ST. MARY’S – The Elk County Catholic (ECC) boys undefeated basketball team remained perfect on the 2015-16 season, defeating visiting Curwensville on Saturday evening 77-42.
The Crusaders now stand at 13-0 and are ranked as the number seven team in Pennsylvania in Class A.
Golden Tide head coach Shane Pentz talked about the schedule his team has played through its first 12 games, commenting, “ Not many people know this, but of the first 12 games we have played, all those teams at this point would be in the playoffs. And after the Ridgway game next week we will have played four ranked teams in the state.”
The Crusaders started the game on a 5-0 run before Tide senior Jake Terry drained a three point shot with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
ECC would manufacture a 10-0 run after the Terry bucket and go on to take a 19-7 first quarter edge.
Nine of the 12 Crusaders who dressed scored in the second eight minutes that propelled ECC to win the quarter 23-13 for a 42-20 margin at intermission.
Elk County Catholic continued to stretch its bulge over the Tide in the second half, outscoring Curwensville 35-22.
For the third straight game Curwensville senior, Quamone Newkirk, was high scorer for the Tide with 13.
The Crusaders had Frank Singer with 11 points and Jack Wolfe with 10 as its leading point makers.
In the end all 12 ECC players would put points on the scoreboard.
Pentz closed by saying, “The last four or five games we have played teams close at times, so we are making strides. I feel we are playing better even though the score doesn’t show that. Tonight it was the inside physicality by Elk County that was tough for us to handle. But our attitude, which is great, has not changed in spite having yet to win a game.”
The Crusaders won the junior varsity game, beating Curwensville by a score of 58-43.
Curwensville (0-12) plays at home on Monday night against the Glendale Vikings in Moshannon Valley League action. The JV game starts at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
CURWENSVILLE – 42
Quamone Newkirk 6 1-1 13, Jake Terry 4 0-0 9, Ian Barrett 0 0-0 0, Noah Strickland 2 0-0 4, R. J. Olsen 3 1-3 7, Nick Stewart 1 0-2 2, Josh Terry 0 0-0 0, Curtis Linsenbigler 1 0-0 3, Alec Opaliski 0 0-0 0, Jared Bakaysa 0 0-0 0, Christian Bakaysa 0 0-0 0, Avery Francisco 1 0-0 2, Nate McKenrick 0 0-0 0, Devan Barrett 0 2-2-2, TOTALS – 18 4-8 42
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 77
Benji Hoffman 3 1-2 8, Jack Wolfe 4 2-2 10, Kyle Huff 3 0-0 6, Nate DaCanal 3 2-3 9, Doug Schatz 2 0-0 4, Frank Singer 4 0-0 11, Bryce Gabler 1 2-3 4, Brad Dippold 2 3-4 7, Dan Stauffer 2 3-4 7, Gabe Kraus 2 0-0 4, Jared Braun 1 1-2 3, Joe Kucenski 2 0-0 4, TOTALS – 29 14-20 77
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CURWENSVILLE 7 13 15 7 42
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 19 23 20 15 77
THREE-POINTERS: CURWENSVILLE – 2 Jake Terry, Linsenbigler ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 5 Singer 3, Hoffman, DaCanal
OFFICIALS: Mark Austin, Dave Furman
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 @ Clearfield 35 – 76 0 – 1
12/08 BROCKWAY 36 – 53 0 – 2
12/11 @ Ridgway 25 – 70 0 – 3
12/15 MO VALLEY 46 – 79 0 – 4
12/16 HARMONY 44 – 45 0 – 5
12/18 @ Kane 45 – 67 0 – 6
12/21 @ West Branch 41 – 83 0 – 7
01/04 DUBOIS CENTRAL 48 – 62 0 – 8
01/06 @ Johnsonburg 49 – 64 0 – 9
01/08 @ Mo Valley ppd. 0 – 9
01/12 @ Elk County ppd. 0 – 9
01/13 @ Mo Valley 46 – 62 0 – 10
01/15 WEST BRANCH 48 – 80 0 – 11
01/16 @ Elk County 42 – 77 0 – 12
01/18 GLENDALE
01/19 RIDGWAY
01/22 @ Brockway
01/25 @ DuBois Central
01/27 @ Harmony
01/29 JOHNSONBURG
02/01 @ Glendale
02/02 @ Sheffield
02/05 KANE
02/08 CLEARFIELD