DUBOIS – In one of those back and forth, exciting, down to the wire basketball games, the Clearfield Bison pulled out a nail biter Monday night in DuBois over the Beavers, 51-49. The victory got the Bison back over the .500 mark at 8-7.
Clearfield coach Nate Glunt, a very happy Mr. Glunt, commented after the game, “Our kids played very hard tonight, especially after a rough start where we were down eight to nothing before we started to turn it around and get back into the game.”
As coach Glunt mentioned, the Bison were down 8-0 to start the game and then trailed 12-5 after one quarter to the then 8-4 Beavers.
Chase Husted, all six feet eight inches, tallied six points in the first eight minutes to get DuBois going.
Clearfield found its game in the second frame and doubled up the Beavers 14-7 to knot the score at 19 apiece going into halftime.
The Bison actually had a 15-14 edge with 4:40 to go before the break, but DuBois came on with a 5-0 run to go in front 19-17.
With just three ticks on the clock until intermission, Bison senior Cade Walker’s basket tied it at 19-19 with 16 minutes yet to play.
DuBois seniors Jonathan Cruz and Justin Manduley were both deadly from beyond the three point line in the third quarter, each hitting three treys, as the Beavers outscored Clearfield 22-15 to take a 41-34 heading into the fourth.
In the third though, Bison Andrew Lopez hit a bucket with 1:15 to play to give Clearfield a 34-33 edge only to find DuBois go on a 8-0 run to end the third.
Lopez pulled Clearfield to within one, 41-40, of the Beavers on a basket with 5:45 remaining in the battle.
At the 5:02 point of the fourth Taye Lynch tied it at 43-43 as the Bison senior made the basket plus the free throw.
Clearfield went out into the lead at 49-48 before Cruz hit one of two from the charity stripe that tied it at 49 all with just 36 seconds to play in regulation.
Just 26 seconds were left when Walker dropped in a lay-up from the left side of the lane that gave Clearfield the 51-49 victory, but not without one more moment of excitement.
Only a little over three seconds remained when DuBois put the ball into play under their own basket.
The play was to the big guy, Husted, as his three foot shot from within the paint went up, hit the rim, rolled around the rim and as the final buzzer sounded, rolled off of the rim. Game over.
Glunt talked about the play of the Bison, saying, “I am so proud of our guys on how they executed tonight. DuBois has a ton of athletes and have a good team, but tonight it was our turn to get the breaks, because sometimes you don’t.”
Walker had 17 points for Clearfield while Lynch and Karson Rumsky each added 13.
DuBois was led by Cruz, hitting for 15, as Manduley, 14, and Husted with 12 paced the Beaver attack.
The junior varsity game was won by DuBois, defeating Clearfield by a score of 27-19. Matt Pallo led the Bison with seven points.
Clearfield returns to the hardwood on Wednesday with a journey to Huntingdon to go up against the
Bearcats in Mountain League play. JV action starts at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
Huntingdon defeated the Bison, at Clearfield, in mid-December, 63-53.
CLEARFIELD – 51
Taye Lynch 6 1-1 13, Keagan Hess 0 2-2 2, Cade Walker 7 3-4 17, Karson Rumsky 6 0-0 13, Andrew Lopez 3 0-0 6, Matt Pallo 0 0-0 0, Harrison Peacock 0 0-0 0, Barrett Kline 0 0-0 0, Luke Winters 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 22 6-7 51
DUBOIS – 49
Alex Beers 2 2-4 6, Jonathan Cruz 4 3-5 15, Lennon Lindholm 1 0-0 2, Justin Manduley 5 0-0 14, Chase Husted 6 0-2 12, Franco DeSantis 0 0-0 0, Nick Farrell 0 0-0 0, Alex Kovalyak 0 0-0 , Nate Farrell 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 18 5-11 49
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLEARFIELD 5 14 15 17 51
DUBOIS 12 7 22 8 49
THREE-POINTERS: CLEARFIELD -1 Rumsky DUBOIS – 8 Cruz 4, Manduley 4
OFFICIALS: John Zimbardi, Ryan Smith, Chip Osborn
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 CURWENSVILLE 77 – 32 1 – 0
12/10 WEST BRANCH 57 – 33 2 – 0
12/12 BALD EAGLE AREA 73 – 48 3 – 0
12/14 HUNTINGDON 53 – 63 3 – 1
12/17 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 64 – 47 4 – 1
12/21 TYRONE 42 – 50 4 – 2
12/27 @ Purchase Line Tourney
12/27 vs. Ligonier Valley 78 – 80 4 – 3
12/28 vs. Harmony 83 – 56 5 – 3
01/04 @ Brookville 48 – 53 5 – 4
01/07 PUNXSUTAWNEY 56 – 50 6 – 4
01/09 @ Penns Valley 47 – 59 6 – 5
01/11 CENTRAL 44 – 53 6 – 6
01/15 @ Bellefonte 78 – 56 6 – 7
01/18 @ Bald Eagle Area 57 – 55 7 – 7
01/21 @ DuBois 51 – 49 8 – 7
01/23 @ Huntingdon
01/25 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
01/29 @ Tyrone
02/01 PENNS VALLEY
02/06 @ Central
02/08 BELLEFONTE
02/13 @ Curwensville