WESTOVER — Hoping to erase the sting of the loss to West Branch the night prior, the Curwensville Golden Tide got ready to take on the hardwood once more just 24 hours later. It meant a road trip to Westover, but they were ready for the challenge of the Harmony Owls.
This game was a tale of two halves, with one common denominator. Curwensville had a strong first half, while Harmony had a better second half. Both teams did not fair well at the charity stripe, but in the end it was a fourth-quarter charge that led the Owls to give the Tide a 76-62 loss, dropping the Tide’s record to 8-11 on the season.
The Tide struggled out the gate as Harmony got early production from its two star shooters, Colton Fry and Jack Bracken, who recently passed the 1000 point mark for his career. Combined, the two put up 10 points in the opening quarter, almost equaling the production of the entire Curwensville offense. After one quarter, Curwensville was down by 11 at 23-12. That changed in the second quarter when Parker Wood and Chandler English got rolling. English put up eight of his 11 points in the quarter, while Wood accounted for six of his team-high 18. The production was strong, and Curwensville headed into the locker room with a slim three-point advantage, 28-25.
Harmony just would not quit, and began clawing back in the second half, and that is when the game was won.
In the third, Harmony barely outscored the Tide, but locked the game up at 51-all heading into the final stanza. That is where they put the game away as the Owls would see the foul line more than shots from the floor, going to the stripe 26 times in the quarter. Harmony was not that strong in the second half at the line, going 14-for-26, but it was just enough to put up 25 points in the final quarter, while holding Curwensville to only 11.
For the Owls, Bracken led all scoring with 26 points. Fry added in 24, while Anthony Maseto accounted for 11.
Curwensville does get a bit of a break before they get back on the court, this time making a short road trip next Tuesday up route 879 to face the Clearfield Bison. The two faced off in the opening game of their respective seasons back in December, with Curwensville falling 56-39. It could be a much different game this time around, with tip-off at approximately 7:30 p.m. after the jayvee contest.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Curwensville 12 26 13 11 – 62
Harmony 23 12 16 25 – 76
Curwensville – 62
Andrew Wassil 4 0-0 12, Dan McGarry 2 2-4 7, Grant Swanson 0 0-0 0, Davis Fleming 4 0-1 11, Chandler English 4 3-5 11, Hunter Tkacik 0 0-0 0, Ty Colton 1 0-0 2, Parker Wood 8 2-2 18, Ayden Sutika 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 23 8-14 62.
Harmony – 76
Colton Fry 9 5-8 24, Anthony Maseto 3 2-8 11, Lucas Tarnow 2 2-3 6, Jack Bracken 10 6-8 26, Zach Hutton 1 0-0 2, Owen Bailey 0 0-0 0, Steven Purusso 2 1-2 7, Casey Brothers 0 0-0 0, Dakota Friend 0 0-0 0, Carter Poland 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 16-29 76.