SPRING MILLS – Although it has been a year, payback was sweet for the Clearfield boys basketball team Friday night against Penns Valley in a key Mountain League match-up on the Rams’ hardwood.
Having lost both games to Penns Valley last season Clearfield gained a measure of revenge in defeating their hosts 58-49.
The Bison are now 11-1 on the season and remain unbeaten in Mountain League action with a 6-0 record and are all alone in first place.
Clearfield head coach Nate Glunt was all smiles afterwards, saying, “ This was a great atmosphere tonight and a great game for fans from both sides. I told people before the game that you have to beat Penns Valley because Terry’s team very rarely beats themselves.”
The loss for the Rams gives them an overall mark of 10-2 on the year and a 5-1 record in the Mountain League.
Clearfield junior Tommy Hazel and senior Cody Spaid came up big in the win, as Hazel hit for a game high 22 points, 17 in the second half with 11 in the fourth quarter at crunch time.
Spaid pulled down double-digit rebounds and added 15 points in an all-around excellent game for the 6’ 7“ big man.
The Bison, who never trailed in the game, took a 15-10 lead after the first quarter buzzer sounded as Hazel scored with 18 seconds remaining to give Clearfield the five point edge.
Spaid led the way with his best quarter production on the night with six tallies.
Clearfield again waited until the end of the quarter, this time to extend their lead to 26-20 at the half thanks to a David McKenzie bucket with just six ticks left on the clock.
In the third quarter Clearfield upped its margin over the Rams to 40-29 as they outscored Penns Valley 14-9 heading into the final eight minutes.
The Rams actually got to within four of Clearfield, 30-26, in the third with 6:32 to go on a bucket by Zach Engle, the 6’ 7” big man for Penns Valley.
Two baskets by Hazel, and one each from Spaid and McKenzie pushed the margin to 11 before the end of the third frame.
Then came a fourth quarter with many of the fans in the full house crowd figuring the Rams would not go away into the night very easily. And they didn’t.
Spaid hit two free throws to start the fourth quarter giving Clearfield its biggest lead at 42-29 with 7:38 left in the game.
Then when Hazel scored at the 6:41 point of the final stanza most thought the game was just about in the bag as Clearfield stretched its margin to 14 at 45-31.
Not so fast, however.
With just 1:24 left in the battle Clearfield had what appeared to be an insurmountable lead at 52-41.
The Rams didn’t think that at all, as they put together the biggest run of the evening, 8-0.
Ben Alexander of the Rams scored with 1:03 to go before Engle hit both ends of two free throws with still 60 seconds left, which cut the Bison lead to 52-45. Engle had stolen the inbounds pass after the Alexander bucket and was quickly fouled.
Another steal and bucket, this time by Ram junior Andrew Tobias, cut the Bison lead down to 52-47 with still fifty-three ticks to go.
Then Tobias did it again! A steal and bucket put Penns Valley to within three points, 52-49, and still 46 seconds left.
And then Hazel came to the rescue as the junior scored the final six points for the Bison to seal the win. Two baskets and two free throws did the trick.
Will Myers, Clearfield’s leading scoring coming into the game with 20 points per contest was held to just six, thanks to a smothering Ram defense.
One last quick comment from coach Nate Glunt was, “I will enjoy this one for a little bit then quickly look forward to next week. One at a time.”
Clearfield also won the junior varsity contest, 46-33, over the Rams.
Next up for the Bison is another Mountain League game. against Philipsburg-Osceola, on Tuesday at Clearfield. Junior varsity action begins at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
CLEARFIELD – 58
Evan Brown 2 1-2 6, David McKenzie 4 1-2 9, Tommy Hazel 9 2-2 22, Cody Spaid 6 2-4 15, Will Myers 2 2-2 6, Caleb Strouse 0 0-0 0, Ryan Lezzer 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 23 8-12 58
PENNS VALLEY – 49
Ben Alexander 4 3-8 11, Chase Collison 1 0-0 2, Logan Pearce 3 1-3 7, Andrew Tobias 3 0-0 6, Zach Engle 8 2-2 18, Keith Butts 2 0-0 5, Luke Snyder 0 0-0 0, Jared Kines 0 0-0 0, Braden Stodart 0 0-0 0, Charlie Romig 0 0-0 0, Matthew Tobias 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 21 6-13 49
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 15 11 14 18 58
PENNS VALLEY 10 10 9 20 49
THREE-POINTERS: CLEARFIELD – 4 Hazel 2, Spaid, Brown PENNS VALLEY – 1 Butts
OFFICIALS: Jeff Fisher, Dan Gales, Justin Frear
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 56 – 39 6 – 1
12/29&30 Purchase Line Christmas Tourney
12/29 vs. Harmony 60 – 30 7 – 1
12/30 vs. Purchase Line 63 – 24 8 – 1
01/05 BROOKVILLE 64 – 48 9 – 1
01/06 BALD EAGLE AREA 89 – 56 10 – 1
01/08 @ Penns Valley 58 – 49 11 – 1
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