CURWENSVILLE — The Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team ascended to the 20-win plateau for the second year in a row by running away from backyard rival Curwensville 72-39 in front of the biggest Patton Hall crowd of the season Monday night.
The Bison shot 44.4 percent from the floor, dominated under the boards and played stifling defense to gradually widen the spread right to the final minute of the Golden Tide’s finale.
“I was happy with the outcome,” said Clearfield coach Nate Glunt, whose team will take a 20-2 record into the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs that begin next week. “Anytime you play Curwensville, it’s a big game. It’s a good win.”
The Bison got a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds from Cody Spaid, 14 points and seven rebounds from Will Myers and a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds from Evan Brown.
The visitors were raining threes, breaking into double figures for the seventh time with Myers nestling four into the nets and Brown swishing three.
Jake Terry topped the Golden Tide with 10 points, including two of their five triples, and Quamone Newkirk added nine.
Curwensville hung with its downriver foe throughout the first quarter, Terry’s back-to-back long treys pulling the hosts to with two points, 13-11, with 36 ticks on the clock.
Spaid answered with his three-pointer from the top of the key, and that triggered a 22-1 run that wasn’t interrupted until Curtis Linsenbigler launched a three-pointer from the right side with five seconds left in the first half, setting the score at 35-15.
Three of the Bison’s baskets in the second quarter were putbacks, two by Carter Wood, while offensive rebounds by Myers and Ryan Lezzer resulted in four made foul shots as the Bison piled up second-chance and third-chance points.
They owned a 25-5 rebounding advantage by halftime with Spaid, Myers and Brown bettering or matching Curwensville’s total.
“That was the difference,” Glunt said. “When you’re not playing your best, you can rebound and play solid defense and give yourself a chance. And we stopped turning it over in the second quarter.”
Compounding the Golden Tide’s problems in the second period were 10 missed shots and six turnovers, which continued a season-long trend.
“All year, it seems like one quarter we just can’t score,” Curwensville coach Shane Pentz said. “It seems like we throw up a two or three every night. And against a team like Clearfield, you’re not gonna recover from that.
“For the first 12 minutes, we were competitive. The run they went on was a knockout blow.
“They’re a good team. They’re very skilled. They play at a tempo that we’re not used to. The teams we play, only West Branch plays at that tempo. Every other team is more defense oriented. Clearfield does play very good defense, but their transition is very quick from end to end.”
A pair of treys by Myers and two bunnies by Spaid off pinpoint passes by Strouse and Hazel helped the Bison stretch the margin to 50-35 by the end of the third period, and nine Bison got into the scoring act in their 22-point fourth quarter.
Hazel, one of four Bison averaging double figures, had only five points, but he contributed six rebounds and five assists to the effort. Wood chipped in with six rebounds.
Clearfield’s height posed a problem at both ends of the court for Curwensville, which got few good looks at close range and had to rely on outside shooting.
“All year, we had trouble getting the ball into the post,” Pentz said. “Sometimes it was because we weren’t looking and sometimes it was good defense. Tonight, we didn’t because they’re so big. When we did, we had a tough time scoring.”
Clearfield will have more than a week to prepare for the defense of its District 9-AAA title, which will begin in Bison Gymnasium with a semifinal against St. Marys or Bradford, according to Glunt.
“We’ve got to go back to work and figure out why we had so many turnovers,” he said. “We didn’t have our best effort in our execution, but that’s a credit Curwensville. They played good defense.”
The Golden Tide finished a disappointing 4-18.
“Obviously, we didn’t meet expectations,” Pentz said. “We play a very difficult schedule, but you’ve gotta come ready to play and we just weren’t prepared every night to compete at a level that allows us to win games.”
The fifth-year head coach made it a point to thank seniors Terry, Newkirk, Linsenbigler, Noah Strickland, R.J. Olson, Ian Barrett and Jared Bakaysa.
“Most of them have been with us since elementary school,” he said. “They had some success up through the ranks, but this year with so many injuries and illnesses and guys missing games for this and that, we just never put it together.”
A strong second half gave the Clearfield junior varsity a 58-48 victory in the prelim. Johny Gates was high for the Bison with 16 points while Ryan Lazauskas and Taye Lynch added 11 and 10, respectively. The Golden Tide’s Devan Barrett took game honors with 20 points.
CLEARFIELD — 72
Evan Brown 4 2-2 13, Will Myers 4 2-2 14, Tommy Hazel 2 1-2 5, Dave McKenzie 0 0-0 0, Cody Spaid 6 4-5 15, Caleb Strouse 2 1-2 5, Ryan Lezzer 2 2-2 6, Carter Wood 2 0-0 4, Johny Gates 0 1-2 1, Ethan McGinnis 1 0-0 3, Wyatt Porter 1 0-0 3, Jake Sorbera 0 0-0 0, Sammy Evans 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 24 11-17 72.
CURWENSVILLE — 39
Quamone Newkirk 4 1-2 9, Jake Terry 3 2-2 10, Noah Strickland 0 2-2 2, R. J. Olson 1 1-2 3, Zach Marshall 0 0-0 0, Avery Francisco 1 0-1 2, Nick Stewart 2 0-0 5, Curtis Linsenbigler 1 0-0 3, Devan Barrett 1 2-3 5, Ian Barrett 0 0-0 0, Jared Bakaysa 0 0-0 0, Josh Terry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 8-12 39.
Three-Point Field Goals – Clearfield 11 (Brown 3, Myers 4, Spaid 1, McGinnis 1, Porter 1, Evans 1); Curwensville 5 (Terry 2, Stewart 1, Linsenbigler 1, D. Barrett 1).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 16 19 15 22 – 72
Curwensville 11 4 8 16 – 39
Officials – Rich Gormont, Jerry Carnicella and Dave Gardner.
Golden Tide Final 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 25 – 66 1 – 13
01/22 @ Brockway 27 – 56 1 – 14
01/25 @ DuBois Central 39 – 45 1 – 15
01/27 @ Harmony 47 – 46 2 – 15
01/29 JOHNSONBURG 26 – 59 2 – 16
02/01 @ Glendale 69 – 36 3 – 16
02/02 @ Sheffield 39 – 25 4 – 16
02/05 KANE 49 – 64 4 – 17
02/08 CLEARFIELD 39 – 72 4 – 18
