COMMODORE– Saturday night’s contest for the Clearfield Bison officially marked their final game of the decade, and they entered the night with hopes of taking home yet another Purchase Line Holiday Tournament championship. After knocking off the hosting Purchase Line Red Dragons the night before, they came into the title game ready to go against the Ligonier Valley Rams.
Although the Bison came out slow to start the game, they roared back to make it interesting. But the comeback fell short as Ligonier Valley took advantage of their foul line opportunities in the final quarter to pull out the 69-63 win, handing Clearfield its third loss on the season.
Clearfield seemed to come out flat in the first quarter, putting up only eight points in the first eight minutes, their lowest opening-quarter output of the season. The Rams, meanwhile, spread the ball out from both their starters and bench play to take a 10-point lead, 18-8, after one.
But Clearfield was not sitting down in this one, and the second quarter belonged to the Bison thanks to the bench play of Cole Miller. In the second stanza he dropped three big shots behind the arc, part of his seven threes on the night, to help Clearfield pull the game closer. Miller led the Bison in scoring with his seven shots, accounting for 21 points. The leading scorer on the season for Clearfield, Cade Walker, added in another five points in the frame, part of his 19-point night that also included eight boards.
The Bison won the quarter, 18-14, but still found themselves down by six after the first half.
Ligonier Valley came out in the third and performed much like they did in the first half, specifically in the first quarter, adding another 18 points that were spread across the stat line.
Now down by 10, Clearfield needed to roar back in the final frame to make it interesting, and they did with a 23-point outburst that saw Miller hit his final four treys on the night. But Clearfield wished they had more opportunities at free points as they put Ligonier Valley on the foul line a total of 13 times in the final quarter, with eight of those opportunities going to Michael Marinchak. He ultimately drained five of them, while the team went 7-for-13 in the quarter at the line. Clearfield, meanwhile, did not have as many opportunities in the final quarter for free points as they went to the line just twice, only making one.
Marinchak led all scoring on the night with 23 points, while Kyle Silk and Isaac Neidbalson added in 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Clearfield (4-3) has a full week off before hitting the hardwood once again, this time on their own home court. The Bison will host Otto-Eldred on Friday, January 3, with a varsity-only game at 7:30 p.m., the nightcap of a special Clearfield double-header as the Lady Bison will host Punxsutawney in a varsity-only game at 6 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Clearfield 8 18 14 23 – 63
Ligonier Valley 18 14 18 19 – 69
Clearfield – 63
Walker 7 5-7 19, Rumsky 4 1-1 11, Lopez 0 1-3 1, Pallo 3 0-0 6, Winters 1 0-0 2, Miller 7 0-0 21, Hudson 0 0-0 0, Ryan 1 1-2 3, Parkett 0 0-0 0, Gearhart 0-0 0, Billotte 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Way 0 0-0 0, Greslick 0 0-0 0, Fletcher 0 0-0 0, O’Dell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 8-13 63.
Ligonier Valley – 69
Mi. Marinchak 8 5-8 23, Neidbalson 4 2-2 10, Ma. Marinchak 3 1-2 9, Silk 7 1-4 16, Ludwig 2 0-0 4, Mills 2 1-4 5, Seftas 0 0-0 0, Smykal 0 0-0 0, Higgins 0 0-0 0, Hollick 1 0-0 2, Grzywinski 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 10-18 69.
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/06 | @ Curwensville | 82 – 31 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/10 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 56 – 38 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/13 | @ Huntingdon | 48 – 67 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/16 | @ Punxsutawney | ppd. | 2 – 1 |
| 12/18 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 55 – 32 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/20 | @ Tyrone | 60 – 90 | 3 – 2 |
| 12/27 | @ Purchase Line Christmas Tourney | ||
| 12/27 | vs. Purchase Line | 63 – 54 | 4 – 2 |
| 12/28 | vs. Ligonier Valley | 63 – 69 | 4 – 3 |
| 01/03 | OTTO-ELDRED | ||
| 01/07 | PENNS VALLEY | ||
| 01/10 | @ Central | ||
| 01/15 | BELLEFONTE | ||
| 01/17 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ||
| 01/20 | DUBOIS | ||
| 01/21 | HUNTINGDON | ||
| 01/24 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | ||
| 01/29 | TYRONE | ||
| 01/31 | @ Penns Valley | ||
| 02/03 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/04 | CENTRAL | ||
| 02/07 | @ Bellefonte | ||
| 02/10 | @ Punxsutawney | ||
| 02/13 | CURWENSVILLE |