HYDE — The early season woes for the Clearfield Bison round-ballers have been uncharted territory for head coach Nate Glunt and his squad. Their 0-4 start to the year is the first for Glunt, yet all the games have been ones where Clearfield has kept fighting from opening tip to final buzzer. Thursday night was no exception as the Bison returned to their home gym to play host against the unbeaten Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders.
Despite being overshadowed in height, and speed, the Bison would show their heart and keep fighting for 32 minutes. However, the Marauders would play a nearly entirely perfect game with few turnovers, limited miscues, and strong shooting to hand the Bison a 68-36 loss.
“They have two divisional players. I know number two (Jude Haigh) got an offer by Saint Francis, and that 6′ 8″ number four (Trevor Rehm) is garnering Division 1 interest,” Glunt said. “Plus, their other players who may not have divisional interest, they are extremely good, too.
“I thought our guys competed, and that’s exactly what I want them to do. Sure, we had a couple turnovers, made some silly mistakes, but I felt we got shots, made shots, and we actually out-rebounded them, which is unbelievable because of how much bigger they were than us.”
Glunt was right in the surprising ability of Clearfield to gain the advantage on the boards. The Bison would get 33 rebounds on the night, compared to 24 by the Marauders. At the same time, the visitors would get their shooting success going early and often, as they would rush out to a 24-14 lead after one quarter. Clearfield could not make much headway in the second, as Bishop Guilfoyle pushed out to a 12-2 run before Glunt called what would be his third timeout of the half. The sideline chat worked as they were able to get back on the board, and made better decisions with the basketball. Despite being down 43-23 at the half, there was clear cohesive work amongst the team, something that Glunt took notice of.
“There’s a lot of little things we look for that I felt we did excellent. To be able to out-rebound a team like that, plus have very few turnovers, and our kids are cutting hard to the basket; all those little things you can see improvement, and it’s fun to watch,” he said.
Despite that, the Marauders would see Haigh lead the team with 18 points, while Rehm added in another 10. They would finish shooting 28-for-58 from the floor, and ultimately put the running clock into effect with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, cruising out to a 59-28 lead after three quarters. For the entire final eight minutes, BG coaches let their starters get a rest and had the bench get some playing time to finish out the night.
Glunt knew that when Clearfield became part of the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference this season, it would be a much different challenge compared to the Mountain League. That said, he did not expect to have the schedule challenges right off the get-go.
“There are a lot of teams in the Laurel Highlands that are good, maybe not as good as BG. I’m not sure if we’re fortunate or unfortunate, but we hit the lottery and have to play all the best ones in the first three weeks of the season,” he said with a chuckle. “We definitely had a tough draw, but all we can do is keep working.”
For the Bison, Braison Patrick topped all scorers as he achieved 19 points. Anthony Lopez would lead in rebounds, finishing with eight.
Clearfield fell in the junior varsity contest as well, 58-32.
It does not get any easier for Clearfield as their two-game slate for the final week prior to Christmas has familiar foes. The buses will be loaded up and ready on Monday night when the team travels south to face off with the Tyrone Golden Eagles, and in Glunt’s mind he knows it will be highly-contested game.
“Tyrone, right now, they are scoring a lot of points, and have some great athletes,” he said. “I truly don’t know if it’s the gym, their student body, or what, but it’s always been a challenging place to play. It’s a tough opponent, but we will go down there and compete.”
Tip-off for the varsity will be at approximately 7:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bishop Guilfoyle 24 19 16 9 – 68
Clearfield 14 9 5 8 – 36
Bishop Guilfoyle – 68
Tyson Lestochi 4 0-0 9, Jude Haigh 6 2-2 18, Trevor Rehm 5 0-0 10, Hamilton Gates 4 0-0 9, Taurean Consiglio 4 0-0 9, Jake Kissell 2 0-1 4, Chase Kissell 0 0-0 0, Nick Foor 1 0-0 2, Troy Ruggery 0 0-0 0, Kurt Ruggery 2 0-0 5, Grant Okonak 1 0-0 2, Torin Robertson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 28 2-3 68.
Clearfield – 36
Parker Collins 0 0-0 0, Evett Maines 1 0-0 3, Braison Patrick 8 3-4 19, Anthony Lopez 0 0-0 0, Braylon Way 2 0-0 6, Cooper Broad 2 1-1 5, Kai Lynch 1 0-0 3, Jake Rumfola 0 0-0 0, Noah Rumfola 0 0-0 0, Karter Kasken 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 4-7 36.
GAME STATISTICS
Bishop Guilfoyle/Clearfield
- Shooting: 28-58/14-32
- Rebounds: 24/33
- Fouls: 11/6
- Turnovers: 3/15
- Three-Point Shots: Lestochi, Haigh-4, Gates, Consiglio/Maines, Way-2, Lynch
BISON SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/01 @ DuBois Central Catholic 54 – 68 0 – 1
12/05 CENTRAL 34 – 50 0 – 2
12/08 GREATER JOHNSTOWN 35 – 70 0 – 3
12/11 @ Bellefonte 45 – 62 0 – 4
12/14 BISHOP GUILFOYLE 36 – 68 0 – 5
12/18 @ Tyrone
12/21 HOLLIDAYSBURG
12/28 @ Curwensville
01/03 @ Huntingdon
01/05 @ Westmont Hilltop
01/08 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
01/11 @ Bellwood-Antis
01/15 @ West Branch
01/17 PENNS VALLEY
01/24 @ Bald Eagle Area
01/26 BEDFORD
01/31 @ Central
02/02 @ Richland
02/07 BELLEFONTE
02/09 @ Bishop Guilfoyle
02/12 TYRONE
02/13 CURWENSVILLE
02/15 Laurel Highlands Tourney
02/17 Laurel Highlands Tourney
