CURWENSVILLE — With two minutes left in the first half, the winless Curwensville Golden Tide was giving D9Sports.com’s top-ranked District 9 boys basketball team a stiff test Tuesday night.
The hosts trailed 34-29 at that point after outscoring once-beaten Johnsonburg 22-10 in the first six minutes of the second quarter.
Then, the Rams shifted into high gear and outscored the Golden Tide 43-3 the rest of the way for their 10th win, 77-32, in Allegheny Mountain League action on the Patton Hall hardwood.
“They’re very good,” Curwensville coach Shane Pentz said, “but we just stopped playing.
“Their pressure got to us, and we started turning the ball over every time we touched it. We had handled (their press) okay. And, all of a sudden, we stopped handling it.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened.”
What shots Curwensville (0-8, o-4 AML-South) did get off over the final 18 minutes weren’t going in, either. The Golden Tide didn’t hit the 30-point mark until the fourth quarter after going scoreless in the third period.
Trey Rauckhorst came off the bench to top the Golden Tide with nine points. Tanner Elensky and Brett Gardner added eight and seven, respectively.
For Johnsonburg (10-1, 4-0 AML-North), high-scoring guards Cameron Grumley and Cole Peterson again were the big guns a night after combining for 48 points in an 82-57 victory over St. Marys.
Grumley was high with 25 points, 10 over his average, while Peterson was close behind with 22, six more than his average.
There was no junior varsity game.
Curwensville goes on the road Wednesday night for a Moshannon Valley League game against Glendale.
JOHNSONBURG — 77
Cole Peterson 8 6-7 22, Cameron Grumley 12 1-1 25, Mitchell Holmberg 2 4-5 9, Quinn Luhr 1 5-8 7, Frank Kocjancic 2 0-0 4, Kyle Sheldon 3 1-2 7, Taylor Feronti 1 0-0 2, Caleb Hefright 0 1-3 1. TOTALS: 29 18-26 77.
CURWENSVILLE — 32
Brett Gardner 3 0-2 7, Kyle Johns 0 0-0 0, Tanner Elensky 3 1-2 8, Alex Olson 2 0-0 4, Austin Jacobson 0 1-2 1, Trey Rauckhorst 4 1-2 9, Nate Kurtz 0 0-0 0, Marcus Stephenson 1 1-1 3, Jason Thorp 0 0-0 0, Harrison Bloom 0 0-4 0, Alex Hill 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Miller 0 0-0 0, Foster Cannon 0 0-0 0, Dillon Davis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 4-13 32.
Three-Point Field Goals – Johnsonburg 1 (Holmberg); Curwensville 2 (Gardner, Elensky).
Score by Quarters
Johnsonburg 24 15 23 15 – 77
Curwensville 7 22 0 3 – 32
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/07 | @ Clearfield | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 12/10 | @ Clearfield | 37 – 42 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | @ Brockway | 32 – 45 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/14 | RIDGWAY | 37 – 59 | 0 – 3 |
| 12/17 | @ West Branch | 56 – 68 | 0 – 4 |
| 12/18 | HARMONY | 60 – 62 | 0 – 5 |
| 12/21 | KANE | ppd. | 0 – 5 |
| 01/02 | GLENDALE | 53 – 57 | 0 – 6 |
| 01/04 | @ DuBois Central | 29 – 35 | 0 – 7 |
| 01/08 | JOHNSONBURG | 32 – 77 | 0 – 8 |
| 01/09 | @ Glendale |