TYRONE-The new year meant the start to the bulk of the high school basketball schedule. For the Clearfield Bison, it was a time to reset. After falling in the first game of the Cambria Heights Holiday Tournament in a heartbreaker against Williamsburg, the team recovered to get back on the winning track against Glendale. What awaited was another road trip, this time for some Mountain League action against the Tyrone Golden Eagles.
The resulting trip home was not pleasant, as one tough quarter proved the Bison still had work to improve on, falling 76-62 to Tyrone.
It was a strong start for both squads in the opening stanza, as the two would combine for 46 points in eight minutes of play. Yet after the buzzer went off, it was as though the game had just begun, because the two were tied up at 23-23. Neither team had a true feel of the game until the second stanza, when Tyrone put up the pressure.
Clearfield’s struggles in the quarter were evident, as they were held to just a pair of shots in the quarter. At the same time, the Golden Eagles could not do no wrong, taking advantage of miscues and draining shots to take a 41-28 lead into halftime.
That quarter proved to be the deciding factor as the Golden Eagles out-scored Clearfield in the second half to cruise to victory.
For Clearfield, their stars on the night were the duo of Ryan Gearhart and Cole Miller. The two would combine for 51 of the team’s points, with Miller having a game-high 28 points for the Bison, along with six rebounds. Gearhart would finish the night with 23 points, and added in four assists.
Clearfield (7-2) has lost two of it’s last three games, and now gets a bit of a breather as they will be back in action on Thursday inside the Bison Gym when they stay in Mountain League action, hosting Bellefonte. Tip off is at 7:15 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Clearfield 23 5 17 17 – 62
Tyrone 23 18 15 20 – 76
Clearfield – 62
Gearhart 9 3-5 23, Miller 10 3-3 28, Way 2 1-2 6, Greslick 0 0-0 0, Pallo 2 0-0 4, Natoli 0 0-0 0, Collins 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 24 7-10 62.
Tyrone – 76
Lang 2 0-0 5, Rhoades 5 0-0 13, Dehaas 7 6-7 19, Gampe 6 2-2 14, Legars 3 1-1 9, Gwinn 3 1-2 7, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Ronan 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 10-12 76.
