DUKE CENTER — The season began with a new look, new attitude, and new focus for the Curwensville Golden Tide basketball squad. A new staff took over after struggles over the last several seasons, hoping to invigorate a program that had talent but not as much success. Despite their record, the Tide showed to be cohesive, driven, and ultimately made their way into the first round of district playoffs. Their reward, however, was a daunting task, as they made a road trip to face off with the Otto-Eldred Terrors.
In the opening frame, the Tide showed they were not intimidated, actually showing that they could compete against the top-seed foe in the 1A bracket of District 9. However, the Terrors turned on the heat, and showed they deserved the No. 1 seed, dropping Curwensville 61-31, ending the Tide’s season.
Curwensville started the night off quickly, as Dan McGarry, in what ultimately would be his final game on the hardwood, got the opening score. But, the two squads battled hard for the remainder of the opening eight minutes, with the home squad barely hanging onto a 12-11 advantage.
That is when the Terrors turned the wick up, and never looked back.
Turnovers doomed the Tide in the second quarter, and Otto-Eldred took advantage. They managed to score from multiple areas on the court, in multiple ways, almost tripling the output of Curwensville to take a 34-19 lead into halftime.
Curwensville head coach Josh Tkacik said afterwards, “Otto-Eldred is well coached and their players understand how to get their shooters their shots. I clearly didn’t have my guys where they needed to be to find consistent success.”
Limited to only 14 shots from the floor all game, McGarry led all scoring with 11 points. At the same time, Curwensville did not see much success when the opportunity came for free points at the foul line. Of the five chances they had at the charity stripe, only two would fall. By contrast, the Terrors went 10-for-11 at the line, with both Brax Caldwell and Shene Thomas finishing in double figures with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Curwensville could not get any momentum in the third, being outscored 18-7. Early in the fourth quarter, the Terrors would put the running clock into effect, and limited the amount of time anyone would be on the floor, as the two teams only combined for 14 points in the final quarter.
Despite the loss, so many positives came out of the season for Curwensville, and Tkacik himself.
“I do not have words to properly describe what this group of players means to me,” he said. “My seniors, Dan, Ty (Colton) and Ayden (Sutika) personify so much of what my vision is for this program. From coachability, effort, and being great teammates since they want to see others elevated, their passion, and emotion.
“I am so proud to have this responsibility as coach. Win or lose, every game has lessons within them for us to learn both about basketball, and life.”
Tkacik’s first year at the helm of the Tide ends with an 8-15 record, but with a lot of underclassmen returning, and new talent joining next season, Tkacik already feels the bar will rise even higher from what the 2022-2023 squad set.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Curwensville 11 8 7 5 – 31
Otto-Eldred 12 22 18 9 – 61
Curwensville – 31
Andrew Wassil 1 0-0 2, Dan McGarry 5 0-1 11, Grant Swanson 1 0-0 2, Davis Fleming 2 1-2 5, Chandler English 2 1-2 5, Hunter Tkacik 0 0-0 0, Ty Colton 0 0-0 0, Parker Wood 1 0-0 2, Ayden Sutika 2 0-0 4. Totals: 14 2-5 31.
Otto-Eldred – 61
Manning Splain 4 0-0 9, Logan Maholic 0 0-0 0, Austin Cousins 5 0-0 15, Landon Francis 2 4-4 9, Brax Caldwell 5 5-5 15, Maxton Splain 0 0-0 0, Shene Thomas 6 1-2 13, Davey Schenfield 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 10-11 61.
Final Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/02 CLEARFIELD 39 – 56 0 – 1
12/12 @ Mo Valley 44 – 35 1 – 1
12/15 GLENDALE ppd. 1 – 1
12/19 BELLWOOD-ANTIS 62 – 54 2 – 1
12/20 HARMONY 51 – 59 2 – 2
12/23 JUNIATA VALLEY ppd. 2 – 2
12/28 & 29 @ Philipsburg-Osceola Tourney
12/28 vs. Philipsburg-Osceola 44 – 74 2 – 3
12/29 vs. Bald Eagle Area 39 – 53 2 – 4
01/04 WILLIAMSBURG 45 – 61 2 – 5
01/05 @ Brockway 63 – 28 3 – 5
01/09 @ West Branch 46 – 67 3 – 6
01/11 MT. UNION 59 – 58 4 – 6
01/13 BROCKWAY 56 – 16 5 – 6
01/17 GLENDALE 40 – 42 5 – 7
01/20 MO VALLEY 63 – 40 6 – 7
01/24 @ Glendale 70 – 34 7 – 7
01/25 JUNIATA VALLEY ppd. 7 – 7
01/27 @ Bellwood-Antis 66 – 58 8 – 7
01/31 @ Juniata Valley 56 – 75 8 – 8
02/03 @ Williamsburg 56 – 65 8 – 9
02/07 WEST BRANCH 62 – 64 8 – 10
02/08 @ Harmony 62 – 76 8 – 11
02/10 @ Mt. Union 44 – 47 8 – 12
02/14 @ Clearfield 39 – 69 8 – 13
02/15 JUNIATA VALLEY 45 – 76 8 – 14
02/23 D9 Playoffs vs. Otto-Eldred 31 – 61 8 – 15
