Golden Tide Beaches Vikings 82-47

CURWENSVILLE — Christian Bakaysa, Josh Terry and Devan Barrett combined for 68 points and Curwensville’s aggressive defense forced most of Glendale’s 29 turnovers as the Golden Tide rolled past the Vikings 82-47 in schoolboy basketball action at Patton Hall Wednesday night.

“I just think that was our best effort of the year obviously, not just because of our point production but because of our overall defensive intensity,” coach Matt Wassil summed up his once-beaten team’s third consecutive Moshannon Valley win.

Bakaysa poured in a career-high 25 points, Terry jumped and drove his way to 23 markers to maintain his season average and Barrett buried a trio of three-pointers en route to matching his career high with 20 points.

“I was most impressed with us offensively that they came out in a box-and-one on Josh, and sometimes that gives teams trouble because you get out of rhythm,” Wassil said. “It’s not a normal defense you face, and you don’t really practice against it.

“But our kids did a great job of handling it and not forcing the ball to Josh, but still using him as part of our offense. We don’t want to freeze him out just because they were going box-and-one, but we also knew it would open up other guys. And they stepped up and made shots and really got us going.”

Bakaysa was hot from the jump with three baskets in the first three minutes as the Golden Tide, who never trailed, bolted to a 9-2 lead, and Barrett chipped in four points to help stretch the margin to 20-12 before the Vikings closed out the period with a steal by Josh Potutschnig and a drive by Jacob Jasper in the final minute.

Glendale (0-4) got within two, 22-20, early in the second period before Curwensville pulled away to a 42-30 halftime bulge.

Triggering the run were fast-break layups by Barrett and Terry.

“We finally started to convert on the other team’s turnovers.” Wassil said. “We’ve been forcing turnovers throughout the year, but we’ve had a heck of a time converting them into points. Tonight, we did.”

The Golden Tide began the second half with a 14-2 run keyed by Bakaysa and Barrett with seven and five points, respectively.

The youthful Vikings, with five junior starters and no seniors, struggled to get their offense going during those 4½ minutes, guilty of nine turnovers, including five at the outset of the third period, and five missed shots.

They did follow up with eight points in a row before Barrett made a three throw and then swished a three-pointer from the left corner just before the buzzer to put the Golden Tide up 60-40.

“The only time I thought we were a little sluggish was in that third quarter when we went to the bench and some guys came in and weren’t finding their guys and assignments,” Wassil said.

Curwensville padded its lead with a 22-7 fourth period, with both coaches going with reserves for the last five minutes.

They hit 80 with two minutes left and wound up with the biggest offensive output since a similar 84-54 homecourt victory over Glendale on Jan. 18, 2016.

“I told the kids in the locker room I’m not shocked honestly,” Wassil said. “I told them I didn’t want them to think this was an anomaly for us. I think that we have that potential in us. It’s obviously not gonna happen every night, but I think we can play close to that more often than not.

“We just we have to keep being consistent like I thought so in the beginning of the year.”

The Golden Tide also was dominant under the hoops.

Bakaysa registered a double-double with 13 rebounds, converting eight of his offensive boards into putbacks, while Avery Francisco also hauled down at least 10 missed shots.

“Avery has been consistent on the boards, averaging about 16½, and Christian has the potential,” Wassil said. “He’s such a good jump shooter on offense, sometimes he’ll tend to stay outside a little bit too much. That was not the case tonight. I was really impressed the way he attacked the glass.”

Curwensville’s 3-1 start is the best since the 2013-14 team began 4-1 and went on to finish 14-9 for the program’s last winning record.

“We’re pleased with the start, and we’re where we wanted to be at this point in the year,” Wassil said. “We were confident we could get there. We knew we had some tough games to do it. But I think we’re in a good position right now.

“We’ve just got to keep playing the way we have been and get better as we go.”

Next up is the two-day Freeport Holiday Tournament next week. The Golden Tide is paired against the host team Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eden Christian and Mercyhurst Prep will meet in the other game.

Glendale got 15 points from Potutschnig and 13 from J.J. Kitko.

Curwensville’s junior varsity set the stage for a sweep with a 52-42 victory behind 17 points from Jeremy Irwin and 11 from Jordan Demko.

Moshannon Valley League standings — Curwensville 3-0, West Branch 2-1, Moshannon Valley 0-1, Harmony 0-1, Glendale 0-2.

GLENDALE — 47

Jacob Jasper 3 1-2 7, Josh Potutschnig 7 0-1 15, Colton Leyo 2 0-0 4, Nick Blake 0 2-2 2, J.J. Kitko 6 1-2 13, Shane McMurray 0 0-0 0, Ryan St. Clair 1 4-6 6, Jackson Kitko 0 0-0 0, Loegen Smeal 0 0-0 0, James Yingling 0 0-0 0, Jacob Holes 0 0-0 0, Mason St. Clair 0 0-0 0, Justin Monahan 0 0-0 0, Josiah Rivera 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 8-13 47.

CURWENSVILLE — 82

Devan Barrett 8 1-4 20, Josh Terry 9 4-5 23, Avery Francisco 1 0-0 2, Christian Bakaysa 10 4-4 25, Noah VonGunden 0 0-0 0, Nick Stewart 1 0-2 2, Dakota Bloom 3 0-0 6, Nate McKenrick 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Irwin 0 2-2 2, Jordan Demko 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 33 11-17 82.

Three-Point Field Goals — Glendale 1 (Potutschnig); Curwensville 5 (Barrett 3, Terry 1, Bakaysa 1).

Score by Quarters

Glendale         16  14  10    7  –  47
Curwensville  20  22  18  22  –  82

Officials — Tim Barnes and Chris Sherkel.

Golden Tide Scoreboard: