HYDE — The comfortable hardwood inside the Bison Gymnasium welcomed an excellent crowd on Friday night to see the Clearfield cagers take to the court. It was deemed a “Country Night” as the cheerleaders donned their red and black flannel, but on the court the Bison round-ballers were preparing for their own square dance as the Bald Eagle Area Bald Eagles came in to do battle in another Mountain League contest.
Early on, both squads had answers for what the other was doing. But, then the Bison soon found themselves draining baskets, and took all that momentum to a 59-42 victory, sweeping the season series with the Eagles.
Bison Head Coach Nate Glunt spoke after the victory against Bellefonte on Wednesday that the Mountain League for the most part played a certain defense. But, among those that didn’t, he mentioned, were the Eagles. Clearfield exploited that defense less than 20 seconds into the game when Luke Winters hit the opening three-point shot to give the Bison the lead.
“They came out exactly as we expected, in a diamond 1:3:1 and Luke (Winters) hit that first shot. It gave us so much confidence,’ he said.
But, Bald Eagle answered back each time as they would score in the same way through the first quarter. After eight minutes, Clearfield found itself trailing by one basket, and having to start on defense in the second stanza. However, that second quarter is what got things rolling for the Bison as they put up 20 points, nine of them coming from Matt Pallo with the others coming at critical times from Karson Rumsky and Andrew Lopez.
He (Winters), Lopez, and Pallo all stepped up. Give Karson (Rumsky) credit,” Glunt said. “It’s easy to get frustrated when he’s getting face-guarded like he was, but he stayed patient and found the open man.”
After the first 16 minutes, the Bison found themselves up 30-23, and it was a lead that they never relinquished as the second half was more of the same, with Cole Miller also chipping in off the bench to drain three of the Bison’s eight buckets from beyond the arc.
At the same time, the Bison had a tough time guarding the tall center for the Eagles, Nick Maynard, as he was the tallest player on the court. But, the double and sometimes almost quadruple-teaming the tall man seemed to work, as he was only held to nine points on the night, but also pulled down a dozen boards. The Eagles had both Jaden Jones and Nathan Hoover in double figures, with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Clearfield, in comparison, had three hitting double figures. Pallo added 13 points, while Winters added in another 10. Winters also led the team in assists with seven, but it was Cade Walker having the biggest night as he would finish with a double-double, draining 12 points while adding in 11 rebounds. Walker also added in a pair of blocks.
Clearfield won the opening junior varsity contest as well, 44-29, to sweep the night.
Glunt was happy with everything his team had done on the night, but the thing that stood out to him is that the team was believing in themselves and it was showing in their play.
“The key is confidence, and being able to play with confidence, and do what they are capable of doing, and we can have success,” he said.
Clearfield (8-4) continues its stretch of home games on Monday when they host DuBois, with a tip off at 6 p.m. for junior varsity.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bald Eagle 12 11 13 6 – 42
Clearfield 10 20 19 10 – 59
Bald Eagle – 42
Jones 6 1-2 15, Hoover 6 1-2 13, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Maynard 3 3-5 9, Parsons 0 0-0 0, Wolfe 0 0-0 0, Gavlock 1 0-0 3, Vaughn 0 0-0 0, Koleno 0 0-0 0, Herr 0 0-0 0, Burkett 0 0-0 0, Irwin 0 0-0 0, Jodon 0 0-0 0, Matis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 5-9 42.
Clearfield – 59
Pallo 5 2-3 13, Walker 3 6-8 12, Rumsky 3 0-1 7, Lopez 3 1-2 8, Peacock 0 0-0 0, Winters 4 0-0 10, Miller 3 0-0 9, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Hudson 0 0-0 0, Gearhart 0 0-0 0, Billotte 0 0-0 0, Parkett 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Way 0 0-0 0, Greslick 0 0-0 0, O’Dell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 9-14 59.
GAME STATISTICS
Bald Eagle/Clearfield
Shooting: 17-45/21-56
Rebounds: 25/32
Fouls: 13/13
Turnovers: 17/10
Three-Point Shots: Jones-2, Gavlock/Pallo, Rumsky, Lopez, Winters-2, Miller-3
Bison Scoreboard:
| 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 | 65 – 40 | 5 – 3 |
| 01/07 | PENNS VALLEY | 50 – 38 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/10 | @ Central | 43 – 51 ot | 6 – 4 |
| 01/15 | BELLEFONTE | 58 – 51 | 7 – 4 |
| 01/17 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 59 – 42 | 4 – 4 |
| 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 |