The Bison took care of championship business Friday night at Clarion University’s Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium, defeating the number two seed, St. Marys, 56-42, to once again win the AAA title.
It was the third straight season that Clearfield has appeared in the title game and it is their 8th overall boys District 9 basketball championship.
Last year Clearfield knocked off Punxsutawney 57-33 to win the title.
Second year Bison head coach Nate Glunt talked about the effort to win back to back titles, saying, “A lot of people have worked very hard to make this happen. The guys have worked hard all year long to get better. There is also a behind the scenes community effort with a bunch of people helping out in anyway they can to help us accomplish our team goals.”
Bison David McKenzie started the night off by draining a three pointer just 20 seconds into the contest. A contest that saw the lead change hands a few times before Clearfield settled in to its game.
When Flying Dutch Brady Bauer hit a two pointer with approximately three minutes to go in the first eight quarter, it gave St. Marys a 12-10 edge. It would be the final time the Dutch would see the lead.
Thanks to eight points from Tommy Hazel and seven from teammate Will Myers, the Bison would close out the first quarter on a 10-5 run to go up by five, 20-15, heading into the second quarter.
The only quarter St. Marys would outpoint Clearfield was the second. And not by much, just a 9-8 margin that still had the number one seed Bison up by four at the intermission, 28-24.
Clearfield broke the game open somewhat with a 21-13 third period run thanks in part to seven from Myers and six from senior Cody Spaid.
The Bison would take its first double-digit lead, 37-27, on a basket by Spaid with 4:49 to go in the third frame before Bauer cut it back down to eight moments later at 37-29.
Myers would give Clearfield another double digit edge on a bucket at the 4:20 point of the third, 39-29.
This time Clearfield would not surrender the 10-plus point margin as Evan Brown hit a three, then Spaid a two pointer and the Bison were now rolling at 44-29.
Clearfield took a 12 point lead into the final quarter, 49-37, with the Bison winning the final eight minutes 7-5.
The Bison led by as many as 17 points in the last stanza at 54-37 and then again at 56-39.
Glunt talked about the effort of his squad, saying, “Will (Myers) has been in a little bit of a shooting slump as of late but ended up playing hard and gave us a great game with his 24 points. Cody (Spaid) had a monster game on the boards with 19 rebounds. Evan (Brown), David (McKenzie) and Caleb (Strouse) all played very good for us on the defensive end. And I don’t want to forget the effort by Tommy (Hazel). He plays tough and hard each and every night out, which he did once again this evening.”
Myers was the high scorer for the night with 24 tallies with Hazel having 14 and Spaid tossing in 12.
Before the game Glunt was worried about the big three scorers for St. Marys, and afterwards said, “I really wanted our kids to slow down their leading scorers in Bauer (Brady), Wehler (Jeffrey) and Housler (Parker). It was a huge concern for us because those three are so skilled and they have the quickness to get to the hoop. Brady scored 33 against Punxsutawney in the semi’s the other night so we wanted to make sure to slow him down.”
Brady ended the night as the leading scorer for the Flying Dutch with 16 points (nine in the third quarter), while Wehler and Housler each had seven.
Glunt closed his post game comments with, “This was another great team effort. I always say to win championships you need to rebound and play solid defense, and tonight I thought we did both well. And to be honest I never felt comfortable until with about three and half minutes remaining in the game when we started to eat some clock on a few possessions.”
The Bison hit six of nine free throws while the Dutch connected on just one of eight.
St. Marys ended the season with a 15-9 record.
Clearfield (22-2) is now off until the PIAA play-in game next Thursday at Clarion Area High School tipping off at 7:30m pm against Obama Academy, the District 8 AAA champions.
Last year Obama Academy ended the season for Clearfield in the PIAA play-in game by a score of 66-52.
ST. MARYS – 42
Parker Housler 3 0-1 7, Jordan Romain 1 0-2 2, Jeffrey Wehler 3 0-3 7, Brady Bauer 6 1-2 16, Matt Marconi 1 0-0 2, Nathan Schneider 2 0-0 5, Nick Bauer 0 0-0 0, Tony Auman 0 0-0 0, Mitchell Schreiber 1 0-0 3, Tyler Robinson 0 0-0 0, Bryce Lanzel 0 0-0 0, Ryan Sennett 0 0-0 0, TOTAL 17 1-8 42
CLEARFIELD – 56
Evan Brown 1 0-0 3, David McKenzie 1 0-0 3, Tommy Hazel 5 2-2 14, Cody Spaid 6 0-2 12, Will Myers 9 4-5 24, Caleb Strouse 0 0-0 0, Ryan Lezzer 0 0-0 0, Carter Wood 0 0-0 0, Ethan McGinnis 0 0-0 0, Johny Gates 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Porter 0 0-0 0, Jake Sorbera 0 0-0 0,. Sammy Evans 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 22 6-9 56
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
ST. MARYS – 15 9 13 5 42
CLEARFIELD – 20 8 21 7 56
THREE-POINTERS: ST. MARYS – 7 B. Bauer 3, Housler, Wehler, Schreiber, Schneider CLEARFIELD – 6 Myers 2, Hazel 2, Brown, McKenzie
OFFICIALS: Chuck Pasternak, John Zambardi, Jeff Jovenitti
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 | 44 – 37 | 18 – 2 |
| 02/05 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 75 – 27 | 19 – 2 |
| 02/08 | @ Curwensville | 72 – 39 | 20 – 2 |
| 02/17 | District 9 Semifinals | ||
| 02/17 | vs. BRADFORD | 59 – 34 | 21 – 2 |
| 02/19 | District 9 Championship | ||
| 02/19 | vs. St. Marys (@ Clarion U.) | 56 – 42 | 22 – 2 |
| 02/25 | PIAA Play-in Game | ||
| 02/25 | vs. Obama Academy (Clarion HS) |