CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team may have celebrated Senior Night on Monday, but Kyle Barrett and Alec Starr saved perhaps the best overall performances of their careers for their penultimate game in Patton Hall.
Barrett dominated in the low post with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Starr shined brightly on both ends of the court by knifing through Sheffield’s changing zones for a season-high 15 points and spearheading the Golden Tide’s man defense with nine steals Tuesday night.
Their efforts keyed a 56-42 victory, marking the first time the Golden Tide (5-14) has won back-to-back games since mid-January of last year.
“These last two games, we’ve played pretty well,” coach Matt Wassil said. “The thing I really like is we’re starting to play a little bit better when there some pressure on us.
“So, if we can keep games close, I like our chances down the stretch.”
Curwensville had outscored its opponents in the first quarter of only three games, all wins, so it was a good omen when the Golden Tide put the Wolverines back on their heels with an 11-4 run in the first 4:08 and later reeled off seven points in a row to lead 18-8 at the break.
Barrett gave an indication of what was to come with six points.
“Kyle is our best offensive player,” Wassil said. “When we get him going, the other guys tend to feed off him.
“When you can get a team to focus that much attention to one guy in the post, it opens up a lot of other things.”
Like layups by Shelby McGary and Shane Hoover on precise passes from Tanner Elensky and a power move to the basket by Starr, who later capped the second early run with his third steal for two easy points.
“Alec did a great job of playing the passing lanes,” Wassil said.
The Golden Tide struggled in the first three minutes of the second quarter with six turnovers and two missed shots, and the Wolverines got within six points for the first of four occasions before halftime.
Starr got the hosts in gear with a strong move to the hoop and tacked on the final points of the half with a tough drive and bank shot to send Curwensville to the locker room on top 29-20.
The Golden Tide was outscored 11-6 in the third period because of nine misfires and six turnovers, allowing the Wolverines to chop their deficit to 35-31.
“We did some things well offensively, but at times we were a little bit too stagnant,” Wassil said. “Guys away from the ball not moving enough. Our cuts were a little bit late and delayed.
“But we did get the ball inside. I think 85 percent of our shots were in the paint.
“That’s a good thing. It improves our percentage. And you get fouled when you do that.”
Sheffield (7-12) had the first possession of the fourth quarter, poised to really tighten up the Allegheny Mountain League crossover contest, but Starr restored the six-point margin with his ninth steal near midcourt for a layup.
“It was a huge play,” Wassil said. “That steal ignited us right off the bat, and we ended up outscoring them pretty well in the quarter.”
The 21-11 finish was a result of the Golden Tide working the ball inside and either getting to the hoop or drawing fouls.
Barrett accounted for 10 of those points with a couple drop-step moves, a peep off another dandy assist by Elensky and three of Curwensville’s nine free throws.
A technical foul on a Sheffield player with the score 40-35 at the 4:29 mark really aided the Curwensville cause as Barrett made the first of two gift free throws and followed up with an old-fashioned three-point play.
Those points loomed large when Mark Sprandle cashed both ends of a one-and-one trip to the foul line and nailed a three-pointer from the right corner within nine seconds, making it 44-40 with 3:44 remaining.
However, Starr answered with another drive and pull-up jumper at the 3:16 mark, and Curwensville put it away with a 10-2 run in the final 2:29.
“Throughout, we had some guys making plays, and a lot of it was because of the attention Kyle was drawing inside,” Wassil said. “You could see that Alec took advantage of that. He had a nice scoring game.”
For Sheffield, Sprandle and Nick Bonavita had 11 points apiece while 6-3 George Fitch registered a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 1:39 to play.
Fitch and 6-2 Kalil Slaughter, who got into foul trouble early and had only five points, posed a problem for the Golden Tide, but Wassil liked the way his team battled them for missed shots.
“The thing that worried us about their big guys was their rebounding,” Wassil said. “They did crash the boards really hard, and our guys had to work for every rebound we got down there. We did limit their scoring in general.
“I was really pleased with our defensive effort, back-to-back nights with 38 points and 42 points.”
Both teams attempted 51 shots, Curwensville sinking 21 for 41.2 percent and Sheffield hitting 16 for 31.4 percent.
The Golden Tide had a 30-28 edge in rebounds, and turnovers were even at 25.
Curwensville welcomes Moshannon Valley League rival Harmony to Patton Hall Wednesday night for its home finale and will make the long journey to Kane Friday for another AML crossover game.
Sheffield won the junior varsity game 45-33. Alex Olson was high for Curwensville with nine points, while Jesse Zorger and Trevon Pennington had seven apiece.
Sheffield — 42
Mark Sprandle 4 2-2 11, Kalil Slaughter 2 1-4 5, Nick Bonavita 4 3-4 11, Ike Nearing 0 0-1 0, George Fitch 5 0-0 10, Brendan Winslow 1 0-0 3, Brandon Kipp 0 0-0 0, Dylan Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Chris Pedersen 0 0-0 0, Tyler Fitzgerald 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 16 8-13 42.
Curwensville — 56
Alec Starr 7 1-3 15, Kyle Barrett 8 6-7 22, Boone McGary 1 1-4 3, Shelby McGary 1 3-4 5, Tanner Elensky 1 0-2 2, Shane Hoover 3 2-5 8, Will Rauckhorst 0 0-0 0, Jesse Zorger 0 0-0 0, Dan Davis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 13-25 56.
Three-Point Field Goals – Sheffield 2 (Sprandle, Winslow); Curwensville 1 (Elensky).
Score by Quarters
Sheffield 8 12 11 11 – 42
Curwensville 18 11 6 21 – 56
Officials – Brian Smeal and Chris Sherkel.
