Leading by just four at the half, 24-20, Clearfield smothered the Mounties and ran out to a 12-2 third quarter showing to extend the margin to 14 after three frames, 36-22.
The home team Mounties, now 1-10, actually scored the first bucket to start the second half cutting the margin to just two only to see the Bisons go on a 16-0 run that went from the third quarter to early in the fourth.
With the run Clearfield increased it’s margin to 40-22 before the Mounties mounted a furious fourth quarter rally to make the Bison fans in attendance a little nervous at times.
Clearfield coach Forrest Campman was happy for the victory which stopped a two game slide, “We needed a win after we were beaten pretty badly the last two times out by Tyrone and then Brookville. We did get a good start to the game and a good start to the third quarter, which was key to the win.”
The Bisons did jump out to a 12-7 lead in the first eight minutes but Philipsburg-Osceola was up to the task as they cut the lead to 14-12 at the end of one.
Christian Lezzer, a sophomore, fueled the Bison attack early on by scoring seven points in the first quarter for a team leading 16 on the night.
With Clearfield leading 40-24 in the fourth quarter the Mounties went on the attack cutting the Bison lead to 42-34 on a bucket by Mountie junior Taylor Golemboski with 2:10 remaining.
That would be the closet Philipsburg-Osceola would come in the comeback bid as Clearfield picked up the win to go over the .500 mark on the year at 5-4.
Campman was proud of his team’s effort but also a bit concerned near the end, “ We had a great run in the third quarter as I mentioned earlier but I wasn’t happy with our play down the stretch when we let them back in the game. We certainly want to play better, so we have a lot of things to work on for us to be successful.”
Curtis Frye had nine points while Robbie Myers and Trey Jordan, who came off of the bench, each had seven to help Lezzer with the Bison offense.
Philipsburg-Osceola was paced on offense by senior Cole Curtis who dumped in a game high of 17 tallies.
Both teams shot five of 13 from the charity stripe.
In the junior varsity game it was Philipsburg-Osceola coming up with the victory, topping the Bisons 32-21.
Next up for the Clearfield Bisons will be Penns Valley on Friday night at home with the JV action starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
CLEARFIELD – 45
Beau Swales 0 0-0 0, Curtis Frye 3 3-6 9, Shawn Lord 2 0-0 4, Christian Lezzer 7 0-0 16, Robbie Myers 3 1-1 7, Trey Jordan 3 1-6 7, Ryan Hertlein 0 0-0 0, Seth Beardsley 1 0-0 2, Andrew McCracken 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 19 5-13 45.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA – 36
Taylor Golemboski 3 0-0 7, Cole Curtis 8 0-7 17, Robbie Smith 0 2-2 2, Eric Nartatez 1 0-0 3, Aaron McKnight 1 2-2 4, Matt Carpin 1 1-2 3, Dallas Husar 0 0-0 0, Andrew Reifer 0 0-0 0, TOTLAS – 14 5-13 36.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 14 10 12 9 45
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 12 8 2 14 36
THREE-POINTERS: Lezzer 2, Golemboski, Curtis, Nartatez
OFFICIALS: Ted Beam, Sean Albright, Chris Rickens
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/13 | HUNTINGDON | 46 – 49 ot | 0 – 1 |
| 12/16 | ST. MARYS | 29 – 36 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/20 | CENTRAL | 51 – 40 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/23 | BELLEFONTE | 59 – 44 | 2 – 2 |
| 12/27&28 | @ Lions Club Invitational | ||
| vs. Harmony | 50 – 36 | 3 – 2 | |
| vs. Purchase Line | 41 – 35 | 4 – 2 | |
| 01/03 | @ Tyrone | 38 – 72 | 4 – 3 |
| 01/05 | @ Brookville | 43 – 66 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/10 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 45 – 36 | 5 – 4 |
| 01/13 | PENNS VALLEY |