MARTINSBURG — Central charged from behind in the second half to knock the Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team out of the undefeated ranks, 57-46, in a big Mountain League scrap Monday night.
The Bison had shaken off their slowest start of the season, seven points in the first quarter, to take a 24-18 lead by intermission thanks to 13 points by Will Myers, who passed 1987 graduate Chris Barnes (1,166 points) for fourth place on Clearfield’s all-time scoring list with his first basket.
The Scarlet Dragons’ man defense caught the Bison off guard early on.
“We’re used to teams playing zone against us and that’s what they’ve been using, but they came out in that man and were physical, and it took us a quarter to adjust,” Clearfield coach Nate Glunt said. “I take responsibility for that because we prepared for a zone.
“We did play really well defensively in the first quarter and then had a good second quarter.”
The Bison closed the half on a 17-5 run, and still owned a six-point advantage late in the third quarter when a blocked shot on a breakaway layup gave the Scarlet Dragons a spark.
“That was the key point in the game,” Glunt said. “I thought it was goaltending. Then, they went on a run to go up two points (39-37) going into the fourth quarter.”
The Bison held their last lead midway through the final period on a three-pointer by Evan Brown.
“We ended up getting down five and had to foul, and they didn’t miss their foul shots,” Glunt said. “Give them credit. They’re well-coached, and they just outplayed us.”
Clearfield slipped to 9-1 and 5-1 in the league, a half-game ahead of Tyrone, while Central is just one game back at 4-2 after its seventh win in a row.
Josh McKnight led the 8-2 Scarlet Dragons with 16 points. Jacob Muthler and Joey Smith added 12 and 11, respectively.
Myers topped the Bison with 17 points, hiking his career total to 1,182, while Brown tallied 12 and Tommy Hazel had a season-low 10 before fouling out.
Myers also was high in rebounds with nine. Brown and Hazel had seven apiece and Dave McKenzie had six.
Defensively, Brown recorded four steals, Myers earned three and Hazel had two.
The Bison won’t have to wait long to regroup as they host Penns Valley Wednesday night.
The Clearfield junior varsity, led by Jake Sorbera’s 12 points, improved to 6-3 with a 46-31 win.
Mountain League Standings — Clearfield 5-1, Tyrone 4-1, Central 4-2, Huntingdon 3-2, Bellefonte 2-3, Penns Valley 2-3, Philipsburg-Osceola 1-4, Bald Eagle Area 0-5.
CLEARFIELD — 46
Evan Brown 2 6-6 12, Reese Wilson 0 2-2 2, Dave McKenzie 2 1-1 5, Hazel 4 2-2 10, Myers 6 3-4 17, Ethan McGinnis 0 0-0 0, Jon Gates 0 0-0 0, Ryan Chew 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 14-15 46.
CENTRAL — 57
Kyle Dodson 1 1-2 3, Jacob Muthler 3 5-5 12, Josh McKnight 6 4-4 16, Brandon Buchart 4 0-1 8, Joey Smith 3 4-4 11, Preston Karstetter 2 2-5 7, Hunter Liebal 0 0-0 0, Noah Muthler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 16-21 57.
Three-Point Field Goals – Clearfield 4 (Brown 2, Myers 2); Central 3 (J. Muthler, Smith, Karstetter).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 7 17 13 9 – 46
Central 9 9 21 18 – 57
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | @ Curwensville | 81 – 38 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/13 | CENTRAL | 53 – 41 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/16 | @ Huntingdon | 68 – 51 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/19 | @ Bellefonte | 56 – 33 | 4 – 0 |
| 12/22 | TYRONE | 65 – 40 | 5 – 0 |
| 12/29&30 | Purchase Line Christmas Tourney | ||
| 12/29 | vs. Northern Cambria | 82 – 23 | 6 – 0 |
| 12/30 | vs. Purchase Line | 65 – 45 | 7 – 0 |
| 01/03 | @ Brookville | 83 – 59 | 8 – 0 |
| 01/06 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 73 – 30 | 9 – 0 |
| 01/09 | @ Central | 46 – 57 | 9 – 1 |
| 01/11 | PENNS VALLEY | ||
| 01/13 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | ||
| 01/19 | CLARION-LIMESTONE | ||
| 01/20 | HUNTINGDON | ||
| 01/23 | @ DuBois | ||
| 01/25 | BELLEFONTE | ||
| 01/27 | @ Tyrone | ||
| 01/30 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | ||
| 01/31 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ||
| 02/03 | @ Penns Valley | ||
| 02/06 | CURWENSVILLE | ||
| 02/08 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |