HYDE — The final week of the regular season for the Clearfield Bison meant one final home showdown inside the Bison Gymnasium. Appropriate for Valentine’s Day, the squad coming in for battle was clad in red, the Bellefonte Red Raiders, and a packed house was ready for the final Mountain League game of the Bison season.
The night started with a focus on seeing Cole Miller eclipse the 1000-point mark, as he was all but guaranteed to achieve it in just his junior year. That moment did happen, late in the second quarter. However, despite the valiant effort, and the tough play of his fellow teammates, the Bison began faltering in the second half. Not being able to get things to fall together in the second half in the end led to a 61-45 loss, putting a little bit of a down mood on Miller’s fete.
Before discussing how the actual game went, Bison head coach Nate Glunt wanted to talk about his top player, both when on the court, and off.
“He’s the type of kid that you really don’t get to coach very often. (For example) when we had that Covid year, there’s no gym space available, he was outside working on his game. He puts in so much time, I think he almost lives at the YMCA,” he said. “He’s done a great job down at the Y, working with younger kids as well.
Glunt even went on to describe something he witnessed just before a game earlier this year.
“He is an unbelievable person, and an unbelievable student. We went to Hollidaysburg, and early in the night, the jayvees are playing, and he’s already changed. He had an English assignment due with a lot of homework. During the first half of the jayvee game, he’s sitting there with his uniform on doing his English homework. He works that hard in every aspect, just a special kid.”
Miller himself accounted for eight of the first 14 points for Clearfield. The game opened exactly as the first meeting did, with both squads going bucket-for-bucket, with the score knotted up 14-14.
The second quarter saw much of the same, but along with Miller, both Ryan Gearhart and Andon Greslick hit key baskets to get ahead of the Red Raiders. But it was Miller, after netting 10 in the opening quarter, finally managed to get a put-back bucket with just over two minutes remaining in the half to finally get past the 1000-point mark. But, he didn’t celebrate for long, because the battle was still tight, and wanted to keep on fighting.
The battle kept going, and Clearfield held a slim one-point lead heading into the break.
Unfortunately for Clearfield, all that momentum, and that energy that came after Miller hit his goal, seemed to struggle. Bellefonte managed to find some momentum, and hit shots that they were missing in the first half, while Clearfield began doing the exact opposite. Miller would only net four of his 16 points in the second half, as it was Ryan Gearhart leading the third quarter with nine of his game-high 17 points in the quarter. At the same time, Bellefonte was able to spread the ball around better, using some of their size and getting open looks to outscore the Bison, 18-11, in the frame to take a six-point lead heading into the final quarter.
That final quarter saw all the momentum go the way of the visitors, as defensively the Red Raiders forced turnovers, and turned those into points in transition. Clearfield was held to just seven points in the final eight minutes, with Bellefonte netting 18.
“We just couldn’t get into a rhythm (in the second half), and basketball is all about rhythm. They (Bellefonte) did an excellent job in the second half getting to their spots,” Glunt said. “They executed better in the second half. I thought we played excellent in the first half, we attacked defensively and got some good reach-in turnovers.
“In the second half, they just executed better.”
For the Red Raiders, Blair Eckley-Jones finished with a team-high 15 points, while Ty Kroell added in another 14, and Gannon Brungard finished with 11.
Miller finally got to savor the moment of being able to celebrate his accomplishment, and take in how hard it was to achieve 1000 points with still a year to go in high school.
“A lot of work went into this and it’s really thanks to my teammates, my coaches, this entire program, and all the supporters along the way,” Miller said. “Most of all, God. I give thanks to Him for giving me this talent and this whole community surrounding me.
“It’s been a long process. I cooled off a little bit once I got it, but to reach this milestone, finally, is an accomplishment. But, we still have to move on since we lost. We want to win a district championship these next two years, and maybe more. We just have to take it day by day.”
Clearfield also lost the opening junior varsity contest, 52-34.
One game on the regular season remains for the Bison (12-9) on Tuesday night in Curwensville, as they will bookend the season taking on the Golden Tide. When the two teams faced off back on December 10 in the Bison Gym, the season-opener for both squads, it was Clearfield taking the 74-47 victory. Junior varsity will tip off at 6 p.m. with varsity to follow inside Patton Hall.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bellefonte 14 11 18 18 – 61
Clearfield 14 12 11 8 – 45
Bellefonte – 61
Luke Fisher 2 0-0 4, Ty Kroell 5 2-2 14, Nicholas Way 1 2-2 4, Alex Ebeling 3 2-2 8, Davis Corman 0 0-0 0, Cole Crissman 0 0-0 0, Gannon Brungard 4 2-3 11, Jacob Mcconnell 2 0-0 5, Blair Eckley-Jones 4 6-7 15. TOTALS 21 14-16 61.
Clearfield – 45
Ryan Gearhart 7 2-2 17, Cole Miller 6 2-3 16, Isakk Way 1 2-2 5, Andon Greslick 1 0-0 3, Luke Pallo 0 0-0 0, Nate Natoli 1 2-3 4, Nick Collins 0 0-0 0, Caleb Wilt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 8-10 45.
GAME STATISTICS
Bellefonte/Clearfield
Shooting: 21-48/16-53
Rebounds: 22/24
Fouls: 11/14
Turnovers: 18/12
Three-Point Shots: Kroell-2, Brumgard, Mcconnell, Eckley-Jones/Gearhart, Miller-2, Way, Greslick