
Curwensville – 42
Kalgren 1 3-4 6, McCracken 1 2-2 5, Dixon 0 2-2 2, Gardner 8 1-3 20, Johns 1 2-4 4, Starr 0 1-2 1, Dell’Antonio 1 0-0 2, H. McCracken 1 0-0 2.