Clearfield Cagers Open Mountain League With True Shootout Win Over Huntingdon

HYDE — It was a long wait for the Clearfield Bison basketball squad to take the court once again to start the year.  Originally, the season was to open with three games in the first week, two of them being home.  However, because the Central Dragons were continuing their quest in the PIAA football playoffs, that game was moved from mid-December to early February.

Maybe that was a good thing because it gave the Bison a chance to rest up and prepare for their next contest.  When they took to their home court Friday night, they were ready to go.

On the opposite side, the visiting Huntingdon Bearcats were coming off a close game 24 hours earlier, one that kept them undefeated, but by the narrowest of margins.

What fans got on this night inside the Bison Gymnasium was a true shootout, especially from behind the arc.  Combined, the Bearcats and Bison would attempt 54 shots from three-point range.  Huntingdon would hit 10 of them, eight coming in the first half.

But, even with the fast pace of the game, the Bison were in it the entire time.  Their size, speed, and, most importantly, their rebounding ability on both ends of the court kept the game close for three quarters, then allowed them to pull away late to hand Huntingdon their first loss on the year in a 77-64 final.

“We turned it into a basic pick-up game on defense.  You couldn’t help it.  Everytime they were putting it up, it was going in,” Head coach Nate Glunt said afterwards regarding the three-point shots. “I watched them play Bellefonte last night, and they missed some.  They had all their misses out last night, tonight they played so well.”

In the first half alone, Huntingdon hit eight shots from deep range, which kept the game close for the first 16 minutes.  Clearfield held a 24-16 advantage after the first quarter, but then the three-point shots began coming in the next frame.  At the end of the half, it nearly was a new game, because the teams went into the locker room tied at 39.

The second half, however, was the exact opposite for the Bearcats.  They were limited to just 2-of-12 in the second half from three-point range, and Glunt credits a change made in the locker room that made it challenging for the visitors to make those shots.

“We changed our defensive philosophy a little bit where we weren’t going to give them open three’s,” he said.  “You saw a couple times they made some one-on-ones in the paint and made some buckets, and we were gonna give them those.  We weren’t gonna give them open three’s.”

Hunter Shetrom would hit the most shots from three-point range for Huntingdon with three, ending his night with nine points.  Taylor Mitchell led the team with 18 points, and Hudson Speck accounted for 11 in just over three quarters of play, as he would foul out early in the final quarter.

The lone downside to shooting the shots from that deep was Huntingdon wasn’t going for the rebound very much.  All game long, the Bearcats had nine rebounds.  Clearfield, on the other hand, nearly quintupled the amount with 41 boards, led by senior center Cody Spaid.  His work in the paint was key as he got put-back rebounds that led to points, finishing the night with a double-double with 16 points and 14 boards.  Yet, he didn’t lead the scoring.

That came from Will Myers, who nearly had a double-double himself as he pulled down nine boards, but also led every player that hit the hardwood with 26 points.

Tommy Hazel accounted for another 20 points, along with eight rebounds and five assists.

Glunt was especially proud of his team’s play from the bench late in the game, allowing them to pull to a double-digit lead and eat away at the clock, while also putting up big shots to keep momentum on their side.

“We got a couple stops, Will had a couple buckets, Tommy had a big three, Evan (Brown) had them playing all over the place.  Caleb Strouse came in as a senior and played awesome,” Glunt said.  “I thought David McKenzie had an awesome second half, Evan Brown also an awesome second half.  Those are our point guards that are getting the ball to those in position to score.

“Strouse did an awesome job coming in, giving us big time minutes, especially on the boards.”

The fast pace of the game was something Glunt noticed when he watched Huntingdon the night before, and felt that it was going to be a fast-paced game on both sides of the court.  For him, that is exactly why he emphasizes the work in the weight room and the pace of practice, so that his team is accustomed to that kind of pace already.

“They play the way we like to play.  They want to run, we want to run; I think we practiced extremely hard, and I’m sure they did too.  That’s just how we play every single day.  You play that tempo every day, you get used to it.  I thought our kids did an excellent job of staying the course in four quarters.  At the end we had a couple turnovers, so I have to do a better job in some game situations, but overall we did very well.”

The lone low moment for Clearfield on the night came before the game when the jayvee game was played.  The back-and-forth contest came down to the final shot, and Nate Anderson made it count from nearly 30-feet deep as he drained a buzzer beater from beyond the top of the key in a 46-44 stunner.

After only one week, Clearfield sits at 2-0, and is ready for another week of competition.  But, despite the undefeated record, Glunt and his team look at it from the opposite side, and consider themselves unbeaten, with every game being the beginning of a new test.

“It’s 0-0, one game at a time.  We went and scouted these teams.  We play Bellefonte next, and Huntingdon beat Bellefonte 49-48, so it’s going to be tough.  St. Mary’s has improved, but they are all tough.  So we’re going to take it one game at a time.”

Three games are slated for next week for the Bison cagers beginning with back-to-back home games on Tuesday and Wednesday against Bellefonte and St. Mary’s, then finishing the week off on Friday at Tyrone.  All games are a 6 p.m. tip for the junior varsity game, with the varsity contest to follow.

SCORE BY QUARTER

Huntingdon   18   21   10   15   –   64
Clearfield   24   15   24   14   –   77

Huntingdon 64

Price 0 0-0 0, Shetrom 3 0-0 9, Stratton 1 0-0 2, Hess 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 8 0-0 18, Speck 4 0-0 11, Sellers 2 0-1 5, Werner 0 0-0 0, Sulesky 0 0-0 0, Holesa 2 0-0 4, Kyper 0 0-0 0, Rigby 3 0-1 8, Anderson 1 3-3 5.  TOTALS 25 3-5 64.

Clearfield 77

McGinnis 0 0-0 0, Evans 0 0-0 0, Lezzer 0 0-0 0, Gates 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0-0 3, Lynch 1 0-0 2, Strouse 2 3-4 7, Porter 0 0-0 0, McKenzie 1 1-2 3, Wood 0 0-0 0, Hazel 8 0-0 20, Sorbera 0 0-0 0, Spaid 8 0-1 16, Myers 11 0-0 26.  TOTALS 25 4-7 77.

GAME STATISTICS
Huntingdon/Clearfield

Team Rebounds:  9/41

Turnovers:  19/21

Team Fouls:  13/13

Field Goals:  25-59/31-66

Three-Point Shots:  Shetrom (3), Mitchell (2), Speck (3), Sellers, Rigby; Myers (4), Hazel (2), Brown

Bison Scoreboard: