HYDE — Second-chance points enhanced the season’s best shooting performance that carried the Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team to a much-needed 71-56 victory over undermanned and winless Mountain League rival Philipsburg-Osceola at Weiss Gym Tuesday night.
The Bison, whose previous high for points came in an 89-57 loss to Bald Eagle Area on December 18, had double-digit putbacks and cashed 41.3 percent of their 75 shots to halt a three-game slide with just their third win. They matched their season high with a half dozen three-pointers.
The fact that the Mounties (0-11) were able to hit 43.2 percent, including 10 three-pointers, and top 40 points for only the second time this season made it far from a classic win for Clearfield coach Forrest Campman.
“It was kind of difficult watching two teams chucking up a pile of three-point shots,“ he said. “I thought it was two teams that did not play very good defense, but we were able to rebound better, and being able to get some offensive rebounds and score probably was the biggest difference in the game.”
The Bison crashed the offensive boards for 15 rebounds with Erik Sellers working the hardest. The junior forward snared seven misses and converted all but one into baskets for his 12 points. He just missed a double-double with nine total rebounds.
Clearfield also got putbacks from Will Myers, Jon Janocko and Cody Spaid, who had two.
“They were not a real active team inside,” said Campman, who attributed some of the Mounties’ defensive problems to a lack of numbers. “They have only five or six guys that really play and they‘re not being real aggressive in everything they do.”
Many possessions didn’t last very long with both teams pushing the ball up the floor and firing away on the first good look, making the pace fast and oft-times hectic.
Clearfield‘s defensive pressure was more effective, especially late in the second and third quarters.
“Turnovers were a big key,” Campman offered. “I think they got a little tired. We’re able to play more guys. They had more turnovers than we had, so that, obviously, was an advantage for us.”
Putbacks by Sellers and Will Myers sent the Bison on their way to a 15-9 lead after eight minutes, with Christian Lezzer providing eight points from long range. He finished with a team-high 13 points.
Derek Hryn and Wyatt Westen came off the bench to join the five Bison starters in the scoring act during the 26-point second period that bested their previous high by six and gave them a 41-22 cushion at intermission.
Clearfield ended up with 28 bench points, led by Westen’s career-high 10. Hryn and Spaid chipped in seven apiece.
Philipsburg-Osceola’s best run came early in the third quarter with Dan Fowler scoring six of the eight points to chop the deficit to 43-30.
The Mounties never got any closer as the Bison answered with a 10-3 run and, in the final minute, widened the gap to 60-40 via two putbacks by Spaid that sandwiched Lezzer’s third three-pointer.
With Trentin Herrington and Lewis Jones making pairs of three-pointers, the Mounties were able to make the final respectable with a 16-11 edge in the fourth quarter.
Herrington made four treys and earned scoring laurels with 21 points while Jones added 15, all on three-pointers.
“We won and that’s good, but we need to play better,” Campman said. “We gave up a lot of open shots initially. They just didn’t make the early ones.
“Offensively, we don’t move the ball well enough and our big guys aren’t active enough to get the ball inside at times. When we did get the ball inside, we did score.
“But we’ll work at it. We just had two blowout losses and we got a win, so it should give the kids a little bit more confidence coming into practice.”
Clearfield will be at home again Friday for a non-league game against St. Marys.
Mountain League standings – Bald Eagle Area 6-0, Penns Valley 5-1, Tyrone 5-2, Central 4-2, Huntingdon 3-3, Clearfield 2-5, Bellefonte 1-6, Philipsburg-Osceola 0-7.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 56
Curtis Matsko 2 0-1 4, Collin Maurer 2 1-2 6, Trentin Herrington 5 7-8 21, Dan Fowler 4 0-0 8, Lewis Jones 5 0-0 15, Lucas Fetters 0 0-0 0, Jaddah O’Neill 0 0-0 0, Alvaro Sanz 0 0-0 0, Collin Kerfoot 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 8-11 56.
CLEARFIELD — 71
Jon Janocko 2 0-0 4, Seth Ford 2 0-0 5, Erik Sellers 6 0-0 12, Christian Lezzer 5 0-0 13, Will Myers 3 2-2 9, Wyatt Westen 5 0-0 10, Andy Brown 1 0-0 2, Cody Spaid 3 1-2 7, Derek Hryn 3 0-0 7, Evan Brown 1 0-0 2, Ryan Lezzer 0 0-0 0, Kaleb Taylor 0 0-0 0, Devin Jones 0 0-0 0, Caleb Strouse 0 0-0 0, R.J. Ward 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 31 3-4 71.
Three-Point Field Goals – Philipsburg-Osceola 10 (Maurer, Herrington 4, Jones 5); Clearfield 6 (Ford, C. Lezzer 3, Myers, Hryn).
Score by Quarters
Philipsburg-Osceola 9 13 18 16 – 56
Clearfield 15 26 19 11 – 71
Officials – Barry Abbott, Scott Sullivan and Emery Faith.
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | CURWENSVILLE | 38 – 56 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/10 | @ Central | 32 – 55 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/13 | @ Huntingdon | 41 – 65 | 0 – 3 |
| 12/18 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 57 – 89 | 0 – 4 |
| 12/20 | @ Bellefonte | 52 – 51 | 1 – 4 |
| @ PL Lions Club Tourney | |||
| 12/27 | vs. Bald Eagle Area | 41 – 68 | 1 – 5 |
| 12/28 | vs. Harmony | 51 – 32 | 2 – 5 |
| 01/03 | @ Punxsutawney | 38 – 70 | 2 – 6 |
| 01/06 | TYRONE | ppd. | 2 – 6 |
| 01/07 | @ Brookville | ppd. | 2 – 6 |
| 01/09 | TYRONE | 40 – 62 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/10 | @ Penns Valley | 39 – 68 | 2 – 8 |
| 01/14 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 71 – 56 | 3 – 8 |
| 01/17 | ST. MARYS | ||
| 01/20 | DUBOIS | ||
| 01/22 | CENTRAL | ||
| 01/24 | HUNTINGDON | ||
| 01/28 | @ Brookville | ||
| 01/29 | @ Bald Eagle Area | ||
| 01/31 | BELLEFONTE | ||
| 02/05 | @ Tyrone | ||
| 02/07 | PENNS VALLEY | ||
| 02/12 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | ||
| 02/14 | @ Curwensville |