CURWENSVILLE – A fast paced, never stopping Elk County Catholic (ECC) boys basketball team picked up win number nine on the year Tuesday evening in Curwensville, defeating the Golden Tide 57-40.
Utilizing a full court press, coupled with a smothering style defense, the Crusaders were able to pull away from the Tide in the second quarter. But it wasn’t without a fight from Curwensville, especially in the first eight minutes where at one point the Tide held a 10-9 margin.
Tide head coach Shane Pentz knows his squad is capable, saying afterwards, “We continue to be able to play with the better teams in District 9, and we have been right there with a lot of them. Tonight was a good example of that. Elk County Catholic had that little stretch in the second quarter that ended up being a big difference.”
With ECC leading 19-14 after the first quarter, the Crusader defense kicked in during the second stanza, limiting the Golden Tide to just five points.
At one point in the second Curwensville trailed only 21-17 when the Crusaders went on a 10-0 run and ended the first half up by 14, 33-19.
The closest the Golden Tide would come in the second half was when sophomore Harrison Bloom hit a three-pointer with 3:18 remaining in the third period, cutting the Elk County Catholic lead down to 39-28.
ECC then responded with a another small run, 8-0, to virtually take away any hopes of a Tide win, to lead 47-30 after three frames.
Both squads matched points in the fourth period, 10-10, as the Crusaders moved to 9-3 on the year and left the Tide still searching for its first win as they now stand at 0-10.
Pentz continued with, “Elk County does a very good job helping out on defense. They are a well drilled team. We are getting there. We just need to keep our heads up.”
Clayton Housler, an ECC senior lead all scorers with 25 points while teammate Cory Huff, a 6’5” junior, chipped in with 12.
For the Golden Tide it was junior Brett Gardner dropping in 18 points, 10 coming in the first quarter.
In the junior varsity game it was also Elk County Catholic winning, defeating the Golden Tide 38-24.
Curwensville returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to Houtzdale to play the Black Knights of Moshannon Valley in a Moshannon Valley League game. JV action starts at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC — 57
Clayton Housler 8 7-7 25, Brandon Schlimm 2 2-2 6, Brock McCullough 1 0-3 2, Alex Herzing 0 0-0 0, Hank Cappiello 3 0-0 6, Mitchell Vallone 1 0-0 2, Ivan Wortman 0 0-0 0, Cory Huff 6 0-1 12, Luke Kraus 0 0-0 0, Colton Lecker 2 0-0 4, Andy Gebauer 0 0-0 0, Matt Jerko 0 0-0 0, Mitchell Gahr 0 0-0 0, Devin Constable 0 0-0 0, Shea Meyer 0 0-2 0, TOTALS – 23 9-15 57.
CURWENSVILLE — 40
Brett Gardner 8 0-0 18, Kyle Johns 1 2-2 4, Tanner Elensky 2 0-0 4, Alex Olson 1 0-1 2, Austin Jacobson 2 0-0 4, Marcus Stephenson 0 0-0 0, Trey Rauckhorst 2 1-2 5, Justin Brooks 0 0-0 0, Nate Kurtz 0 0-0 0, Harrison Bloom 1 0-0 3, Jason Thorpe 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 17 3-5 40.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 19 14 14 10 57
CURWENSVILLE 14 5 11 10 40
THREE-POINTERS: CURWENSVILLE 3, Gardner 2, Bloom ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 2, Housler 2
OFFICIALS: Rob Murphy, Bill Overly
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 | 40 – 52 | 0 – 9 |
| 01/15 | ELK COUNTY | 40 – 57 | 0 – 10 |
| 01/16 | @ Mo Valley |