CLARION — After making a change at halftime to counter Punxsutawney’s pressure defense, the Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team put on a dazzling show on both ends of Clarion University’s Tippin Gym over an 11-minute stretch that turned the District 9 Class AAA championship game into a 57-33 romp Friday night.
The title is the first since 2009 for the Bison and the third since they dropped down from Class AAAA in the late 1990s.
It was one of three goals coach Nate Glunt set before embarking on his first season at the helm of the Bison.
“We have a winning season, didn’t get the (Mountain) league championship, but one goal was a district championship, and we got it.”
Hot shooting and stifling defense, especially in the second half, were the keys to Clearfield’s 20th win in 23 games.
The Bison shot a sizzling 60.9 percent from the floor and forced the Chucks into 11 misses and five turnovers while transforming a 21-15 halftime edge into their biggest lead, 53-28, with 4:57 remaining.
In addition to making 14 of 23 field goal tries during that run, the Bison canned six of seven free throws.
And they exhibited great team play with half of the buckets resulting from excellent passing.
“I give our kids a lot of credit,” a hoarse but happy Glunt said. “They’re so unselfish. They enjoy each other, which makes it really fun to coach. And by doing that, spending time with each other, they’re just as happy with assists as they are making shots.”
The Bison wound up with 11 assists, including three by Erik Sellers and Will Myers and two by Cody Spaid and Evan Brown, on their 21 makes in 43 attempts.
Tommy Hazel, Clearfield’s leading scorer until the final week of the regular season, returned to form with 21 points while Sellers and Myers contributed 13 and 12, respectively.
Spaid got the job done on the inside with a game-high 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
“Cody’s doing a really nice job of not swatting,” Glunt said. “He’s blocking shots without the ball going out of bounds. He’s learned a lot.
“I thought he had an awesome second half.”
Glunt had a similar compliment about Hazel, who carried the Bison in the first half with 14 points.
The sophomore sharpshooter made four of five shots. Three were from three-point land. And he had one rebound, one block and one of his two steals.
“I thought Tommy had a whale of a game,” Glunt said. “He stepped up. He’s had a great two weeks of practice. He was phenomenal tonight.”
After Sellers gave Clearfield a 2-1 edge, Hazel scored six consecutive points. Myers added a three-pointer to send the Bison into the second period in front 11-3.
Hazel then tallied eight of the Bison’s next 10 points, swishing treys from both corners. The second was crucial, coming right after Ethan Riley completed a rare four-point play that left the Chucks down only 18-14 with 48 seconds left in the half.
The Bison were 7-for-18 with a dozen turnovers in the first 16 minutes, and Glunt gave the Chucks credit for those numbers.
“Punxsutawney did an excellent job of pressing us on missed shots,” he said. “We like to run, and they were double-teaming our point guard. We were leaving him by himself.”
“We have a press break off missed shots, so that was our adjustment at halftime.
“They did a great job of adjusting. I thought we handled the pressure a lot better in the second half. I’ve got all kinds of things I can draw up, but they executed. So, give credit to the kids.”
Implementing the press break paid immediate dividends.
Spurred by Sellers, the Bison began the third quarter with a 14-2 run, and all five starters got into the scoring act.
Sellers grabbed his own missed shot for a putback and then found Spaid and Myers for layups. A minute later, Spaid returned the favor and Sellers followed up his peep with two free throws. On a fast break, Myers got the ball ahead to David McKenzie for a soaring left-handed layup. And Hazel chipped in two foul shots that had the Bison in cruise control, 35-17, just 4:24 into the second half.
Five free throws were all Punxsy (11-12) had until Dylan Huey got free on an in-bounds play for a short bank shot with 2:27 remained in the third quarter.
The Chucks were 5-for-20 in the second half and just 11-for-48 for the night for 22.9 percent.
“We played excellent team defense,” Glunt said. “We’ve been working on that for two weeks. It was a blessing.”
Clearfield finished the second half shooting 14-for-25 with, incredibly, only one turnover.
“McKenzie and Brown had an awesome second half handling the pressure,” Glunt said.
Sellers, the lone senior, drew praise from Glunt for the role he has played in the Bison’s success.
“His leadership is second to none,” Glunt said. “He does so many things. He invites kids to his house. They play video games together, watch movies together. He doesn’t have to do that. We have only have one (senior) but he’s a really good one.”
The Bison won’t have much time to celebrate, for they will be back in action Monday at Clarion High School for a 6 p.m. region game against District 8 champion Obama Academy of Pittsburgh. The winner moves into the PIAA Class AAA Tournament first round against the District 7 third place team next Friday.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 33
Ethan Riley 1 1-2 4, John Matthews 0 1-2 1, Dylan Huey 2 0-0 4, Ryan Sloniger 0 2-2 2, Andy Fedigan 3 0-0 6, Logan Huey 0 0-0 0, Ruben Taylor 0 0-0 0, Devin Kelly 2 3-6 7, Brandon Matthews 2 2-2 6, Keeston Perry 0 0-0 0, Tucker Jenary 1 0-0 3, Nathan Lingenfelter 0 0-0 0, Nathan Ray 0 0-0 0, Nick Constant 0 0-0 0, Patrick Fedigan 0 0-0 0, Lucas Burkett 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 9-14 33.
CLEARFIELD — 57
Erik Sellers 5 3-4 13, Will Myers 5 1-1 12, Cody Spaid 2 0-0 4, Tommy Hazel 6 6-8 21, David McKenzie 1 0-0 2, Evan Brown 0 0-0 0, Caleb Strouse 1 0-0 2, Carter Wood 0 0-0 0, Mason Royer 0 0-0 0, Reese Wilson 0 0-0 0, Micah Heichel 1 1-5 3, Josh Sorbera 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 11-18 57.
Three-Point Field Goals – Punxsutawney 2 (Riley, B. Matthews); Clearfield 4 (Hazel 3, Myers 1).
Score by Quarters
Punxsutawney 3 12 11 7 – 33
Clearfield 11 10 23 13 – 57
Officials – John Zombordi, Scott Reffner and Kevin Teribery.
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 | 64 – 36 | 18 – 3 |
| 02/10 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 63 – 21 | 19 – 3 |
| 02/27 | District 9 Championship Game | ||
| 02/27 | vs. Punxsutawney (@ Clarion U.) | 57 – 33 | 20 – 3 |
| 03/02 | PIAA Play-in Game | ||
| 03/02 | Obama Academy @ Clarion HS |
