Turnovers Prove Costly as Huntingdon Defeats Clearfield, 49-38

HYDE — Riding a two-game win streak, the Clearfield Bison basketball team walked into the Arthur J. Weis Gymnasium hoping to extend that streak to three.

In order to do that, they had to go against the Huntingdon Bearcats, who entered the contest with a strong 14-1 record.

The action was fast, the pressure was intense, but it was the turnovers that proved to be the biggest factor during the game.  Clearfield committed 21 turnovers, some of which were in key transitions down the court that led to fast breaks for Huntingdon.  It resulted in Clearfield falling to Huntingdon by a final of 49-38.

Head coach Forrest Campman played down the turnovers, but was focusing more on the pressure aspect of his team.

“If we can clean up our play, it’s a different game.  Either we get in a hurry or we try to do too much, too quick,” Campman said.  “We need to make the other team work.”

“They [Huntingdon] are a much faster team.  They had five or six fast breaks and we just couldn’t keep up.”

The other factor that didn’t play into the favor of Clearfield was getting into foul trouble.  Forward Robbie Myers had four fouls before halftime, and had to play sparingly in the second half.  Unfortunately in the fourth quarter, Myers got his fifth foul and had to sit out the remainder of the game.  He ended the night with eight points.

“It really hurt having Robbie foul out.  Normally, if he gets the ball, he can elevate over any defender if he’s within five feet of the basket,” Campman said.

Andrew Redden also fouled out of the game.  Combined, the Bisons committed 19 fouls, compared to the Bearcats’ 10.  Huntingdon also benefited from the fouls as they went to the charity stripe 32 times, draining 18 of them.  Clearfield never saw the foul line at any point in the game.

Clearfield had no player in double digits as Jack Mellgard led the Bisons with nine points.  Before fouling out, Myers had a team-high eight rebounds.

Huntingdon had two players hit double digits, Houston Riley accounted for 12 points and Jeremy Posey had a game-high 21.  Of those points, 13 of Posey’s came from the foul line, something that Campman noted afterward.

“Posey is a tough player to defend.  That’s mostly where he scores his points, from the foul line.  When you defend him, you have to crowd him or commit a foul,” Campman said.

Clearfield also fell to Huntingdon in the junior varsity game, 43-41, thanks to a lay-up with under two seconds remaining.

Still, Campman seemed relatively pleased tonight despite the loss, but also made a critical point as to when his team lost the game.

“In any sport, the most important minutes are the first three minutes after the break.  You need to come out and be the aggressor.  That goes for any sport, we don’t want to lose the game in the first three minutes after the break,” Campman said.

Clearfield (4-11) has a tough stretch next week starting with Monday night as they travel to Punxsutawney to face the Chucks.

BOX SCORE

Huntingdon     10     14     12     13          49

Clearfield          4     14     11     9          38

HUNTINGDON 49

Gibboney 0 0-0 0, Coffman 1 0-0 2, Bennett 1 0-4 2, Ritchey 0 0-0 0, Plantt 0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1 2-6 4, Houck 4 0-2 8, Riley 4 3-5 12, Posey 4 13-17 21.  TOTALS: 15 18-34 49.

CLEARFIELD 38

Swales 1 0-0 3, Frye 1 0-0 2, Redden 1 0-0 2, Mellgard 4 0-0 9, Morgan 2 0-0 4, Lezzer 3 0-0 8, Metz 1 0-0 2, Myers 4 0-0 8.  TOTALS: 17 0-0 38.

FG MADE/ATTEMPTED:  HN-12/31  CF-16/47
TEAM FOULS:  HN-10  CF-19
TURNOVERS:  HN-15  CF-21
TEAM REBOUNDS:  HN-22  CF-18

Three-Point Shots:  HN-Riley  CF-Swales, Mellgard, Lezzer (2)
Fouled Out:  Redden, Myers