HYDE — It was an old-school feeling on Tuesday night for the Clearfield Bison round-ballers. The uniforms looked familiar, the warmups felt familiar, but something was very different. Due to the Monday night postponement, the Bison had little time to figure out when to make up their Mountain League contest against the Bald Eagle Area Eagles. With the Lady Bison already slated to be inside the Bison Gym, the boys made the move up the hall, and returned to the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium for the first time in seven years.
None of the players on either squad had ever played a game on the hardwood in the former Bison Basketball home court, but once the ball was tipped, it all felt familiar. It felt very familiar to Clearfield who got out to an early lead, and never let up on defense as they took home the 61-27 victory at night’s end.
“This was a total team effort tonight,” Bison Head Coach Nate Glunt said afterwards. “I told the team in the locker room this was better than our last practice. We played strong defense, adapted, and made good decisions.”
Early on, those decisions led to quick points as the Bison would roll out to an 11-0 lead before Bald Eagle Head Coach Chris Glunt (no relation) called the first timeout of the game. The Eagles could not find their footing the entire first quarter, as they failed to convert on eight shots from the floor, and their lone point in the first eight minutes came via a free throw by Hayden Vaughn. On the opposite side, Clearfield was converting from deep, in the paint, on the wing, and at the charity stripe to take an 18-1 advantage after one quarter.
The Bison defense kept the pressure up in the second quarter, led by Karson Rumsky, who pulled away three of his four steals in the first half. Rumsky converted those steals to smart play in transition, as he helped his teammates get to the basket, an unselfish act that didn’t go unnoticed by his coach.
“I think Karson’s play defensively really set the tone for us. We wanted to play up-tempo, and Karson got some big steals and pass defenses early,” Glunt said. “On offense, Bald Eagle had a unique defense going as they had three playing zone, but then two were man-to-man against Karson and Cole (Miller). What that did was open up opportunities for guys like Luke (Winters) and he took advantage.
Rumsky would lead all scorers with 18 points on the night, but Winters added in another 11 himself, all coming in the first half, plus four assists and a pair of steals. Nick Ryan would add in another 10 points, making for three Bison starters in double figures for the night.
The Bison held a 39-12 advantage after halftime, and it only took approximately three minutes to see the Bison hit the Mercy Rule gap to put the running clock into effect. A majority of the starters got pulled in the fourth quarter as the Bison bench and junior varsity got valuable minutes. The junior varsity already had a 41-37 victory in the opening contest, and were continuing to show that the future was looking bright for the next season of Bison basketball.
Glunt already knew that the time on the year was coming to a close, but he was solely focused on the current moment, and knew the work wasn’t done.
“We’ve been fortunate this year to just play, and that’s a win. We got one more tomorrow,” he said. “Anytime you go to Punxsutawney, you know it’s going to be a challenge. They are a tough opponent.”
Clearfield takes it’s 16-5 record into its final game of the regular season on Wednesday night against the Chucks, with a tip off for the varsity at 7:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bald Eagle 1 11 6 9 – 27
Clearfield 18 21 12 10 – 61
BALD EAGLE AREA – 27
Ethan Koleno 1 0-0 3, Alex Gavlock 3 0-0 8, Hayden Vaughn 2 1-2 7, Blaze Angellotti 0 0-0 0, Ayden Jodon 0 0-0 0, Kahale Burns 1 1-2 3, Chase Thompson 1 0-0 2, Camron Watkins 0 0-0 0, Everett Herr 1 0-0 2, Tyler Serb 0 0-0 0, Aaron Sharp 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 10 2-4 27.
CLEARFIELD – 61
Matt Pallo 1 1-2 3, Nick Ryan 5 0-0 10, Luke Winters 4 2-2 11, Karson Rumsky 8 1-1 18, Cole Miller 2 0-0 6, Jake Lezzer 0 0-0 0, Ryan Gearhart 4 0-0 9, Morgan Billotte 0 0-0 0, Isakk Way 0 0-0 0, Nasheed Thompson 1 0-0 2, Curvey Purkett 1 0-0 2, Luke Pallo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 26 4-5 61.
GAME STATISTICS
Bald Eagle Area/Clearfield
Field Goals: 10-39/26-46
Rebounds: 14/27
Fouls: 4/9
Turnovers: 13/7
Three-Point Shots: Koleno, Gavlock-2, Vaughn-2/Winters, Rumsky, Miller-2, Gearhart
