CLYMER — The Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team played Penns Manor on even terms for three quarters, but the host Comets rode a 25-13 third period to a 66-53 victory in the non-league game Monday night.
“We just didn’t have the same effort coming out of halftime that we had in the first two quarters,” Golden Tide coach Matt Wassil said. “We got sloppy a little bit on offense and had some lapses on defense.
“But I’ve got to give our kids credit. They picked it back up in the fourth quarter. They battled back and had a strong six minutes and had it down to six (points). Then they kind of ran out of gas.”
The inside duo of 6-4 junior Garrett Grimaldi with eight points and 6-5 senior Brandon Baird with six keyed the Comets’ surge to a 50-38 lead going to the final eight minutes.
“Our first half, we were really active and taking away the passing lanes,” Wassil said. “We’d been doing a pretty good job of taking away their high post, but we weren’t pushing up high enough in our zone in that third quarter.
“Grimaldi was turning and shooting open five-footers. If he missed, Baird was cleaning up some rebounds. He hit the glass pretty good.”
Grimaldi and Baird finished with 20 and 14 points, respectively, and the Comets (2-3) also got 15 points from Tommy Hamilton.
Christian Bakaysa claimed scoring honors with a 22-point performance for Curwensville (0-4).
Helping keep the Golden Tide in the game were Avery Francisco with 12 points and Dakota Bloom with 11.
Our effort was 10 times better than it has been and our execution was 10 times better, but there still were lapses where we turned the ball over and just didn’t get any shots,” Wassil said.
The Golden Tide will be back in Patton Hall Wednesday for a Moshannon Valley League game against Glendale.
Penns Manor won the junior varsity game 52-18.
CURWENSVILLE — 53
Avery Francisco 5 2-4 12, Christian Bakaysa 8 6-12 22, Jeremy Irwin 1 0-0 2, Dakota Bloom 4 2-4 11, Ty Terry 3 0-0 6, Lincoln Guiffre 0 0-0 0, Trevor Lansberry 0 0-0 0, Adam Miller 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 10-20 53.
PENNS MANOR — 66
Kevin Baum 3 1-2 8, Dimitri Lieb 3 2-2 9, Tommy Hamilton 5 4-4 15, Garrett Grimaldi 10 0-2 20, Brandon Baird 7 0-1 14, Austin Hill 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Lightner 0 0-0 0, Bryce Chiodini 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28 7-11 66.
Three-Point Field Goals – Curwensville 1 (Bloom); Penns Manor 3 (Baum 1, Lieb 1, Hamilton 1).
Score by Quarters
Curwensville 15 10 13 15 – 53
Penns Manor 13 12 25 16 – 66
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 @ Clearfield 32 – 77 0 – 1
12/10 @ Mo Valley 26 – 56 0 – 2
12/14 RIDGWAY 26 – 65 0 – 3
12/17 @ Penns Manor 53 – 66 0 – 4
12/19 GLENDALE
12/21 @ Leechburg
01/04 @ Brockway
01/08 @ DuBois Central
01/10 @ Harmony
01/15 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
01/16 @ West Branch
01/18 @ Kane
01/21 HARMONY
01/22 @ Ridgway
01/25 BROCKWAY
01/28 WEST BRANCH
01/30 @ Glendale
02/01 @ Johnsonburg
02/05 DUBOIS CENTRAL
02/08 SHEFFIELD
02/11 MO VALLEY
02/13 CLEARFIELD