CLEARFIELD — It’s never good to start a game in a 6-0 deficit and that is exactly where the Clearfield Bisons found themselves Friday night as they hosted the Penns Valley Rams. The early disadvantage continued to be the story of the night as Clearfield found themselves on the short end of a 47-34 score.
“We played good defense tonight and you can see that even in the score. We just need to find a way to be better offensively,” commented Clearfield head coach Forrest Campman.
Clearfield’s game plan was simple – they were going to come out in their patented 2-3 matchup zone defense and force the Ram shooters to have to beat them. Unfortunately Penns Valley’s Sam Snyder took advantage early. Snyder hit two 3-point field goals in a matter of minutes early in the first frame and helped the Rams jump out to an early 6-0 lead.
“I said at the beginning of the game that he (Snyder) was the one guy we couldn’t leave open. He got hot and that forced us to have to extend on defense and as the game went on we just became worn out,” said Campman
The Bisons were able to stymie the Rams for the most part of the rest of the first quarter only giving up eight points in the frame. Christian Lezzer made some excitement when he hit a fade-away three pointer at the end of the first to cut the Penns Valley lead to three at 8-5.
“Christian played well tonight on the offensive end, and he actually didn’t have a bad game defensively either,” commented Campman on the sophomore guard.
The scoring in the second period remained marginally the same with each team finding it a struggle to put the ball in the rim. It seemed as though the Bisons had a chance to steal momentum when Penns Valley’s head coach received a technical foul. Unfortunately the Bisons were unable to turn the tide in their favor at that point. At the end of the half the Bisons found themselves playing down 18-12.
To start the second half the Bisons came out like a completely different team going on a 10-0 run and taking the lead for the first time in the game. The outburst however was only short lived as the Rams answered back with 13 unanswered points of their own. At the end of three Clearfield was in a 31-22 hole.
“We came out in the second half much like we did the other night against P-O. We were able to get some steals out of traps for layups, but playing at that pace we wore ourselves out,” said Campman
The fourth quarter proved to be no different than any of the previous periods as Penns Valley finished of the hometown Bisons by knocking down five freethrows in the frame. As the buzzer sounded the Bisons saw the finally tally as a 13 point defeat.
“We are playing just like we’ve been practicing lately, and we haven’t been practicing well. You play how you practice. We just need to work to continue to get better,” summed up Coach Campman.
The Bisons (5-5) will be back in action Wednesday January 18 as they host the Wildcats of Central Mountain.
Clearfield: 34
Frye 0 1-2 1, Myers 3 3-5 9, Lord 1 0-0 2, Lezzer 5 0-0 11, Swales 1 0-0 2, Jordan 3 0-0 6, Beardsley 1 0-0 3, McCracken 0 0-2 0, Hertlein 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 14 4-9 34.
Penns Valley: 47
Ulmanic 1 0-0 2, Snyder 5 2-3 15, Auman 3 4-7 10, Weaver 4 0-2 8, Tobias 4 0-0 8, Dashem 1 0-0 2, Brown 1 0-1 2, TOTALS 19 6-13 47.
Score by quarter
Clearfield 5 7 10 12 34
Penns Valley 8 10 13 16 47
Bison Basketball 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 | 34 – 47 | 5 – 5 |
| 01/18 | CENTRAL MOUNTAIN |