CURWENSVILLE — With both teams still chasing that elusive first win, action was fast-paced and oft-times helter-skelter as the Curwensville Golden Tide rode a wave of shots and rebounds past the Glendale Vikings 84-54 on Senior Night in Patton Hall Monday night.
The Golden Tide gained the upper hand late in the first quarter of the Moshannon Valley League game and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way.
They fired up 86 shots, made 36 for a very respectable 42 percent and grabbed an amazing 27 of their own misses en route to a 54-32 advantage on the boards.
“I’m happy for them,” coach Shane Pentz said. “We haven’t seen any drop off in effort at practice. I’m glad they got rewarded with a win.”
Making sure the Golden Tide losing streak would end at 12 were two seniors and two sophomores who combined to outscore the Vikings by two points.
After being recognized during a pre-game ceremony, point guard Jake Terry led the way with a season-high 18 points and R.J. Olson contributed a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Underclassmen Nick Stewart and Devan Barrett came off the bench to contribute 15 and 13 points, respectively. Stewart also pulled down eight rebounds while Barrett had five.
“It’s great that our sophomore class came up big with Nick and Devan having their career highs on varsity,” Pentz said. “They came in and competed hard. They were able to help us both offensively and defensively.”
The scrappy Vikings had three players in double figures in their 13th loss.
Dane Mencer, their lone senior, battled Olson tough inside and emerged with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Jared Schultz and Jacob Jasper, one of two freshman starters, added 12 points apiece.
Schultz had half of his total, four on three trips to the foul line, and Jasper banked in a almost-impossible three-pointer from the left corner to keep Glendale in it for nearly five minutes.
Then, the Curwensville reserves keyed a 13-5 run to end the first quarter, Barrett with a three-point play on a putback, Stewart with layup off a Terry pass and a jumper, freshman Avery Francisco with a peep for a Barrett assist and, finally, Barrett with a jumper.
The Golden Tide got 13 more bench points, seven by Stewart, in the second period as they increased the spread to 48-27, a total one point shy of their season-high.
The scoring tempo slowed in the third quarter, when the teams were guilty of 15 turnovers and 29 missed shots, but the Vikings couldn’t make any headway.
They did at the outset of the final period with Mencer and Schultz cashing offensive rebounds to make it 59-45, but Terry restored order with back-to-back three-pointers from the left wing and left corner.
“Then, I think we settled in a little again, defensively, and we were able to get some tips and deflections and get some transition defenses,” Pentz said.
While pleased with the victory, Pentz couldn’t give the Golden Tide an A, though, because of some defensive shortcomings, especially under their own basket.
“We did not move our feet, we got caught playing with our hands and we got caught out of position quite often,” he said. “Glendale was able to take advantage of that. They’re a young team and they have a bright future.”
Pentz would like to see the win springboard the Golden Tide to more success as the season winds down.
“We have been playing a little better,” he said. “I just hope we can continue to play hard and get some wins in the last couple weeks.”
Jared Bakaysa, Ian Barrett, Curtis Linsenbigler, Quamone Newkirk and Noah Strickland were the other Curwensville seniors introduced along with their parents prior to tipoff.
The Golden Tide junior varsity set up a sweep for the night with a 65-34 victory in the prelim. Josh Terry pumped in 17 points and Avery Francisco chipped in 10.
Curwensville will be back on its home hardwood Tuesday for an Allegheny Mountain League South Division game with Ridgway (11-2), which is tied for No. 3 in this week’s Laurel Eye Clinic D9Sports.com Power Ratings.
Moshannon Valley League – West Branch 4-0, Moshannon Valley 4-1, Harmony 2-1, Curwensville 1-5, Glendale 0-4.
GLENDALE — 54
Bailey Sinclair 2 0-0 4, Jared Schultz 4 4-6 12, Jacob Jasper 3 4-5 12, Shane McMurray 2 0-2 4, Dane Mencer 5 5-9 15, Josh Potutschnig 0 0-0 0, Colton Leyo 1 0-0 2, John Kitko 1 1-5 3, Ben Kasaback 0 0-0 0, Thomas Beeney 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19 14-27 54.
CURWENSVILLE — 84
Quamone Newkirk 1 0-0 2, Jake Terry 6 3-3 18, Ian Barrett 2 0-0 4, Noah Strickland 3 1-2 7, R.J. Olson 4 2-4 10, Avery Francisco 3 0-0 6, Nick Stewart 7 0-3 15, Devan Barrett 6 1-1 15, Curtis Linsenbigler 0 0-0 0, Jared Bakaysa 3 1-2 7, Alec Opaliski 1 0-0 2, Christian Bakaysa 0 0-0 0, Josh Terry 0 0-0 0, Nate McKenrick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 36 8-15 84.
Three-Point Field Goals – Glendale 2 (Jasper 2); Curwensville 4 (Ja. Terry 3, Stewart).
Score by Quarters
Glendale 16 11 12 15 – 54
Curwensville 27 21 11 25 – 84
Officials – Rich Gormont and Bill Zupich.
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 84 – 54 1 – 12
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