MOUNT UNION — Coming off a sweep of Glendale last week, the Curwensville Golden Tide still were in the realm of a road trip as their four-game run away from Patton Hall continued Wednesday night as they hit the asphalt to face the Mount Union Trojans.
In the end, head coach Josh Tkacik summed it up best by stating, “We were out of sync from the opening tip.” Curwensville faltered out of the gate, and despite their best efforts, would fall to the Trojans, 53-46.
The Tide would start out sluggish in the opening stanza, as Mount Union’s defense was forcing turnovers and turning them into extra possessions. Despite that, the Trojans only held a 10-6 lead after one. Curwensville managed to turn things around in the second quarter, as they would just barely out-score the Trojans. Still, it was not enough to close the gap as the Tide looked at a single-possession deficit heading into halftime, 23-21.
Despite the victory in the second quarter, Curwensville faltered in the second half as they would be outscored just enough to fall in the end. The Tide would only see the foul line on three occasions for the game, as all opportunities came from Davis Fleming, who finished with a game-high 22 points in the loss.
Tkacik did not mince words, stating, “Our defensive effort was pretty good. But, obviously I did not have our players ready for Mount Union this evening. I need to do better.”
Curwensville (9-7) will get a chance to avenge an earlier loss on the year on Friday when they travel to Morrisdale to take on the West Branch Warriors. It was on January 8 when the Warriors got the better of Curwensville in Patton Hall, 76-47.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Curwensville 6 15 14 11 – 46
Mount Union 10 13 15 15 – 53
Curwensville – 46
Grant Swanson 1 0-0 3, Davis Fleming 10 2-3 22, Braden Holland 1 0-0 2, Hunter Tkacik 2 0-0 6, Louie Tkacik 2 0-0 5, Parker Wood 4 0-0 8. TOTALS 20 2-3 45.
Mount Union – 53
Danish 5 5-8 15, Bilger 7 1-4 15, Shawver 5 4-8 14, Francis 1 0-2 3, Brown 2 0-0 6, Collins 0 0-0 0, Garrett 0 0-0 0, Posey 0 0-0 0, Ranch 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20 9-22 53.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/06 @ Harmony 79 – 60 1 – 0
12/08 @ St. Joe’s Catholic 69 – 45 2 – 0
12/11 WILLIAMSBURG 53 – 63 2 – 1
12/14 @ Juniata Valley 81 – 95 2 – 2
12/18 CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL 67 – 59 3 – 2
12/21 GLENDALE 55 – 46 4 – 2
12/22 BUCKTAIL 68 – 56 5 – 2
12/28 CLEARFIELD 43 – 56 5 – 3
01/02 HARMONY 65 – 60 6 – 3
01/05 @ Brockway 63 – 38 7 – 3
01/08 WEST BRANCH 47 – 76 7 – 4
01/11 @ Mo Valley 74 – 53 8 – 4
01/16 @ Williamsburg ppd. 8 – 4
01/19 @ Mt. Union ppd. 8 – 4
01/23 JUNIATA VALLEY 75 – 86 8 – 5
01/25 @ Williamsburg 48 – 52 8 – 6
01/26 @ Glendale 42 – 36 9 – 6
01/31 @ Mt. Union 46 – 53 9 – 7
02/02 @ West Branch
02/05 KEYSTONE
02/06 MO VALLEY
02/10 @ DuBois Central Catholic
02/13 @ Clearfield
02/15 @ Bucktail