CURWENSVILLE – Trailing by 12 points at the half, 39-27, the Curwensville boys basketball team listened to their head coach Matt Wassil at the break, to come from behind and bested Sheffield 69-60 on the Golden Tide home floor Friday night at Patton Hall.
After the game Wassil revealed what was discussed at halftime, saying, “We didn’t talk about X’s and O’s at halftime. We just told the kids to play the right way in the second half and things should be fine.”
Outscoring the Wolverines 42-21 over the final 16 minutes did the trick as the Golden Tide came up with the 69-60 victory, its fifth of the season.
The first quarter saw the lead change hands a few times and when Tide junior Devan Barrett connected on a three-point shot Curwensville took a 9-6 lead with 3:46 to play before the second eight minutes.
Sheffield, though, would end the first stanza on an 8-0 run to jump out in front after one, 14-9.
The Wolverines started the second quarter with two quick buckets before Barrett ended the now 12-0 Sheffield run with approximately 7:38 left in the second with the Tide now trailing 18-11.
Curwensville got as close as 26-23 midway through the second frame on a basket by junior Josh Terry, but once again the Wolverines went on another spurt, 13-4, before the break to take a 39-27 into the final two periods.
Then came the Wassil halftime instructions and Sheffield saw a comfortable first half margin dwindle away.
Thanks to eight third quarter points from Terry, the Golden Tide cut the Sheffield lead to just five after three periods, 50-45.
Curwensville got off to a rousing start in the final eight minutes when senior Zach Marshall opened by hitting a three-pointer to pull the Tide to within just two at 50-48.
Sheffield would maintain its margin, 55-52, however as Drew Higby hit a field goal with just a hair over four minutes to play.
And then, of all things, Curwensville said enough, and went on a game finishing run of 17-5 to get the win.
The fourth quarter saw all seven Tide players who played on the night score points in a very well balanced fourth period offense.
Wassil talked about the comeback, commenting, “We came out slow to start the game. We have some kids who were under the weather some, but they battled back and did a great job in the second half tonight.”
Then the Tide mentor mentioned his squad’s improvement, “You know improvement doesn’t always show up on the scoreboard so we just keep working hard and believed good things would happen. So yes, we have improved.”
Terry led all scorers with 20 points as Barrett had 13 and off the bench it was Dakota Bloom with 10, five in the fourth quarter, for Curwensville.
Sheffield was paced on offense by Roger Dunham with 16 tallies, while Cale Albaugh added 12 and Austin Simmer tossed in 11.
The Wolverines finished the regular season with a 7-15 record.
The junior varsity game was also won by the Tide, defeating Sheffield 47-26. Christian Bakaysa had 12 points with Von Gunden chipping in 11.
The Golden Tide (5-15) will travel on Monday to play Moshannon Valley. JV tips off at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
SHEFFIELD – 60
Roger Dunham 6 2-2 16, Cale Albaugh 4 3-4 12, Austin Simmer 4 3-6 11, Drew Higby 3 3-4 9, Matt Dunham 1 1-3 3, Cam Retterer 2 0-0 5, Tanner Leichtenberger 1 2-2 4, Hunter Londell 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 21 14-21 60
CURWENSVILLE – 69
Josh Terry 8 2-2 20, Devan Barrett 4 3-4 13, Christian Bakaysa 2 2-2 6, Zach Marshall 3 0-2 9, Avery Francisco 3 0-0 6, Dakota Bloom 4 1-2 10, Noah Von Gunden 1 3-7 5, TOTALS – 25 11-19 69
THREE-POINTERS: SHEFFIELD – 4 R. Dunham 2, Albaugh, Retterer CURWENSVILLE – 8 Marshall 3, Terry 2, Barrett 2, Bloom
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
SHEFFIELD 14 25 11 10 60
CURWENSVILLE 9 18 18 24 69
OFFICIALS: Tim Barnes, Chris Sherkel
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 | ppd. | 3 – 12 |
| 02/01 | @ Glendale | 57 – 64 | 3 – 13 |
| 02/03 | @ Johnsonburg | 31 – 60 | 3 – 14 |
| 02/06 | @ Clearfield | 37 – 85 | 3 – 15 |
| 02/07 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 59 – 53 | 4 – 15 |
| 02/10 | SHEFFIELD | 69 – 60 | 5 – 15 |
| 02/13 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 02/16 | @Harmony |