SPRING MILLS — Ever since their first meeting this season, the anticipation for part two of the Clearfield-Penns Valley series for this year has been extremely high. On Friday night, the crowd in Spring Mills got their opportunity to witness the two squads go at it once again on the high school hardwood.
This contest, unlike the first meeting, was low scoring, methodical, and neither team showed a true edge. It wasn’t until the final quarter when the Rams got a groove going, and it was just enough to push past the Bison in a low-scoring 38-29 affair.
When the game started, immediately it became clear that defense was going to be enormous in the game as both squads combined for just eight points in the opening eight minutes. Yet, neither team had an advantage, and they were all knotted at four a piece heading into the second stanza.
That second stanza, although higher scoring, still didn’t have a true favorite. In fact, neither team was adding points at a fast clip. After two quarters, there still wasn’t a true dominant squad, as at the 16-minute mark, it was knotted up, 11-11.
The third quarter was eerily similar to the first half, but not exactly the same, as the Rams did add in one more point than the Bison to take the 20-19 advantage into the final quarter.
It was that final quarter when the Rams finally found what they were needing, consistency across the entire roster and putting the ball in the basket. All five starters for Penns Valley contributed in the final quarter, with Logan Snyder scoring all of his six points in the final frame, while Aaron Tobias added in another four of his team-high 11 points.
However, the defense for the Rams stepped up majorly in the final quarter, especially in trying to keep some of the best scorers on the Bison from adding points. Clearfield’s Karson Rumsky, for the first time this season, was held off the scoreboard. The Bison’s leading scorer, Cade Walker, added in a game-high 14 points on the night, but the Ram defense held him to only a single bucket in the final quarter. Walker also led the team on the boards with seven.
Clearfield (9-8) has to quickly recover as they are still on the road Monday with what is expected to be a very tough, and entertaining, non-league game against the West Branch Warriors. Tip off is at 6 p.m. for junior varsity, with varsity to follow.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Clearfield 4 7 8 10 – 29
Penns Valley 4 7 9 18 – 38
Clearfield – 29
Walker 6 2-2 14, Rumsky 0 0-0 0, Lopez 1 0-0 3, Pallo 0 1-2 1, Winters 0 4-4 4, Peacock 2 0-0 4, Miller 1 0-0 3, Hudson 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Parkett 0 0-0 0, Gearhart 0 0-0 0, Billotte 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 10 7-8 29.
Penns Valley – 38
Tobias 5 0-1 11, Braucht 2 3-4 9, Narber 2 0-0 4, Snyder 3 0-0 6, Aston 2 0-0 4, Emel 0 0-0 0, Culver 0 0-0 0, Crater 0 0-0 0, Niewinski 0 0-0 0, Brinker 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 3-5 38.
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 | 49 – 45 ot | 9 – 6 |
| 01/29 | TYRONE | 49 – 67 | 9 – 7 |
| 01/31 | @ Penns Valley | 29 – 38 | 9 – 8 |
| 02/03 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/04 | CENTRAL | ||
| 02/07 | @ Bellefonte | ||
| 02/10 | @ Punxsutawney | ||
| 02/13 | CURWENSVILLE |