PUNXSUTAWNEY – The Punxsutawney Area High School boys basketball team dropped the Clearfield Bison from the ranks of the undefeated Monday night on the Chucks’ hardwood, 66-48.
The Bison, who never led in the game, are now 5-1 on the year with Punxsutawney improving to 6-1.
The Chucks played an up-tempo game on both ends of the court in defeating the somewhat depleted Bison who were without Cody Spaid.
Without the 6’ 7” Spaid on the floor the Chucks were able to penetrate inside the Clearfield defense to pick up several buckets.
Punxsutawney jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead before Will Myers put the first points on the board at 5:21 of the first quarter for Clearfield with a two-pointer.
Unfortunately it was just one of only two baskets the Bison would make during the first eight minutes, the other by Tommy Hazel.
With the Chucks up 15-4 going into the second quarter, one could see the confidence build as Punxsutawney increased its margin by five at the break with a 32-16 halftime lead.
Things didn’t get a whole lot better for Clearfield in the third quarter as the Bison were down by 22, with just under six minutes left in the third, 41-19.
Clearfield would rally and go on a 7-0 run, thanks to three points from Myers and two each from hazel and David McKenzie, to cut the Punxsutawney lead to 41-26.
The Chucks did manage to increase its bulge to 16 at the end of three to 47-31.
The Bison never got much closer over the final quarter, and at one time trailed 54-31.
Three players scored double digits for Punxsutawney, with John Matthews having 15, Ethan Riley hitting for 13 and Dylan Huey dumping in 12.
Myers led all scorers on the night with a total of 24 points including 14 in the final quarter. It was the fifth straight game that Myers has scored 20 or more points.
Hazel helped the Bison offense with 10 tallies of his own.
A whole bunch of free throws were attempted during the game with the Chucks connecting on 17 of 31 while Clearfield, having a rough night at the line, hit on just 11 of 27.
Clearfield did come out with a victory in the junior varsity contest, beating the Chucks in a tight one, 54-53.
The Bison are on the road again Wednesday night, taking a trip to Bellefonte to play the Red Raiders. Clearfield defeated Bellefonte on Tuesday December 15 on the Bison home floor, 44-30.
Listen to the Clearfield-Bellefonte game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show starting at approximately 7:15 pm.
CLEARFIELD – 48
Evan Brown 1 0-2 3, David McKenzie 2 4-10 8, Tommy Hazel 3 3-4 10, Will Myers 9 3-9 24, Caleb Strouse 0 0-0 0, Ryan Lezzer 1 1-2 3, Ethan McGinnis 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 16 11-27 48
PUNXSUTAWNEY – 66
Ethan Riley 5 0-0 13, John Matthews 5 3-4 15, Devin Kelly 2 3-7 3, Dylan Huey 3 6-11 12, Brandon Matthews 2 3-7 7, Nick Brothers 0 0-0 0, Nathan Lingenfelter 0 0-0 0, Jacob Weaver 1 0-0 2, Jacob Horner 4 0-0 8, Nathan Ray 0 2-2 2, Patrick Fedigan 0 0-0 0, Tanner Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Brock Wymer 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 22 17-31 66
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 4 12 15 17 48
PUNXSUTAWNEY 15 17 15 19 66
THREE-POINTERS: CLEARFIELD – Myers 3, Hazel, Brown PUNXSUTAWNEY – Riley 3, J. Matthews 2
OFFICIALS: Kevin Doverspike, Justin Bifano, Bud Bifano
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 CURWENSVILLE 76 – 35 1 – 0
12/09 @ Central ppd. 1 – 0
12/11 HUNTINGDON 77 – 64 2 – 0
12/15 BELLEFONTE 44 – 30 3 – 0
12/16 ST. MARYS 68 – 59 4 – 0
12/18 @ Tyrone 59 – 50 5 – 0
12/21 @ Punxsutawney 48 – 66 5 – 1
12/23 @ Bellefonte
12/29&30 Purchase Line Christmas Tourney
01/05 BROOKVILLE
01/06 BALD EAGLE AREA
01/08 @ Penns Valley
01/12 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
01/15 CENTRAL
01/18 DUBOIS
01/20 @ Huntingdon
01/26 TYRONE
01/29 @ Bald Eage Area
02/01 @ Central
02/03 PENNS VALLEY
02/05 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
02/08 @ Curwensville