CURWENSVILLE — For the better part of three quarters, the Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team dueled West Branch on even terms in its bid to end the season on a high note Wednesday night and, at the same time, spoil the Moshannon Valley League champion’s tune-up for the District 6 Class AA Playoffs.
Playing for the third night in a row caught up with the Golden Tide, though.
A very emotional win over backyard rival Clearfield Monday and an exciting overtime win on a long trip to Kane Tuesday had taken their toll.
The Golden Tide simply couldn’t match the Warriors’ up-tempo pace after grabbing a 34-30 lead with the first seven points of the third quarter.
West Branch (12-10) outscored Curwensville 33-15 over the final 11 minutes to complete a season sweep with a 63-49 victory in Patton Hall.
Both teams were missing their point guards and leading scorers, but the Golden Tide was impacted more by the absence of Tanner Elensky than the Warriors were by the loss of Parker Emigh, who was averaging 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds when a knee injury ended his season prematurely.
Elensky, whose vision was affected by a blow to his right eye during the Kane game, teams with Brett Gardner for a junior backcourt that produces the bulk of the Golden Tide offense while being the disruptive forces in the 2-3 zone defense.
As a result, Curwensville had to lean more on Gardner, coming off back-to-back career highs of 21 and 25 points.
He responded with a 22-point performance. And another hot start.
Gardner drilled four shots, including a pair of three-pointers, as Curwensville jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first three minutes.
“Without Tanner, we were really asking a lot of Brett offensively,” Golden Tide coach Shane Pentz said. “Over the last three games, he’s really shot the ball well. We knew we were going to have to have some guys step up besides Brett.
“In the first half, and even through the third quarter, we were able to get that.”
Alex Olson assisted on buckets by Austin Jacobson and Kyle Johns, and Jacobson added a baseline jumper to keep the Golden Tide in front, 16-15, after one quarter.
Kody Trude, a big freshman with a soft touch outside as well as around the hoop, pumped in nine of his team-high 21 points for the Warriors.
Nate Kurtz and sophomore Trey Rauckhorst, who the start with Elensky on the bench in street clothes, joined the scoring act in the second period, but the Warriors began beating the Golden Tide down the floor on fast breaks and built a six-point advantage before Gardner knocked down a three-pointer from the right corner to set the halftime score at 30-27.
Some of West Branch’s easy baskets were a result of Curwensville going with a one-guard lineup, according to Pentz.
“A lot of times we had four big guys on the floor, because we thought that gave us our best chance, an inside advantage,” he said. “So, our guard play was gonna step back a little.
“For the most part, I though our kids handled their pressure well. We just had a few breakdowns, passing wise, that had as much to do with the lineup that we played as anything.”
Golden Tide hopes were buoyed third quarter via a Jacobson feed to Johns and two Gardner lay-ups off turnovers, one his own steal, while West Branch was experiencing a five-minute drought.
Failure to convert turnovers into even more points prevented the hosts from owning even a bigger edge than 34-30.
Then, the Warriors then showed why they rolled through the MVL at 8-0.
Reserve Nate Kerlin’s short jumper in the lane triggered a 13-point run in 1:31. Brandon Zwick and freshman guard Austin Krise nailed three-pointers and Mike Pennington added five points on the payoff end of fast breaks.
“We were able to get turnovers and go the other way, but we didn’t get many runouts for lay-ups,” Pentz said. “They ended up being a two-on-two or a three-on-two. They got back defensively and forced us to take a shot we maybe wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
“They were quicker than us, from end to end, on both offensive and defensive transitions. We just weren’t getting back. And part of that may have had to do with the fact we had four big guys on the floor and they were in positions they weren’t quite familiar with.”
The Warriors were ahead 47-40 at the start of the fourth period and, after Gardner buried a deep three, opened a 56-45 lead with 3:05 left.
Turnaround jumpers by Johns and Rauckhorst got it down to seven again, but Pennington’s fast-break lay-up and Trude’s three free throws sealed it for West Branch. The two Warriors scored all but the last two of their team’s 16 points in the quarter.
“I think, towards the end, we were a little gassed,” Pentz said. “But to West Branch’s credit, they forced us into that.”
Pennington scored 19 points, 11 in the last 10 minutes, and Krise added 10.
The Golden Tide wound up with a somewhat deceiving 6-16 record, including a 3-5 MVL log.
“We had some really, really tough losses in the middle of the season, and we could have packed it in and said we’re never gonna win,” Pentz said. “But the team kept working in practice and kept playing hard in games.
“Over the final three weeks, we were 5-4. Two of those losses were by four points, and we had a lead late in the fourth quarter of both. So, we had the potential to win more games.
“Hopefully, with a good off-season, we’ll learn how to finish games, and maybe not get off to such a slow start next year.”
Reserves Marcus Stephenson and Adam Benamati were the lone seniors on the 2012-13 squad.
“They were great to have on our team,” Pentz said. “I wish them luck in the future.”
In the prelim, Jonathan Miller tossed in 15 points for Curwensville, but the West Branch junior varsity got 19 from Zwick and 10 from Skylar Krise to win 45-36.
WEST BRANCH — 63
Austin Krise 4 0-0 10, Mike Pennington 9 1-1 19, Kaiden Koch 0 0-0 0, Kody Trude 7 5-6 21, Jarrett Rockey 1 2-2 4, Skylar Krise 1 0-0 2, Brandon Zwick 2 0-0 5, Nate Kerlin 1 0-0 2, John Clark 0 0-0 0, Steve Bumbarger 0 0-0 0, Jesse Martin 0 0-0 0, Josh Kerlin 0 0-0 0, Cam Eboch 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 8-9 63.
CURWENSVILLE — 49
Brett Gardner 9 0-2 22, Kyle Johns 3 1-2 7, Alex Olson 0 0-0 0, Austin Jacobson 4 0-0 8, Trey Rauckhorst 3 1-2 7, Harrison Bloom 0 0-2 0, Nate Kurtz 2 0-0 5, Marcus Stephenson 0 0-2 0, Adam Benamati 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 2-10 49.
Three-Point Field Goals – West Branch 5 (A. Krise 2, Trude 2, Zwick); Curwensville 5 (Gardner 4, Kurtz).
Score by Quarters
West Branch 15 15 17 16 – 63
Curwensville 16 11 13 9 – 49
Final 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 | 74 – 49 | 1 – 10 |
| 01/22 | @ Ridgway | 31 – 70 | 1 – 11 |
| 01/23 | KANE | 45 – 63 | 1 – 12 |
| 01/25 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 1 – 12 |
| 01/28 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ppd. | 1 – 12 |
| 01/30 | @ Harmony | 55 – 37 | 2 – 12 |
| 02/01 | @ Brookville | 46 – 50 | 2 – 13 |
| 02/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 37 – 33 | 3 – 13 |
| 02/05 | SHEFFIELD | 55 – 60 | 3 – 14 |
| 02/06 | MO VALLEY | 65 – 54 | 4 – 14 |
| 02/08 | @ Kane | ppd. | 4 – 14 |
| 02/09 | BROCKWAY | 39 – 63 | 4 – 15 |
| 02/11 | CLEARFIELD | 52 – 48 | 5 – 15 |
| 02/ 12 | @ Kane | 66 – 61 ot | 6 – 15 |
| 02/13 | WEST BRANCH | 49 – 63 | 6 – 16 |