CURWENSVILLE – For the second straight game the Curwensville boys basketball squad had the same four players score in double figures, as the Golden Tide overwhelmed the Moshannon Valley Black Knights Saturday afternoon, 83-53.
The Moshannon Valley League (MVL) victory has the Tide at 11-7 on the year and 5-1 in the MVL.
It was also Curwensville’s third consecutive win and four of its last five.
It wasn’t that the Knights rolled over for the Golden Tide, it was just that the Curwensville offense put on its finest display of the year.
Moshannon Valley connected on 10 three-pointers over the course of the game, something that wasn’t lost on Tide Head Coach Shane Pentz, who said afterwards, “We did not play sound defense at times as we just didn’t guard the three point shots well at all. If we don’t get better at that we won’t have success in the upcoming playoffs.”
Pentz continued with, “Yes, we played well at times and we didn’t play well at times. We just need to start playing better defense overall.”
The Golden Tide went on an 8-0 run, thanks to baskets by Alex Olson, Kyle Johns, Austin Jacobson and two free throws by Brett Gardner, to end the first eight minutes up 21-10.
Moshannon Valley played its best stretch of basketball at the start of the second period with a 9-0 run to trail the Tide by just two, 21-19, with 6:20 to play before intermission.
Sam Demko scored seven of the nine points in the Black Knight run that had first year Moshannon Valley head coach Chris Glunt thinking possible upset.
But not today, as the Golden Tide took control, once again. This time a 15-2 run that helped Curwensville take a 12-point margin into the break at 38-26. Gardner fueled the second quarter with eight tallies for the Tide.
The third eight minutes saw the Golden Tide come up with its biggest offensive output of the season, scoring 30 points, while holding the Black Knights to just 11 and bolting out to a 68-37 bulge with one frame left to finish.
Gardner lead the Tide with 20, followed by 14 from Tanner Elensky, 13 from Trey Rauckhorst and 12 from Kyle Johns.
Curwensville has four games left on the regular season schedule and all four will be played next week, which Pentz talked about, “Four games next week is a big week for us, so it was good to get a lot of guys into today’s game to give the starters some rest for the upcoming end of our regular season. We just need to take them one at a time though because every win can improve our seeding in the District 9 playoffs .”
The Tide also had a good day from beyond the arc, making seven treys.
Moshannon Valley (4-15) was paced by Demko with 19 and freshman Curtis Neff chipped in with 10.
Curwensville won the junior varsity game, beating Moshannon Valley, 37-20. Jake Terry lead the Tide with eight points.
The Golden Tide are back in action Monday night when they host the Harmony Owls, a team they beat earlier this season, 68-31, at Harmony. The JV game starts at 6 pm and the varsity contest will immediately follow.
MOSHANNON VALLEY – 53
Sam Demko 7 0-0 19, Jake Murawski 1 2-2 4, Curtis Neff 3 2-2 10, David Bubb 2 2-4 6, Luther Harlow 1 1-4 3, Connor Holobinko 0 0-2 0, Dillon Hauck 3 0-0 9, Albert Stephenson 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 18 7-14 53.
CURWENSVILLE – 83
Brett Gardner 5 9-12 20, Kyle Johns 6 0-0 12, Tanner Elensky 6 0-1 14, Trey Rauckhorst 6 1-1 13, Alex Olson 3 0-0 7, Austin Jacobson 3 1-1 7, Bryce McClure 0 0-0 0, Nate Kurtz 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Miller, 0 0-0 0, Dylan Davis 0 0-0 0, Jake Terry 2 1-2 7, Noah Strickland 1 0-0 3, R. J. Olson 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 32 12-17 83.
THREE-POINTERS: Elensky 2, Terry 2, Gardner, Strickland, A. Olson; Demko 5, Hauck 3, Neff 2,
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
MOSHANNON VALLEY 10 16 11 16 53
CURWENSVILLE 21 17 30 15 83
OFFICIALS: Jerry Carnicella, Marv Martell
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 | 61 – 44 | 6 – 2 |
| 01/14 | @ Elk County | 38 – 67 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/16 | @ Glendale | 55 – 56 ot | 6 – 4 |
| 01/21 | RIDGWAY | 41 – 56 | 6 – 5 |
| 01/24 | @ Brockway | 51 – 41 | 7 – 5 |
| 01/27 | @ DuBois Central | 55 – 64 | 7 – 6 |
| 01/29 | GLENDALE | 64 – 53 | 8 – 6 |
| 01/31 | JOHNSONBURG | 31 – 81 | 8 – 7 |
| 02/04 | @ Sheffield | 59 – 41 | 9 – 7 |
| 02/05 | ST. JOE’S ACADEMY | ppd. | 9 – 7 |
| 02/07 | KANE | 53 – 48 | 10 – 7 |
| 02/08 | MO VALLEY | 83 – 53 | 11 – 7 |
| 02/10 | HARMONY | ||
| 02/11 | ST. JOE’S ACADEMY | ||
| 02/12 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/14 | CLEARFIELD |