CURWENSVILLE — In the hopes of trying to erase the tough back-to-back defeats in the Philipsburg Christmas Challenge the week prior, the Curwensville Golden Tide got nearly a full week to recoup, reset, and refocus. With Inter-County Conference competition coming into Patton Hall on Wednesday night against the Williamsburg Blue Pirates, it was going to be an uphill battle, but one that head coach Josh Tkacik felt his team was ready for.
Out the gate, the Tide faltered, struggling to make shots, and taking potentially unnecessary shots. Still, they would not quit, battling back to make a tight contest in the middle portion of the game. But, in the end, Curwensville would fall, 61-45, resulting in their fourth consecutive loss.
“Basketball is one of those games where you want to eliminate mistakes, and we struggled to do that early on,” Tkacik said.
In the first 20 seconds the two squads traded baskets, but then Curwensville began faltering with shots, both in when to take them, and in preventing them on defense. In the first quarter, Williamsburg pushed out to a 24-9 lead, limiting the Tide to just 3-for-15 from the floor, and forcing eight turnovers. The lead would grow slightly at the start of the second, but then Curwensville got hot, while the Blue Pirates suddenly were taking chances.
“When they were attacking downhill on us, then suddenly we started chipping away and started getting momentum, they were putting shots up from 20 feet away,” Tkacik said. “I’m even thinking, ‘what are they doing’ and I’m yelling at my team to not do that. At one point, Brock (Anders-Williamsburg coach) was yelling at his kids the same thing.
“For us, that was coming right into our hands.”
It fell nearly into the Tide’s hands perfectly, as the chipping away at the lead got as low as six points, with the Blue Pirates eventually taking a 30-23 advantage into halftime. Defensively, Curwensville opened the night in a zone, hoping to keep Williamsburg from penetrating. But, eventually, Tkacik swapped back to doing a press, noting that his players enjoy playing the man defense, saying they were more edgy and more competitive.
“I felt like we had the momentum coming into halftime, and I told them ‘Brock is barking at his guys that they need to come out in this third quarter and hit them with a surge,’ so what we needed to do defensively is absorb that surge, and push back offensively,” he said. “I felt we did that defensively, but then Williamsburg was able to return the favor.”
Curwensville did just that, keeping the game to within a 2-3 possession gap, but as the game wore on, fouls became an issue as starters Dan McGarry and Grant Swanson both got into foul trouble entering the fourth.
Still, the Tide pressed on, getting some big offense from Davis Fleming, who finished the night with a team-high 15 points. Center Parker Wood, despite being limited to eight points, would lead the team with 11 rebounds.
However, as the fourth quarter waned on, it was becoming evident the push to cut down the lead was also causing an after-effect as the Tide were beginning to get tired, and Williamsburg took full advantage.
The Blue Pirates would outscore the Tide 31-22 in the final 16 minutes, with a trio of starters in double figures. RJ Royer led all scoring with 19 points, along with eight rebounds. Zachary Kagarise would add in 14 points of his own, and Rowan Gorsuch put forth a double-double effort, with 14 points plus 13 rebounds.
Curwensville also fell in the junior varsity contest, 56-24.
Even with the loss, Tkacik was full of pride and honor, because the fight his team continued to put on was inspiring, and he continued to see improvement.
“I love these guys, because all 16 would probably run through a wall if I asked them. That’s where they are at, mentally as competitors. We’re kind of on that hump (right now), so if we can as a group get aligned with one another, that is what is going to push us over that hump,” he said. “I was proud of these guys because they continued to compete with everything they had for all four quarters.”
Now looking at a 2-5 record, Curwensville has little time to rest and regroup, because to Tkacik some of the toughest games are coming up in the next seven days, including one less than 24 hours away when they travel to take on the Brockway Rovers.
“In the history of Curwensville basketball, excluding Clearfield, the team we’ve played the most is Brockway. This is a rivaly to us, going back to the AML days, and even preceding that to when Brockway and Curwensville were facing off in district playoffs back-and-forth every year. We know what to expect,” he said. “What I challenged the guys here tonight, in the locker room, is allow the sting of this loss to be a catalyst for a momentum swing not only for tomorrow night, but also into next week, because we got three huge games next week as well.”
Tip-off for junior varsity will be at 6 p.m. with varsity to follow.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Williamsburg 24 6 17 14 – 61
Curwensville 9 14 12 10 – 45
Williamsburg – 61
Zachary Kagarise 5 4-4 14, Preston Isenberg 0 0-1 0, Nathan Keith 1 0-0 2, Logan Brantner 0 0-0 0, Jesse Brumbaugh 3 0-0 8, Joey Zehner 0 0-2 0, Rowan Gorsuch 4 6-8 14, RJ Royer 8 0-0 19, Sam Parks 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 23 10-15 61.
Curwensville – 45
Dan McGarry 4 1-2 9, Grant Swanson 0 0-0 0, Davis Fleming 4 7-10 15, Chandler English 2 1-2 5, Parker Wood 4 0-0 8, Bendon Holland 1 0-0 2, Hunter Tkacik 0 0-2 0, Ty Colton 0 0-0 0, Ayden Sutika 2 0-0 4, Andrew Wassil 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 9-16 45.
GAME STATISTICS
Williamsburg/Curwensville
- Shooting: 23-79/18-60
- Rebounds: 32/33
- Fouls: 16/18
- Turnovers: 23/27and
- Three-Point Shots: Brumbaugh-2, Royer-3
- Sideline Warning: Williamsburg, 2:18 in 2nd Quarter
