CURWENSVILLE — DuBois Central Catholic broke open a tight Allegheny Mountain League South Division game with a 20-2 run in the third quarter and went on to spoil the home finale for the Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team in Patton Hall Thursday night.
The Cardinals turned a 32-29 halftime lead into a 70-46 victory with their big second half.
It was the second game in a row that the Golden Tide surrendered almost 40 points in the final 16 minutes after playing their opponents on even terms through two quarters.
Wednesday afternoon, Glendale defeated Curwensville 64-52 after trailing 27-25 at intermission.
“Our defense in the second half has just killed us the last two nights,” Curwensville coach Shane Pentz said. “And it’s not that the other team is doing anything different, we’re just a step slow.
“Tonight, we just gave up way too much dribble penetration to their offense. Their guards are too good to allow them to get in the lane and try to keep them from scoring. They were basically getting any shot they wanted in the second half.”
The Golden Tide, which never led, inched to within one point for the fourth time when Alex Hill began the third quarter with a tough, driving lay-up.
However, they made only one field goal in the next 5:22 while the Cardinals were taking complete control with steals and fast breaks that resulted from their tight, man-to-man, full-court pressure defense. Christian LaParne and Dane Aucker were the main culprits with eight and six points, respectively, as the margin grew to 19 at 52-33 with 2:20 left in the third period.
“With a team like that, you can’t turn the ball over in transition, or it’s two points the other way,” Pentz said. “We had a chance to keep it a little closer, but we had a few turnovers that helped them, and we missed a few layups. That’s been plaguing us since the first game at Moshannon Valley. And it’s not one person. It’s the entire team.”
DuBois Central Catholic (15-4, 7-3 AML-South) carried a 52-36 lead into the fourth quarter and padded the final spread with 18 more points.
Early on, Curwensville (5-15, 1-8 AML-South) kept the visitors in their sights on two field goals, three free throws by Harrison Bloom and two charity tosses by Trey Rauckhorst.
A pair of three-pointers by Neil Fitzpatrick fueled a 10-2 run by the Cardinals that had them on top 17-9 before Zach Marshall swished a trey from the left corner with three ticks remaining in the first quarter.
After Aucker scored six consecutive points to give DCC a 23-14 advantage in the first minute of the second quarter, Quamone Newkirk ignited a 10-2 Golden Tide run with a three-pointer from the top of the key.
The junior reserve then grabbed a rebound, raced down the floor and knifed between two Cardinals for a layup. After Jake Terry sank a trey from NBA range, Newkirk cashed a steal to pull the Golden Tide to within one, 25-24.
Later, Rauckhorst’s conventional three-point play on a putback once again made it a one-point game at 29-28, but LaParne canned three of four foul shots for the 32-29 halftime score.
“Our first half effort was so much better than its been the last couple games,” Pentz said. “We were attacking on offense, and our defense was moving.
“We had talked before the game about trying to limit our turnovers, and we did have 13, but it was a three-point game so we weren’t too upset.
“Then we came out in the third quarter and missed some shots that would have kept it reasonable. We were having trouble making shots in the paint, and they were going down in transition and scoring in the paint. That was a big difference in the game.
The Cardinals shot 46.4 percent (26-for-56) as Aucker was high scorer with 22 points, LaParne was close behind with 19 and Fitzpatrick added 11.
With 10 points, Newkirk was the lone player in double figures for the Golden Tide, which made 16 of 48 field goal attempts for 33 percent.
Curwensville wound up with 25 turnovers. DCC had only 10.
Pentz kept seniors Rauckhorst, Bloom, Alex Hill, Johnathan Miller and Dillon Davis on the floor for the final two minutes of their last Patton Hall game. Foster Cannon, the sixth senior, was sidelined by an injury.
“Credit to our seniors for sticking with the program,” Pent said. “All of them except one have been with us since elementary, and I’d just like to thank them for their time.”
The Golden Tide will travel to Kane Friday for their final Allegheny Mountain League game.
Despite 17 points from Newkirk and 16 from Curtis Linsenbigler, the Curwensville junior varsity came out on the short end of a 50-41 final in the prelim.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC — 70
Christian LaParne 6 6-10 19, Matt Fassnacht 0 0-0 0, Neil Fitzpatrick 4 0-0 11, Dana Aucker 11 0-2 22, Dallas Gray 2 1-2 5, Joey Varischetti 0 4-10 4, Nick Szczerba 1 0-0 3, Kyle Craig 1 2-2 4, Noah Pellenati 0 0-0 0, Mark Latuska 1 0-0 2, Isaiah Bratton 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 13-26 70.
CURWENSVILLE — 46
Noah Strickland 3 1-4 7, Jake Terry 2 0-0 6, Trey Rauckhorst 2 4-5 8, Harrison Bloom 0 3-4 3, Alex Hill 2 0-0 4, Johnathan Miller 1 0-2 2, Quamone Newkirk 4 1-1 10, Zach Marshall 1 0-0 3, Curtis Linsenbigler 1 0-0 3, Dillon Davis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 9-16 46.
Three-Point Field Goals – DuBois Central Catholic 5 (LaParne 1, Fitzpatrick 3, Szczerba 1); Curwensville 5 (Terry 2, Newkirk 1, Marshall 1, Linsenbigler 1).
Score by Quarters
DuBois Central Catholic 17 15 20 18 – 70
Curwensville 12 17 7 10 – 46
Officials – Marven Martell and Lee Martell.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/05 | @ Mo Valley | 41 – 51 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/08 | @ Brockway | 53 – 51 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/10 | HARMONY | 52 – 43 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/12 | RIDGWAY | 33 – 38 | 2 – 2 |
| 12/15 | CLEARFIELD | 40 – 71 | 2 – 3 |
| 12/16 | WEST BRANCH | 61 – 81 | 2 – 4 |
| 12/19 | KANE | 55-57 ot | 2 – 5 |
| 01/02 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 38 – 63 | 2 – 6 |
| 01/06 | JOHNSONBURG | 38 – 40 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/09 | MO VALLEY | ppd. | 2 – 7 |
| 01/14 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 36 – 63 | 2 – 8 |
| 01/16 | GLENDALE | 53 – 30 | 3 – 8 |
| 01/17 | MO VALLEY | 42 – 34 | 4 – 8 |
| 01/19 | @ West Branch | 42 – 59 | 4 – 9 |
| 01/20 | @ Ridgway | 40-41 ot | 4 – 10 |
| 01/23 | BROCKWAY | 45-50 ot | 4 – 11 |
| 01/26 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ppd. | 4 – 11 |
| 01/28 | @ Harmony | 62 – 46 | 5 – 11 |
| 01/30 | @ Johnsonburg | 43 – 60 | 5 – 12 |
| 02/02 | @ Glendale | ppd. | 5 – 12 |
| 02/03 | SHEFFIELD | 43 – 52 | 5 – 13 |
| 02/04 | @ Glendale | 52 – 64 | 5 – 14 |
| 02/05 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 46 – 70 | 5 – 15 |
| 02/06 | @ Kane | ||
| 02/09 | @ Clearfield |