HYDE — Without question the Clearfield Bison basketball squad has put together a season unlike any in recent years. Their one-loss campaign is among the best in the Mountain League, a league that has many tough opponents and still no clear favorite to capture the overall title.
The Bison were ready to show once again why they were the one of the ones able to capture the crown as they returned to the Bison Gymnasium to host the Bellefonte Red Raiders.
After 32 minutes of action, it was the Bison defense that made the biggest statement. The entire team contested the Red Raider offense, limiting the visiting squad to making eight baskets from the floor, and grabbing rebounds on both sides of the court, cruising to a 53-28 victory.
“I thought we had excellent team defense. Give (Trent) Fortney credit, he had nine points, and the team (overall) had 14 (in the first half),” Head coach Nate Glunt said afterwards. “We made an adjustment at halftime to recognize where he is because he’s an excellent player.
“I thought our team defense was good other than the first six minutes where they had five offensive rebounds, but give them credit, they went after the ball harder than we did.”
Fortney did start to get a little momentum in the second half, but the reason was due to the fact he was at the free-throw line eight times in the third and fourth quarters, making seven shots. He would not make a field goal in the final 16 minutes, despite having a game-high 16 points and leading Bellefonte in rebounds with six.
At the same time, the Bison were contesting nearly every shot that went off the fingers of the Red Raiders. The entire team would finish 8-for-40 from the floor, a 20 percent shooting average.
“Defense wins games. Offense scores points, but defense wins games. We recognized where Fortney was, but we came out in the second half, had a layup we missed and we had a silly pass, but give them credit. They play good defense,” Glunt said. “It wasn’t what we did, it was what they did, and we adjusted. We came back. We’re a young team, and we made mistakes, but we came back.”
The closest the Red Raiders got was a five-point gap in the second quarter when they were down 17-12, but to finish off the first half the Bison went on a 12-2 run to go up by 15 at the break. On defense the home squad recognized who to defend, but they also were recognizing that every player needed to contribute to what was happening on the court. Will Myers led the team with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Cody Spaid added in another eight points. However, in Glunt’s eyes, it was Cody’s ability to get the ball to his teammates when he couldn’t score that made the difference, as he led the team in assists with seven.
“I give Cody a lot of credit. Sometimes I want him to be more selfish, but he loves passing the ball,” he said. “If you move where you are open, Cody will find you. We designed a new play to get him the ball inside, but he does an excellent job passing the ball.”
The play off the Bison bench was also strong as Evan Brown would add six points and Kaleb Strouse added another five. Glunt said afterwards that he’s seen all his young players get better from summer workouts until now, and it was showing.
“I told Evan in the locker room I thought it was his best game. I think Kaleb after the first couple minutes he played in the game played excellent,” he said. “Those guys practice extremely hard and put themselves in position to play a lot more. I think they did an excellent job.”
The junior varsity squad also took home the win in a very competitive 48-43 contest to open the night, which ran late as both a junior high and freshman game preceded the jayvee and varsity games.
The Bison sit at 16-1, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier. In fact, the latter part of their remaining contests are their toughest tests in the Mountain League, and it begins on Friday night as Clearfield must travel to Tyrone, a team they beat earlier this season 79-61.
For Glunt, that game is going to be a mirror image of what to expect on Friday, and he’s hoping it leads to another win on the year.
“You got to play good defense. Against Tyrone, its going to be about defense. We have to make some shots, but it’s going to come down to defensive rebounding,” He said. “They do an excellent job executing their offense, crashing the boards, they play physical, and they’re going to have a lot of energy at home.
“They’re going to be fired up to beat us after their first game against us, so we better be ready to bring it.”
Tip-off will be at 6 p.m. for the junior varsity contest, with the varsity to follow after.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellefonte 4 10 6 8 – 28
Clearfield 12 17 10 14 – 53
Bellefonte 28
Armstrong 1 0-0 2, Pryzbys 0 -0 0, C. Fortney 0 0-0 0, T. Fortney 3 8-10 16, Knisley 1 0-0 2, Kreger 1 2-4 4, Caprio 1 0-0 2, Helms 0 0-0 0, Steiner 0 0-0 0, Moss 0 0-0 0, Feldman 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 8 10-14 28
Clearfield 53
Sorbera 1 0-1 2, Heichel 0 0-0 0, Brown 2 0-0 6, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Strouse 2 1-2 5, Sellers 2 2-2 6, McKenzie 1 2-2 5, Wood 2 0-0 4, Hazel 2 0-2 5, Royer 0 0-0 0, Spaid 4 0-0 8, Myers 4 1-1 12. Totals 20 6-10 53
GAME STATISTICS
Bellefonte/Clearfield
Field Goals Made-Attempted: 8-40/20-41
Rebounds: 20/33
Team Fouls: 12/9
Turnovers: 13/15
Three-Point Shots: T. Fortney (2)/Brown (2), McKenzie, Hazel, Myers (3)
Technical Fouls: Feldman/None
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | CENTRAL | 54 – 50 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/12 | @ Huntingdon | 73 – 64 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/15 | @ Curwensville | 71 – 40 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/17 | @ Bellefonte | 53 – 31 | 4 – 0 |
| 12/19 | TYRONE | 79 – 61 | 5 – 0 |
| 12/22 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 57 – 47 | 6 – 0 |
| 12/29&30 | Purchase Line Tourney | ||
| 12/29 | vs. Purchase Line | 67 – 42 | 7 – 0 |
| 12/30 | vs. Bald Eagle Area | 77 – 72 | 8 – 0 |
| 01/06 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 79 – 56 | 9 – 0 |
| 01/07 | @ Brookville | 53 – 45 | 10 – 0 |
| 01/09 | PENNS VALLEY | ppd. | 10 – 0 |
| 01/12 | PENNS VALLEY | 49 – 61 | 10 – 1 |
| 01/14 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 64 – 27 | 11 – 1 |
| 01/16 | @ St. Marys | 66 – 62 | 12 – 1 |
| 01/19 | @ DuBois | 53 – 49 | 13 – 1 |
| 01/21 | @ Central | ppd. | 13 – 1 |
| 01/22 | @ Central | 44 – 25 | 14 – 1 |
| 01/23 | HUNTINGDON | 59 – 41 | 15 – 1 |
| 01/28 | BELLEFONTE | 53 – 28 | 16 – 1 |
| 01/30 | @ Tyrone | ||
| 02/03 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ||
| 02/06 | @ Penns Valley | ||
| 02/09 | CURWENSVILLE | ||
| 02/11 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |