HYDE – The Clearfield Area High School cagers recorded several season firsts in Weiss Gym Wednesday night, the most important of which was putting a number in the win column.
Leaving six December losses behind them, the Bisons began the new year by defeating Philipsburg-Osceola 44-31 for their first Mountain League Allegheny Division victory after a trio of one-sided setbacks in the new circuit.
“No matter how hard you work, you can give as many Lou Holtz pep talks as you want, but until you get a win, you’re still not gonna get that bounce in their step, and I think they’ll be a little bit more bouncier tomorrow in practice, and they’ll come to work a little bit happier,” coach Forrest Campman said after his team’s best all-around performance of the season.
He quickly added, “They’ve been working hard, but we had a couple wins we let slip away.”
Not this one.
Robbie Myers registered a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and guards Jack Mellgard and Curtis Frye also scored 10 points as the Bisons sent the Mounties home with their eighth loss in nine games.
Three players in double figures was a first for the 2010-2011 Bisons.
So were the 20-16 halftime lead, the 34-19 cushion after three quarters and the 26-21 rebounding advantage, a huge plus considering Clearfield was minus-50 in that department last month.
Not a first was an edge in turnovers, but the low total of 15 certainly was a big factor, for P-O wasn’t able to capitalize, producing only seven points after those changes of possessions.
“Again, the turnovers we had were pretty much self-inflicted ones,” Campman said. “We handled their pressure pretty well.”
In contrast, the Bisons scored 25 points after the Mounties’ 22 turnovers. Half of those were takeaways as the Bisons came up with 11 steals. Curtis Frye and Andrew Redden had three apiece.
Each team had a half-dozen turnovers in the first quarter, which ended with P-O ahead 10-8 after the Bisons had taken an 8-5 lead on drives by Mellgard and Frye and two putbacks by Myers in the first five minutes. Ryan Nartatez gave the Mounties their second, and last, lead by driving the base line and then swishing a three-pointer from the right corner.
Campman was upset that the Bisons, in their 2-3 matchup zone, hadn’t reacted quickly enough when Mark Curtis, open earlier on the right wing, and Nartatez launched treys.
“We just didn’t execute real well and recognize their shooters,” he explained. “After that, they didn’t get that many looks.
“We let the guys shoot that we wanted to shoot.”
The Mounties hit only eight of 26 shots in the last three periods, finishing 12-for-35 for 34.3 percent.
Campman ordered a full-court zone press when he saw first-year P-O coach Dave McKnight go to his bench at the outset of the second quarter, and Clearfield regained the upper hand on two free throws by Derek Morgan and a 12-foot jumper by Beau Swales in the first minute.
“Dave plays a lot of guys, and I’m sure he was just trying to give his top five or six a blow, but, bottom line, they still were jayvee players he put out there at that point, and you want to see if you can do something against them,” Campman said. “They turned them over a couple times and got a couple baskets.”
Down 16-12 midway through the period, P-O forged a tie on a layup by Nartatez and a runner by Cody Curtis.
Mellgard put the Bisons in front to stay with a short jumper on the right baseline and then beat the halftime buzzer with a turnaround jumper in the lane.
The four-point edge didn’t sit well with Campman.
“We were standing around on the offensive end in the first half,” he said. “If you’re not screening, you’re not moving, the ball doesn’t move. Then, you end up turning the ball over or something else bad happens.”
The Bisons got the halftime message and outscored the Mounties 14-3 in the third period to pad their lead to 15 points. Myers, Frye and Redden each had four points.
P-O got as close as 36-25 on a three-pointer by Cole Curtis with 5:16 remaining before Clearfield opened its biggest lead, 42-25, with 2:49 left via free throws by Frye around a putback and a layup by Beau Swales.
The Bisons wound up with a season-high in points and season-low in points allowed.
Campman singled out Frye and Morgan for their efforts.
“Frye had 10 points and he handled the ball well,” Campman said. “He gave Mellgard a break by bringing the ball up a lot of times and played a solid game defensively. We hadn’t gotten that out of Curtis so far. So I’ve gotta give him credit.
“And it was the first time (Morgan) really looked like a basketball player instead of a football player. He’s slowing himself down a little bit, not being too fast. A couple nice drives to the basket. And rebounded well.”
The Bison coach also was pleased with the minutes provided by reserves Swales, freshman Christian Lezzer in his first action after being sidelined because of illness and Vaughn Metz.
“I think that might have been the first time Mellgard had been out of the lineup all year long,” he said. “First time Redden’s had a rest. First time Myers has been out without being in foul trouble.
“So the kids stayed a little fresher, and they all had their moments. We haven’t had that.
“It’s great for the kids to get that win.”
Nartatez was high for P-O with nine points.
Friday, the Bisons will make the long trek to Mill Hall for a Mountain League encounter with Central Mountain.
P-O’s jayvees, led by Eric Nartatez with 15 points, won the prelim 40-29. Seth Beardsley topped Clearfield’s underclassmen with seven points, while Trey Jordan and Shawn Lord had six apiece.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 31
Cody Curtis 3 0-0 6, Alan Mills 0 1-2 1, Ryan Nartatez 3 2-3 9, Mark Curtis 2 0-0 5, Trey Siegfried 0 0-0 0, Logan Foreman 0 0-0 0, Aaron McKnight 0 0-0 0, Buddy Jones 2 1-1 5, Cole Curtis 1 0-0 3, Robbie Smith 0 0-0 0, Eric Nartatez 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 4-6 31.
CLEARFIELD — 44
Curtis Frye 3 4-5 10, Andrew Redden 2 0-0 4, Jack Mellgard 4 2-4 10, Derek Morgan 1 2-4 4, Robbie Myers 5 0-1 10, Beau Swales 3 0-0 6, Christian Lezzer 0 0-0 0, Vaughn Metz 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 8-14 44.
Three-Pointers: Philipsburg-Osceola 3 (Cole Curtis, R. Nartatez, M. Curtis).
Score by Quarters
Philipsburg-Osceola 10 6 3 12 – 31
Clearfield 8 12 14 10 – 44
Officials: Kenny Knepp, Bud Brennan and George Schneider.
