MILLHEIM – The Rams of Penns Valley just happens to be one of those teams that is a thorn in the side of the Clearfield boys basketball squad.
And Friday night the thorn went in deeper as the Rams completed the season sweep of the Bison, on Penns Valley’s home floor, 63-57.
Clearfield dropped to 17-3 overall and 10-3 in the Mountain League (ML) with Penns Valley moving forward at 13-4 and 8-3 in league action. Tyrone, going into Friday night, was in first place in the ML with a 10-1 mark, and has a stranglehold, at this time, on this year’s title.
The Bison opened up with a strong early game as junior Will Myers had six first period points to give the visitors an early edge. But the Rams, on their Senior Night, stayed close and eventually took a 13-12 margin into the second eight minutes.
Clearfield took a 30-27 lead at the intermission on the heroics of sophomore sub Evan Brown who drained a three-pointer from half court at the buzzer.
Myers had another productive period with seven points that included two treys.
Ram senior Logan Pearce kept his team close with eight second period points that also include two threes. On the night Pearce ended up burying four treys.
It was the third period that cost the Bison the battle, as they were outscored 20-11 to give Penns Valley a 47-41 lead heading into the final frame.
Both teams scored 16 in the fourth period, and the Rams ensured the win by going 10 of 13 from the free throw line.
On the night, Penns Valley was 10 for 15 from the charity stripe while Clearfield also had a fine night at the line, hitting on 13 of 17.
The Rams drained seven three-pointers with Clearfield connecting on six.
Myers lead the Bison offense with 18 and senior Erik Sellers tallied 12.
Pearce led all scorers on the night with 20 points as four Rams scored in double figures. Logan Johnson had 14, Sean Beamesderfer 13 and Zach Engle 10 in the Penns Valley well-balanced attack.
The Bison won the opening event, the junior varsity contest, over the Rams, 39-29.
The Bison will return to the hardwood on Monday in a home contest with the Curwensville Golden Tide.
Junior varsity action begins at 6 pm with the tip-off and the varsity will follow immediately. The Bison beat the Tide in mid-December in Curwensville, 71-40.
Listen to Clearfield – Curwensville basketball action on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show beginning at 7:15 pm.
CLEARFIELD – 57
Erik Sellers 5 0-0 12, David McKenzie 2 3-3 8, Tommy Hazel 3 2-2 8, Cody Spaid 2 4-6 8, Will Myers 6 4-6 18, Evan Brown 1 0-0 3, Caleb Strouse 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 19 13-17 57
PENNS VALLEY – 63
Logan Johnson 6 1-4 14, Chase Collison 2 1-2 6, Logan Pearce 6 4-5 20, Sean Beamesderfer 4 4-4 13, Zach Engle 5 0-0 10, Kevin Sweeley 0 0-0 0, Andrew Tobias 0 0-0 0, Layne Zettle 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 23 10-15 63
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 12 18 11 16 57
PENNS VALLEY 13 14 20 16 63
THREE-POINTERS: Sellers 2, Myers 2, McKenzie, Brown; Pearce 4, Johnson, Collison, Beamesderfer
OFFICIALS: Ron Williams, Tom Fountaine, Jeff Fisher
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 | 42 – 47 | 16 – 2 |
| 02/03 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 62 – 49 | 17 – 2 |
| 02/06 | @ Penns Valley | 57 – 63 | 17 – 3 |
| 02/09 | CURWENSVILLE | ||
| 02/10 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |