DUBOIS — A repeat against Punxsutawney turned into a three-peat for the once-beaten Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team in their 14th consecutive win Thursday night.
Just as they did en route in a 65-41 win at home on Jan. 30, the Bison broke away from the Chucks in the third quarter for a 59-45 victory and their third District 9 championship in a row in the Class AAAA title game that attracted a full house to the DuBois High School gym.
The four starting seniors combined for 43 points and all but two of their 40 rebounds to stamp the final imprint on the school history books with an unprecedented run that includes District 9 Class AAA crowns the past two years.
Tommy Hazel dazzled with a hard-earned double-double, 14 points and a game-high10 rebounds, Evan Brown and Will Myers chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively, and Dave McKenzie soared for 10 rebounds.
“Dave was unbelievable on the boards,” Bison coach Nate Glunt said. “He’s made the state track meet the last two years in the high jump, and he was up there today.”
But it was junior Ryan Chew who got the Bison offense off the launching pad late in the first quarter after the Chucks had kept it tight with a tenacious man defense designed to neutralize Clearfield’s big guns.
Punxsy (15-9) led for the second time, 9-7 on Ethan Ryan’s second high-arcing jumper, when Chew went to work.
Left open on the left wing twice, he made the Chucks pay with three-pointers, and he also brought the large group of Clearfield students to their feet with a soft floater on a drive, all in a span of two minutes and 30 seconds, to propel the Bison to a 17-13 lead at the first rest stop.
Quite a contribution for a reserve who usually was inserted more because of his defense and had never scored
more than three points in a game before netting 10 against Philipsburg-Osceola in the regular season finale.
“Chewie played the game of his life, and what a time for it,” Glunt gushed. “That happens in these championship games, at all levels. Somebody needs to step up that you’re not accustomed to seeing step up and, boy, did Ryan do it. I’m so proud of him.”
Clearfield (23-1) gradually increased the margin to 31-24 by halftime even though Myers and Hazel found themselves in foul trouble in the second quarter with three and two personals, respectively.
The two 1,000-point scorers had a combined seven points in the first half, but their teammates came through in a big way.
McKenzie and junior starter Reese Wilson already were over their averages with four points by intermission, junior reserve Jon Gates cashed in a steal after the Chucks closed to within four, 24-20, for the last time and Chew tacked on a free throw for a nine-point night.
“We’ve been talking about that all season long,” Glunt said. “Will and Tommy had five points in the first half, and we scored 31 points. That’s a credit to all our kids, their effort.
“It was a team win in the truest sense of the word.”
Any upset hopes the Chucks harbored were dashed almost as soon as the Bison stepped back on the court for the second half.
Hazel bracketed a 10-2 run by drilling three-pointers from the left corner off a Brown feed and from outside off a Myers pass after Brown had buried a trey of his own, making it 41-26 with 2:35 gone in the third quarter.
After another Riley jumper, Brown swished a short baseline jumper and then electrified the crowd with a scooping bank shot on a high-flying drive to trigger a 10-1 run that saw Myers contribute a bucket and two free throws before Hazel capped it with by slashing to the rim from the left side.
The Bison were cruising 51-31 going to the fourth quarter after outscoring the Chucks 20-7, almost mirroring their 20-9 third quarter in the regular season victory.
“We took away their second chance opportunities in the third quarter,” Glunt noted. “I thought that was the biggest difference.
“We played solid defense in the first half, but we weren’t finishing possessions. Once we started finishing possessions and playing good defense, we were able to get some transition buckets and a couple threes, which enabled us to get the (big) lead and finish the game.”
In the fourth period, the Bison were up 22 points on four occasions before Punxsy recorded back-to-back field goals for only the second time in the game.
The Chucks made it respectable with the final nine points, five by Devin Kelly for a game-high 20 points.
“It was an unbelievable high school basketball game,” Glunt said. “My first thought is what an environment. I had chills. A packed house. The Clearfield community came and supported us. We had alumni here coming back from college. We are so thankful for all that.
“Then, to get the three-peat. That’s a credit to so many people. That’s a credit to the elementary coaches, working with the kids coming through.
“It’s a credit to these kids’ work ethic in the off season and how they work in practice. Getting good grades. All the intangibles.”
The Bison will play the District 7 (WPIAL) fifth seed in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament next Saturday at a District 9 site.
Their opponent will be McGuffey or South Fayette, depending on who wins the title game between New Castle and Quaker Valley.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 45
Ethan Riley 4 0-0 8, Jacob Weaver 1 0-0 3, Jake Horner 1 0-2 2, Devin Kelly 8 4-4 20, Brandon Matthews 2 3-5 7, Ethan Blose 1 2-2 5, Tyle Richardson 0 0-0 0, Kevin Constant 0 0-0 0, Pat Fedigan 0 0-0 0, Tanner Zimmerman 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 9-13 45.
CLEARFIELD — 59
Evan Brown 4 4-5 13, Reese Wilson 1 3-3 5, Dave McKenzie 1 4-4 6, Tommy Hazel 6 0-0 14, Will Myers 2 5-7 10, Ryan Chew 3 1-2 9, Jon Gates 1 0-0 2, Taye Lynch 0 0-0 0, Ryan Lazauskas 0 0-0 0, Keegan Hess 0 0-0 0, Jarrit Wagner 0 0-0 0, Cade Walker 0 0-0 0, Barrett Kline 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 17-21 59.
Three-Point Field Goals – Punxsutawney 2 (Weaver, Blose); Clearfield 6 (Brown, Hazel 2, Myers 1, Chew 2).
Score by Quarters
Punxsutawney 13 11 7 14 – 45
Clearfield 17 14 20 8 – 59
Officials – Scott Sullivan, Gregg Dauber and John Fricker.
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 | 85 – 37 | 20 – 1 |
| 02/08 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 78 – 47 | 21 – 1 |
| 02/22 | District 9-AAAA Semifinals | ||
| 02/22 | vs. BRADFORD | 59 – 35 | 22 – 1 |
| 03/02 | District 9-AAAA Finals | ||
| 03/02 | vs. Punxsutawney | 59 – 45 | 23 – 1 |
| 03/11 | PIAA Playoffs | ||
| 03/11 | vs. TBD |
