CURWENSVILLE – A really good first half, and then a really bad second half all added up to Kane defeating the Curwensville Golden Tide in boys basketball Monday night, 59-37, on the Tide’s home floor.
Against a quality opponent, Curwensville undoubtedly played its best first 16 minutes of basketball all season.
It was the second half that doomed the Tide, putting up just a total of eight points in a game that was closer and more hotly contested than the final score would indicate.
Both teams scored 15 points to end the first quarter knotted and it was the Tide that came back from a 13-8 deficit with 3:20 left in the first period to draw dead even with the Wolves.
The Tide outscored Kane over the final 3:20, 7-2, and tied it on sophomore Noah Von Gunden’s three pointer with 54 seconds left before the second period.
In the second quarter the lead went back and forth a few times, but Kane went out in front 20-15 on two baskets, one a three-pointer, by Chad Graville, a freshman.
Once again the Tide rallied, this time behind Devan Barrett and Christian Bakaysa.
Barrett hit a two, then a trey, which was followed by a Bakaysa basket that gave Curwensville a 22-20 edge at the 3:56 point of the second frame.
Curwensville would take a three point lead into the intermission, 29-26, on another field goal by Bakaysa with just 15 seconds remaining before the break.
What a really good first half for the Tide against a now 12-4 Kane team.
And then, it was as though a totally different group of players came out in the second half for Curwensville.
The Golden Tide were outscored 20-5 in the third quarter and 13-3 in the fourth. And just like that the upset bid was over.
But what a really good first half for the Golden Tide, perhaps one to build on down the stretch.
Tide head coach Matt Wassil pulled no punches afterwards, saying, “We played the first half the right way and the second half the wrong way. We stopped as a team offensively in the second half with too much individual play.”
Wassil continued, commenting, “I thought we moved the ball well at times that got some people some good shots. We just didn’t take a lot of good shots in the second half and when we did get some good looks we missed some of those and that hurt.”
Barrett lead the Golden Tide with 13 points.
Kane had four players in double figures led by Andrew Bucheit with 14, Davis Gardner with 13, and Chad Greville adding 12 while teammate Frank Truden chipped in another 11 tallies.
Earlier in January the Wolves beat the Tide, in Kane, 61-41. In that game Bucheit had 28 points.
The junior varsity contest also went to Kane, defeating the Golden Tide by a score of 28-25. Dakota Bloom paced the Tide with 12 points.
Next up for Curwensville, now 3-12, will be a trip to Westover on Tuesday to play the Harmony Owls, a team the Tide defeated earlier this season 70-45.
WOKW-FM, 102.9, will carry a basketball doubleheader Tuesday night from Harmony High School as the Curwensville girls team will play the Lady Owls at 6 pm with the boys tipping off at approximately 7:30 pm. The pre-game show start at 5:45 pm.
The Lady Tide knocked off the Lady Owls in mid-January, at home, 51-36.
KANE – 59
Frank Truden 3 5-8 11, Davis Gardner 6 0-0 13, Ray Maze 3 2-4 9, Andrew Bucheit 6 2-7 14, Chad Greville 4 2-2 12, Reed Williams 0 0-0 0, Ange Costanzo 0 0-0 0, Keaton Rounsville 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 22 11-21 59
CURWENSVILLE – 37
Devan Barrett 5 0-0 13, Josh Terry 3 0-0 6, Christian Bakaysa 2 0-0 4, Zach Marshall 2 2-2 8, Avery Francisco 1 1-2 3, Noah Von Gunden 1 0-0 3, Dakota Bloom 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Irwin 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 14 3-4 37
THREE-POINTERS: KANE – 4 Greville 2, Gardner, Maze. CURW – 6 Barrett 3, Marshall 2, Francisco
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
KANE 15 11 20 13 59
CURWENSVILLE 15 14 5 3 37
OFFICIALS: Bill Overly, Frank Hetrick
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | CLEARFIELD | 38 – 81 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/12 | @ West Branch | 57 – 72 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/16 | MO VALLEY | 25 – 57 | 0 – 3 |
| 12/21 | GLENDALE | 60 – 54 | 1 – 3 |
| 01/03 | RIDGWAY | 33 – 62 | 1 – 4 |
| 01/04 | JOHNSONBURG | 56 – 42 | 1 – 5 |
| 01/06 | @ Brockway | 40 – 76 | 1 – 6 |
| 01/10 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | ppd. | 1 – 6 |
| 01/11 | @ Mo Valley | ppd. | 1 – 6 |
| 01/13 | HARMONY | 70 – 45 | 2 – 6 |
| 01/17 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 32 – 78 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/18 | WEST BRANCH | 55 – 50 | 3 – 7 |
| 01/20 | @ Kane | 41 – 60 | 3 – 8 |
| 01/23 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 56 – 66 | 3 – 9 |
| 01/24 | @ Ridgway | 42 – 53 | 3 – 10 |
| 01/27 | BROCKWAY | 53 – 75 | 3 – 11 |
| 01/30 | KANE | 37 – 59 | 3 – 12 |
| 01/31 | @ Harmony | ||
| 02/01 | @ Glendale | ||
| 02/03 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 02/06 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 02/07 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 02/10 | SHEFFIELD | ||
| 02/13 | @ Mo Valley |
