CURWENSVILLE — Head coach Matt Wassil said after his team’s first victory that he felt he had a good group on his hands. Tuesday night, he got his second look at his group as they played host to the Brockway Rovers.
It was a tie game after only one quarter of play, but Curwensville then played some strong defense, holding Brockway to only seven second-quarter points, and finished strong getting the 59-50 victory.
“In the second quarter we contested every shot, and we got the rebounds. We limited their play and that really got us going,” Wassil said.
Three of his players put up double-digit figures, with Sam Gardner once again leading in points with 15. However, the star player on the night was Kyle Barrett as he got his first double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and gaining 10 rebounds.
“Kyle played big. With his frame, he really had to get after the ball, and he used his size to his advantage,” Wassil said.
Although Gardner had the most points, he struggled in the first half has he only shot 1-for-8 from the floor. Teammate Alec Starr made up for the difficulty as he put up six points in the first quarter.
“I think Alec came up huge for us in the first half,” Wassil said.
For Brockway, Nick Anderson led the team with 19 points and five rebounds. Wassil said that Anderson had a great game, but his mistakes became key.
“In the second quarter, I think he really got in some foul trouble and that changed the game plan for them,” Wassil said. “That got us going.”
Curwensville held a 27-20 lead going into halftime, and were able to stretch out their lead to as high as 12 points in the third quarter. But, as Brockway began cutting into that lead, the Tide began making mistakes. Turnovers, bad passes, and fouls brought Brockway to within three with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Wassil called two timeouts trying to get his team calmed down and focused. His tactic worked as they were able to get some fast breaks and then began wearing out the clock to secure the victory.
“We got in a panic. We weren’t relaxing and it caused some bad decisions,” Wassil said. “But the kids showed resilience and came out calmer and made better choices.”
Brockway won a very close junior varsity game to start the evening, 46-45.
With two consecutive wins, Wassil was pleased with his team, but did see room for improvement.
“I think we need to work on our transition defense. We have to eliminate the easy buckets. But, as I told the guys, we can only grow,” Wassil said. “We practice fundamentals each day and that leads us to make our game plan for the next game.”
There is not much time to prepare as Curwensville must go on the road for the first time this year on Friday as they face the Ridgway Elkers. Wassil was quick to point out that one of the toughest parts of the basketball season is the schedule.
“You don’t get too many days to prepare for the next game, but we’ll get back to work tomorrow and get ready for Ridgway,” Wassil said.
The junior-varsity contest will open the evening on Friday night at 6 p.m. and will be immediately followed by the varsity match-up.
BROCKWAY 13 7 14 16 50
CURWENSVILLE 13 14 12 20 59
TWO POINT SHOTS: BR-14/35 CV-21/43
THREE POINT SHOTS: BR-7/14 CV-0/7
TEAM FOULS: BR-19 CV-17
REBOUNDS: BR-13 CV-28
TURNOVERS: BR-13 CV-11
BROCKWAY: 50
Cappetta 2 0-0 5, Freemer-3 0-2 6, Rogos 0 0-0 0, Anderson 9 5-6 19, Fortunato 0 0-0 0, Miller 4 2-2 10, 0 1-2 1, Buganza 1 2-3 5, Ellenberger 2 0-0 4, Sevatini 0 0-0 0, Hatfield 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 10-15 50
CURWENSVILLE: 59
Barrett 5 3-4 13, Starr 3 1-3 7, Greslick 3 2-3 10, Gardner 5 6-10 15, Johnson 3 3-4 9, White 0 0-0 0, S. McGary 0 0-2 0, Vasbinder 0 0-0 0, B. McGary 2 0-0 4, Makin 0 0-0 0, Rauchorst 0 0-0 0, Hoover 0 0-0 0, Ireland 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 15-26 59
THREE POINT BASKETS: BR: Cappetta, Anderson-2, Miller-3, Buganza CV-None