SPRING MILLS – The Clearfield Bison boys basketball team captured its second straight Mountain League Championship on Friday night, defeating Penns Valley on the Rams’ home court, 66-55.
In a sometimes testy atmosphere and game, the Bison improved to 19-1 overall on the year and 12-1 in Mountain League action.
Penns Valley, who had won four of its last five contests, dropped to 11-9 overall and 5-8 in Mountain League play.
In the first meeting the Bison defeated Penns Valley, at Clearfield, on January 11, 51-34.
Clearfield head coach Nate Glunt said after the game, “This is a really tough environment to play in because Penns Valley always plays hard and tough. We just wanted to get the win and get out of here.”
About winning the Mountain League title Glunt said, “It’s really good to be the Mountain League Champions and great to bring it back to Clearfield.”
Bison senior Will Myers had a big night, leading all scorers with 28 points that included eight in the first quarter as Clearfield took an 18-14 lead into the second.
Penns Valley was out in front most of the first eight minutes and took a 7-4 lead on a free throw by Ram 6’ 5” senior Luke Snyder with 3:08 remaining.
Clearfield then went on a 14-7 run fueled by three from beyond the arc, two by Myers and one by Jon Gates. Tommy Hazel added four points during the run.
Myers hit his second three pointer in the first quarter with 1:50 to go that gave the Bison a 12-9 lead. A lead they would not surrender.
Clearfield outscored the Rams 14-12 in the second eight minutes to take a 32-26 margin into the intermission against a Ram team that hung around most of the game.
The Bison hit eight three pointers in the game, with seven coming in the first 16 minutes.
Luke Snyder had 10 second quarter tallies that kept Penns Valley’s hopes alive for the upset.
Snyder had an even bigger third quarter, scoring 11 more, but once again Clearfield added four points to its lead, 50-40, after three periods by winning the third 18-14.
Myers and Evan Brown each had eight for the Bison in the third quarter.
When Snyder hit his only three-pointer of the game at 2:25 of the third it would pull the Rams to within two of Clearfield, 38-36. That was the closest the home team would come to the streaking Bison who have now won 10 straight.
The Bison responded with a 10-0 run thanks to three baskets by Brown and two by Myers.
The biggest blow to Penns Valley was when Snyder fouled out at the 5:21 mark of the final stanza, leaving the game with a total of 25 points, almost half of the Rams’ overall total for the evening.
Myers had eight in the final period and Brown added six with two coming with 1:41 remaining that gave Clearfield its largest edge at 66-52.
Brown had 19 points on the night and Hazel added another 14.
The 28 points recorded on the night by Myers gives him a career total of 1,364, just 18 behind all-time leader Chris Moore who ended his career in 1991 with 1,382.
Also for Myers during the game, by hitting four three point shots it gives him an even 200 on his Bison career.
Helping Luke Snyder in scoring for Penns Valley it was freshman Aaron Tobias adding 10 points.
Glunt closed by talking about the play of his squad, commenting, “ I thought we responded well tonight in the second half. The kids just kept playing hard.”
In the junior varsity contest it was Clearfield getting the sweep, beating Penns Valley 34-28.
The Bison welcome Curwensville to its home court on Monday night in a game versus the Golden Tide, whom Clearfield beat in game one of the 2016-17 season 81-38 at Curwensville.
Junior varsity will tip off at 6 pm and the varsity game will immediately follow.
Listen to the Clearfield-Curwensville battle Monday night on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show starting at approximately 7:15 pm.
CLEARFIELD – 66
Evan Brown 8 2-5 19, Reese Wilson 0 0-0 0, David McKenzie 0 0-1 0, Tommy Hazel 5 2-2 14, Will Myers 10 4-7 28, Jon Gates 2 0-0 5, Ethan McGinnis 0 0-0 0, Ryan Lazauskas 0 0-0 0, Taye Lynch 0 0-0 0, Keegan Hess 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 25 8-15 66
PENNS VALLEY – 55
Logan Snyder 1 1-2 3, Keith Butts 1 3-6 6, Andrew Tobias 3 0-1 6, Aaron Tobias 2 6-6 10, Luke Snyder 11 2-2 25, Cole Breon 1 0-0 2, Braden Stodart 0 0-0 0, Garrett Fleck 0 0-0 0, Charlie Romig 1 0-0 3, Marcus Woodard 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 20 12-17 55
THREE-POINTERS: CLEARFIELD – 8 Myers 4, Hazel 2, Brown, Gates PENNS VALLEY – 3 Butts, Luke Snyder, Romig
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 18 14 18 16 66
PENNS VALLEY 14 12 14 15 55
OFFICIALS: John Mansell, Ron Williams, Kyle Wright
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 | ppd. | 9 – 1 |
01/12 | PENNS VALLEY | 51 – 34 | 10 – 1 |
01/13 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 75 – 28 | 11 – 1 |
01/19 | CLARION-LIMESTONE | 82 – 48 | 12 – 1 |
01/20 | HUNTINGDON | 67 – 54 | 13 – 1 |
01/23 | @ DuBois | 62 – 47 | 14 – 1 |
01/25 | BELLEFONTE | 73 – 40 | 15 – 1 |
01/27 | @ Tyrone | 79 – 45 | 16 – 1 |
01/30 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 65 – 41 | 17 – 1 |
01/31 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ppd. | 17 – 1 |
02/01 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 68 – 36 | 18 – 1 |
02/03 | @ Penns Valley | 66 – 55 | 19 – 1 |
02/06 | CURWENSVILLE | ||
02/08 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |