MARTINSBURG — The Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team ran into a roadblock on its path to a possible Mountain League championship Monday night when homestanding Central pulled away in the final two minutes for a 64-57 shocker.
The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak by the Bison and left them 17-2 with an 11-1 league record that has them just a half-game ahead of Penns Valley and one game in front of Tyrone.
The race boils down to three big games later in the week, as Clearfield will host Penns Valley Wednesday while the two teams chasing the Bison will square off in back-to-back contests Friday and Saturday.
A 9-3 advantage in three-pointers kept the Bison in the make-up of the Dec. 9 postponement when the Scarlet Dragons were shorthanded due to their football team’s deep run in the PIAA Playoffs.
Evan Brown had 19 points with four treys and Will Myers had 17 points with three triples for the Bison, who led 31-28 at the half and 43-42 going to the fourth quarter.
“It was close the entire way,” Clearfield coach Nate Glunt said. “There some things we didn’t do very well, but they’re getting better and just made more plays than we did.”
The biggest one for the Scarlet Dragons (10-9) was a late tie-breaking basket that set the stage for their fifth win in seven games.
“We came down and missed with about two minutes to go, so we were forced to foul,” Glunt said.
And Central capitalized at the free throw line, especially Noah Muthler.
The freshman was on target all night, sinking 15 of 16 foul shots for a game-high 23 points.
He was joined in double figures by Kyle Dodson with 12 points, Justin Helsel with 11 and Josh McKnight with 10.
Ethan McGinnis scored 13 points and Isaac Rumery had 11 to lead the Clearfield junior varsity to a 46-37 victory for a 10-9 record.
Mountain League — Clearfield 11-1, Penns Valley 10-1, Tyrone 9-2, Central 5-7, Huntingdon 4-7, Bald Eagle Area 3-9, Bellefonte 3-9, Philipsburg-Osceola 1-10.
CLEARFIELD — 57
Evan Brown 7 1-1 19, Dave McKenzie 1 1-3 3, Tommy Hazel 3 1-2 8, Will Myers 4 6-7 17, Cody Spaid 3 2-2 9, Caleb Strouse 0 1-2 1, Ryan Lezzer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 12-17 57.
CENTRAL — 64
Justin Helsel 4 2-4 11, Brandon Buchart 3 0-2 6, Kyle Dodson 5 2-5 12, Josh McKnight 4 2-3 10, Noah Muthler 3 15-16 23, Preston Karstetter 1 0-0 2, Dylan Appleman 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 21-30 64.
Three-Point Field Goals – Clearfield 9 (Brown 4, Hazel 1, Myers 3, Spaid 1); Central 3 (Helsel 1, Muthler 2).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 17 14 12 14 – 57
Central 18 10 14 22 – 64
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 ppd. 11 – 1
01/14 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 80 – 42 12 – 1
01/15 CENTRAL 67 – 50 13 – 1
01/18 DUBOIS 71 – 42 14 – 1
01/20 @ Huntingdon 92 – 48 15 – 1
01/26 TYRONE 57 – 47 16 – 1
01/29 @ Bald Eage Area 97 – 57 17 – 1
02/01 @ Central 57 – 64 17 – 2
02/03 PENNS VALLEY
02/05 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
02/08 @ Curwensville