HYDE – The Huntingdon boys basketball team held onto second place in the Mountain League on Tuesday night, knocking off Clearfield on the Bison home floor 72-56.
Clearfield lost to the Bearcats in mid-December, at Huntingdon 67-48, in a game that had the Cats win every quarter. But on this night things were somewhat different for Clearfield, at least in the first half of play.
The Bison and Bearcats traded baskets early on in the opening quarter as the game was knotted at 4-4 at the 6:59 mark of the first. Then the Huntingdon squad took an 8-4 margin with just under six minutes to play before Clearfield came back and took the game into the second frame up 17-16. Junior Matt Pallo tossed in six points in the period for the Bison.
Clearfield put together another good eight minutes in the second, outscoring the visiting Bearcats 14-12 to go into the intermission up now by three points, 31-28. This time it was senior Cade Walker that led the way for Clearfield with seven of his team high 17 points.
Then came that one dreadful quarter, this time it was the third, as the Bearcats tightened the defense and upped the offense to blow out the Bison 26-10 that bolted Huntingdon to take a 54-31 into the final eight minutes. Nick Gearhart put up eight third quarter points to lead the Bearcat offense in the third.
Clearfield did cut the margin to 11, 54-43, on a basket by Karson Rumsky to start the fourth stanza but then Huntindon wouldn’t allow its hosts on the night to come any closer.
Freshman Cole Miller added 11 points, that included three treys, for the Bison.
The Bearcats had four starters in double figures with Gearhart the game’s high man with 22 followed by Jackson Ritchey with 21. Darin Harmin added 15 and teammate Andrew Miller tossed in 10 to round out the balanced Huntingdon scoring.
Clearfield was 14 of 19 from the line while the Bearcats made good on 11 of 19 from the charity stripe.
The Bearcats now have an overall record of 12-1 on the season and are 6-1 in Mountain League play. Clearfield, losing for the second night in a row to a quality team, is now 8-6 on the year and 5-4 in league action.
Clearfield head coach Nate Glunt said after the game, “This was a tough one tonight because we played two really good teams on back to back nights. We just seemed to run out of gas in the second half, but that’s no excuse because Huntingdon has a very good team. But we did show promise with a really good effort on our part.”
The junior varsity game went to Clearfield as it defeated the Bearcats by a score of 52-34. High scorer for the Bison was Nasheed Thompson with 12 points.
Next for Clearfield is a trip to Philipsburg on Friday to play the Mounties in another Mountain League battle. The Bison trumped Philipsburg-Osceola in the first meeting in Clearfield earlier this season 55-32.
HUNTINGDON – 70
Alec Cooper 1 0-0 2, Andrew Miller 4 2-6 10, Jackson Ritchey 8 5-7 21, Nick Gearhart 9 4-6 22, Darin Harmin 7 0-0 15, Rece Ritchey 0 0-0 0, Tony Poorman 1 0-0 2, Josh Bryson 0 0-0 0, Connor Jackson 0 0-0 0, Jacob Rigby 0 0-0 0
TOTALS – 30 11-19 72
CLEARFIELD – 56
Matt Pallo 4 0-0 8, Cade Walker 7 3-4 17, Luke Winters 1 3-4 5, Karson Rumsky 3 2-4 9, Andrew Lopez 0 2-2 2, Harrison Peacock 0 2-2 2, Cole Miller 3 2-2 11, Nick Ryan 0 0-0 0, Ryan Gearhart 0 0-0 0, Curvey Purkett 1 0-1 2, Nasheed Thompson 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 19 14-19 56
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
HUNTINGDON 16 12 26 18 72
CLEARFIELD 17 14 10 15 56
THREE-POINTERS: HUNTINGDON – 1 Harmin CLEARFIELD – 4 Miller 3, Rumsky
OFFICIALS: Bud Bifano, Kevin Doverspike, Roddy Hartle
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 | 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 | 8 – 4 |
| 01/20 | DUBOIS | 58 – 70 | 8 – 5 |
| 01/21 | HUNTINGDON | 56 – 72 | 8 – 6 |
| 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 |