CLEARFIELD — With 2:53 left in the fourth quarter it looked as if the Clearfield Bisons were on the verge of mounting a great comeback in front of the home fans, only to watch it disappear in the final seconds of the game on an off balance three by Nate Gearhart of Huntingdon.
Gearhart’s wild shot tied the game at 44-44 to send the game into overtime. Huntingdon eventually came away victorious 49-46 as Clearfield’s Seth Beardsley’s hail mary shot clanked off the top of the backboard.
“It’s going to hurt because we lost. It always hurts when you lose. It’s how they are going to respond these next two days at practice. We’ve lost a lot of close games and won a lot of close games over the years. A competitor will work to get better and not make the same mistakes again,” commented Clearfield Coach Forrest Campman on the heartbreaking loss.
The Bisons got the scoring going early getting back to back buckets by senior forward Robbie Meyers to jump out to an early lead. Meyers paced the Bisons with 19 points on the night.
Huntingdon, however, responded by going on a big run to close out the first quarter which included two 3’s by Adam Rosevear, who led the Bearcats with 19 points, to take a 17-8 lead.
“I thought he (Meyers) had some very good sequences throughout the game. I didn’t think it was one of his better games. He’s a 14 point a game scorer and we expect him to score points, but we can’t expect one guy to win us the game,” said Campman about his starting forward.
As the second quarter began the teams traded baskets primarily throughout the frame. The Bisons were able to get a big 7-0 run after starting to fall into a hole midway through the quarter. Christian Lezzer sparked the run with two three pointers. Lezzer would finish the night with 10 points. The Bisons went into the half trailing by six, 27-21
“In the first half we stood around defensively and left a lot of their guys open and you are supposed to make open shots and they did. They had something like six threes in the first half. We didn’t play consistently offensively throughout the game. They out rebounded us on the offensive boards. We were lucky to be down six at halftime, ” remarked Campman.
The Bisons came out with a little more fire in the second half cutting the deficit to four points before the end of the third quarter. Meyers had a monster period scoring 10 of his 19 points in the quarter. At the end of three the Bisons trailed just 37-33.
The fourth quarter contained a lot of excitement with the lead changing twice and Gearhart’s game tying shot with just :03 remaining. The Bisons were only able to muster one bucket from the field but did manage to score nine points from the charity stripe going 9-12 in the quarter.
At the end of four quarters the score was knotted at 44. Unfortunately for the Bisons their offensive woes carried into the overtime period as Meyers 19th of the game point was the only bucket Clearfield would make in the period. In the end Huntingdon came away with a 49-46 victory.
The Bisons (0-1) will be back in action Friday night as District 9 foe St. Marys comes to town.
“It should be a very close game again and hopefully we can come out on top.” said Campman.
Score by quarter
Clearfield 8 13 12 11 2 46
Huntingdon 17 10 10 7 5 49
Clearfield 46
Frye 2 4-7 9, Meyers 8 3-4 19, Swales 2 0-2 4, Lezzer 4 0-0 10, Lord 0 0-0 0, Jordan 0 4-6 4, Hertlien 0 0-0 0, Beardsley 0 0-0 0. Total 16 11-19 46.
Huntingdon 49
Neyman 3 0-3 6, Ritchey 4 1-4 10, Rosevear 8 0-0 19, Foster 0 0-0 0, Claar 2 2-3 7, Gearhart 2 0-2 6, Keys 0 1-2 1, Alleman 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-12 49.
Three Pointers: Clearfield 2 (Lezzer) Huntingdon7 (Rosevear 3, Gearhart 2, Claar 1, Ritchey 1)
Bison Basketball Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/13 | HUNTINGDON | 46 – 49 ot | 0 – 1 |
| 12/16 | ST. MARYS |
