WESTOVER – In a highly competitive, energy filled game, the Curwensville boys basketball team downed Harmony on the Owls’ home floor Wednesday night 71-66 in Moshannon Valley League (MVL) action.
With the victory, Curwensville remains unbeaten in the MVL at 7-0, and sets up the big showdown against the Warriors of West Branch on Friday night in Allport with the league title on the line.
A Curwensville win secures the championship, but a loss and the Tide share the crown with the Warriors who are 6-1 in the league. The Golden Tide defeated West Branch back on December 11, 57-54 in overtime in Curwensville.
Junior varsity will tip off at 6 pm and the varsity game will immediately follow.
But on Wednesday night the Owls, who finished the season at 7-15, gave the Tide all it could handle before a large, enthusiastic crowd in Westover, one of the hardest courts for any opponent to step on to.
Harmony took a 5-0 lead on a two point basket by Mike Koblosky and then a three pointer by Dylan Kurtz to open the game before the Golden Tide answered with a 9-0 run thanks to seven points from junior Christian Bakaysa. Bakaysa had nine of his 15 points in the first eight minutes.
Curwensville would keep the lead the remainder of the first and go into the second quarter up by three points, at 14-11.
The Owls would engineer a run of its own, 8-0, midway through the second frame to retake the lead at 22-16 with 3:09 to play before the intermission.
Koblosky, a senior, made sure Harmony kept the lead going into the break, scoring seven points in the quarter as the Owls led at the half 27-24.
Golden Tide senior Josh Terry kept Curwensville close by hitting for 10 tallies in the second quarter on his way to a game high 32.
When the Tide beat Harmony in mid-January, 90-74 at Curwensville, Terry had 37 on the night.
The second half became an offensive show as Curwensville outscored the Owls 47-39 in what many times is a final score in high school basketball.
Harmony held onto the lead most of the third quarter, but Curwensville did tie it at 34-34 with 5:40 to play before the final act on a bucket from Terry and then took the lead on a basket by junior Avery Francisco, giving the Golden Tide a 38-36 edge at the 4:35 point of the third.
Francisco, who showed no signs of a sprained left ankle he picked up in Monday night’s loss to Clearfield, had 11 points for the Tide along with numerous key rebounds.
As the lead changed hands a few times it was Bakaysa who tied the game at 44-44 on a basket with 90 seconds to play before the fourth quarter. But Daniel Rorabaugh gave Harmony a two point advantage at 46-44 by hitting a two-point shot with just 12 ticks on the clock before the last stanza.
And what a fourth quarter it was; as the two teams combined for 47 points as the lead changed hands five times over the final eight minutes.
The Tide’s Devan Barrett quickly put the Tide back in front, 47-46, with a three-point shot just seconds into the fourth, fueling a 7-0 run.
However, the Owls stayed close before Rorabaugh drained a trey and then a basket plus one from the line for six straight points giving the lead back to Harmony 60-59 with 3:37 to go.
Just a few ticks later Terry hit a jumper giving Curwensville the edge once again at 61-60.
Then it was Koblosky’s turn, as his two-pointer propelled the Owls to the front 62-61 with 3:10 to play.
The Tide would retake the lead, 63-62, with 2:53 to go on a basket by Francisco. A lead this time Curwensville would keep as they moved to 11-10 on the year.
Harmony, never saying die, did get to within one point a couple of times down he stretch, at 65-64 and then again at 67-66 with 1:38 left.
Another basket by Francisco and two free throws by Terry would put the game away for the Golden Tide.
Tide head coach Matt Wassil said after the big win, “This game fit our style of play, up and down, and it really picked up in the second half. Although we never did put the game away, I was happy to see that when Harmony had runs we were patient and played through it. Both teams deserve a lot of credit for the effort tonight. I thought Harmony played a really good game, as did we.”
Then Wassil added, “Still not sure we if we played very good defense tonight, especially on the inside.”
Finally, the Tide mentor commented, “This is just what we needed, a playoff type atmosphere and hopefully this victory will give us a better seed in the upcoming District 9 playoffs. But first we want to win outright the Moshannon Valley League championship.”
There was no junior varsity game.
CURWENSVILLE – 71
Josh Terry 14 4-5 32, Devan Barrett 4 0-1 9, Noah VonGunden 2 0-0 4, Christian Bakaysa 7 1-1 15, Avery Francisco 5 1-2 11, Nick Stewart 0 0-0 0, Dakota Bloom 0 0-0 0
TOTALS – 32 6-9 71
HARMONY – 66
Dylan Kurtz 3 0-0 7, Adam McGarvey 2 1-2 5, Mike Koblosky 10 5-5 25, Daniel Rorabaugh 7 2-3 18, Jayden Westover 4 0-0 8, Adam Dubyak 1 1-2 3, Connor Blake 0 0-0 0
TOTALS – 27 9-12
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CURWENSVILLE 14 10 20 27 71
HARMONY 11 16 19 20 66
THREE-POINTERS: CURWENSVILLE – 1 Barrett HARMONY – 3 Rorabaugh 2, Kurtz
OFFICIALS: Frank Garritano, Chris Garritano, Garrett Glasser
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | @ Clearfield | 52 – 54 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | WEST BRANCH | 57 – 54 ot | 1 – 1 |
| 12/15 | @ Mo Valley | 61 – 49 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/20 | GLENDALE | 82 – 47 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/28 | @ Freeport Tourney | ||
| 12/28 | vs. Freeport | 54 – 85 | 3 – 2 |
| 12/29 | vs. Mercyhurst Prep | 32 – 46 | 3 – 3 |
| 01/03 | @ Ridgway | 32 – 52 | 3 – 4 |
| 01/05 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 3 – 4 |
| 01/09 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH | 58 – 49 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/11 | HARMONY | 90 – 74 | 5 – 4 |
| 01/12 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 5 – 4 |
| 01/16 | @ Elk County Catholic | 46 – 78 | 5 – 5 |
| 01/19 | KANE | 58 – 45 | 6 – 5 |
| 01/22 | MO VALLEY | 60 – 53 | 7 – 5 |
| 01/23 | RIDGWAY | 44 – 57 | 7 – 6 |
| 01/26 | @ Brockway | 48 – 53 | 7 – 7 |
| 01/30 | BROCKWAY | 50 – 58 | 7 – 8 |
| 01/31 | @ Glendale | 60 – 49 | 8 – 8 |
| 02/02 | JOHNSONBURG | 33 – 49 | 8 – 9 |
| 02/06 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 62 – 55 | 9 – 9 |
| 02/07 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 9 – 9 |
| 02/09 | @ Sheffield | 69 – 44 | 10 – 9 |
| 02/12 | CLEARFIELD | 29 – 49 | 10 – 10 |
| 02/14 | @ Harmony | 71 – 66 | 11 – 10 |
| 02/16 | @ West Branch |