CURWENSVILLE – With four starters in double figures, the Curwensville boys basketball team won a huge game at Patton Hall Friday night on the Golden Tide home floor defeating the DuBois Central Catholic (DCC) Cardinals, 63-55, in a well fought battle.
Curwensville head coach Shane Pentz knew that this was a big win for his program, “Not only is this a good win right now, but also it is a huge win for the season when you beat a quality DuBois Central team, which is one of the better teams in District 9.”
Pentz then spoke about the advantage the Tide had going into the contest, saying, “I thought we had a size advantage against them that really helped loosen them up and gave us some good outside looks.”
The first quarter was a Tanner Elensky, a Curwensville senior, and Dane Aucker, a DCC senior, show.
Elensky had 10 first quarter points for the Golden Tide while Aucker also poured in 10. In fact, Aucker had the first 10 points of the game for the Cardinals who trailed the Tide early on, 6-0.
Curwensville won the back and forth first eight minutes as reserve Alex Hill hit a bucket with 15 seconds remaining to give the Tide a one point edge, 19-18, going into the second frame.
The Cardinals put together their best quarter on the evening, both offensively and defensively, in the second outscoring Curwensville 18-11 to take a 36-30 halftime lead.
Curwensville turned up the defense to start the second half, limiting the Cardinals to just eight third quarter points while tallying 16 themselves with a balanced scoring attack as all five starters scored.
After three quarters the Golden Tide was out in front of DuBois Central Catholic (6-3), 46-42.
The Cardinals would get close a couple of times during the final period, 50-49 with 4:50 left, before a bucket by Brett Gardner and two free throws by Trey Rauckhorst gave the Tide a 54-49 advantage at the 3:02 point of the fourth.
DCC would come within one point again, 56-55, with 1:33 remaining, but two free throws by Kyle Johns and a bucket by Rauckhorst pushed the Tide margin to five once again, this time 60-55.
Curwensville finished the scoring on two free throws by Gardner and one by Rauckhorst to set the final at 63-55 as the Tide are now 5-2 on the year.
Gardner and Elensky each had 17 on the evening while Johns with 14 and Rauckhorst with 11 rounded out a balanced Tide attack.
Elensky now leads Curwensville with 14 points per game and Gardner and Rauckhorst are at 11 points per game.
Aucker lead all scorers on the night with 22 points for DCC.
The Tide were 11 of 16 from the charity stripe and the Cardinals were 8 of 12.
Pentz summed up the night commenting, “It was nice to see others step up in the scoring because it is hard to rely on just two players. We were worried about our long layoff (two weeks) and didn’t know what to expect but all the guys responded very well.”
In junior varsity activity DuBois Central Catholic came away with a 44-25 victory over the Tide.
The Golden Tide are on the road Wednesday, traveling to play the Black Knights of Moshannon Valley, with JV action starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC – 55
Timmy Kentoski 4 1-2 9, Duncan Park 0 0-0 0, Ayden Hanes 0 0-0 0, Dane Aucker 8 3-5 22, Dom Goldbach 1 0-0 2, Christian LaParne 2 1-1 5, Nick Szczerba 0 0-0 0, Alec Shaffer-Doan 4 1-2 9, Ryan Anderson 2 2-2 6, Dallas Gray 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 22 8-12 55.
CURWENSVILLE – 63
Brett Gardner 5 4-5 17, Kyle Johns 5 4-4 14, Tanner Elensky 8 0-0 17, Alex Olson 1 0-0 2, Trey Rauckhorst 4 3-5 11, Austin Jacobson 0 0-2 0, Bryce McClure 0 0-0 0, Nate Kurtz 0 0-0 0, Alex Hill 1 0-0 2, Jake Terry 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 24 11-16 63.
THREE-POINTERS: Gardner 3, Elensky, Aucker 3
SCORE BY QUARTERS
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 18 18 8 11 55
CURWENSVILLE 19 11 16 17 63
OFFICIALS: Bill Zupich, Chris Sherkel, Rich Gormont
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/06 | MO VALLEY | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 12/09 | @ Clearfield | 56 – 38 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/10 | BROCKWAY | 54 – 51 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/13 | @ Ridgway | 25 – 46 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/16 | WEST BRANCH | 63 – 52 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/19 | @ Harmony | 68 – 31 | 4 – 1 |
| 12/20 | @ Kane | 47 – 54 ot | 4 – 2 |
| 01/03 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 63 – 55 | 5 – 2 |
| 01/08 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 01/14 | @ Elk County | ||
| 01/16 | @ Glendale | ||
| 01/21 | RIDGWAY | ||
| 01/24 | @ Brockway | ||
| 01/27 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 01/29 | GLENDALE | ||
| 01/31 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
| 02/04 | @ Sheffield | ||
| 02/05 | ST. JOE’S ACADEMY | ||
| 02/07 | KANE | ||
| 02/08 | MO VALLEY | ||
| 02/10 | HARMONY | ||
| 02/12 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/14 | CLEARFIELD |