CURWENSVILLE — The latter part of the season has been a struggle for the Curwensville Golden Tide cagers, having dropped four of their last five contests. In hopes of turning their luck around entering the final two weeks of the season, the Tide walked into Patton Hall on Monday night ready to get back on track, playing host to the Keystone Panthers, a team they had yet to beat in six previous meetings.
Curwensville had a solid start, but as the game progressed the Panthers crawled back in. The Tide would not quit, battling back as the minutes ticked away. The rally was fast, yet was not enough as Curwensville fell 54-51, dropping to 9-9 on the season.
“When the game started, they were in man-to-man against us, and we had a size advantage. Keystone runs so many different pressures, but it isn’t until you get into the game where you know what they are going to do against you. So, they came out in man defense, we had a nice little run,” Tide head coach Josh Tkacik said afterwards. “When they went into zone, it caused a wrinkle that we could not figure out until well into the second half.”
That defense gave Curwensville a quick 8-0 lead to start the night, but the defensive switch allowed the Panthers to tie the game late in the first quarter. The Tide managed only one more bucket in the stanza, taking a 10-8 lead into the second quarter.
That is when Curwensville began to falter, as the shots were not going in, and rebounds were falling in the hands of the opposition. At the same token, Keystone got quick control as Eli Nellis and Drew Keith each began knocking down shots. Despite that, Curwensville would pull to within four points late in the half, but a missed shot on the opposite end of the court went back to Keystone, as the rebound went into the hands of Aiden Patrick, who then fed Keith with just seconds before the buzzer, draining one of his four treys to give the visitors a 27-20 lead heading into the locker room.
“Those threes were back breakers. Just when we felt we got our legs underneath us, as a group as we were getting some momentum, they make that big shot. Hats off to him for knocking down that shot, that was huge for them,” Tkacik said.
All the momentum for Keystone continued into the third quarter as Keith knocked down two more threes, part of his team-high 18 points. Curwensville found itself down by 11 entering the final quarter, and at that moment, something changed in Curwensville.
Right away, Davis Fleming began finding his groove, and his teammates rallied behind him. He would get a bucket, or if he had no shot he was feeding his teammates to get a better shot. Fleming ultimately had 12 of his game-high 23 points in the quarter, part of a double-double effort as he also had 11 rebounds. More importantly, the Tide cut the four-possession gap down to one.
“It pretty much was gut-check time. We spend a lot of time talking about attitude, and our ‘whys’ of competing. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, we talked about how we were going to play for our ‘whys,’ like family, each other, and the guys showed that,” Tkacik said.
Curwensville kept the pressure on, and would find themselves with opportunities at the foul line, which kept the Tide within reach. But, the issue for Tkacik that he felt hindered the team in the game, and others, was the lack of scoring from others outside of Fleming. Even with Parker Wood adding in 12 points on the night, Fleming had over half the points in the final stanza, and for Tkacik that hindered more than helped.
“There’s only so much that one individual can do, or even two individuals can do. It takes everybody,” he said. “When it’s your turn, either cutting it loose, or putting the ball on the floor and take it to the rack, you have to be able to execute. As of late, we’re becoming a bit too one-dimensional, or maybe two-dimensional at times. It sounds elementary, but we have to score more points, and it’s not that we don’t practice it, discuss it, or talk about it. It just comes down to execution.”
That execution kept Curwensville within reach down to the final seconds as with the score down to 53-49, Curwensville saw Wood go up for a jumper. The ball bounced off the rim, but Louie Tkacik found the rebound and not only put it back up, but also got the ball in the net and a foul to put him at the line. The three-point play fell short as on the ensuing break Fleming fouled Eli Nellis with just over one second remaining in the game. The foul would be his fifth, so if the Tide put the game into overtime it would mean the high-scorer on the night would have to stay on the sidelines.
Nellis missed the first shot, but made the second, and on the inbound roll by Chandler English to Braden Holland, the ball was quickly moved across the line and was knocked out of bounds by the Panthers. Keystone coaches called a time out to plan out the defense, while Curwensville had to find a way to get the ball in the court of play, and still get a shot off to either tie or win.
The plan looked solid as Louie Tkacik looked to Wood on the wing, but the pass sailed right and out of bounds. The turnover with under a second left locked in the victory for the Panthers.
Curwensville has no time to dwell on the loss as they are back on the court Tuesday night, hosting Moshannon Valley. Tkacik is grateful to be back on the court, since it means the loss is not going to linger very long.
“It’s a huge advantage for us to immediately play again tomorrow. To have back-to-back games at home, especially after tonight, that means we’re not waiting to try and put a loss behind us,” he said. “We are already looking ahead to Moshannon Valley. Yes, playoffs are near, but I’m trying to not look that far ahead. Our focus is to come here tomorrow and go 1-0.”
Tip-off for the Black Knights and Tide will start at 6 p.m. with junior varsity. The varsity game will follow at approximately 7:30 p.m. after senior night festivities.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Keystone 8 19 14 13 – 54
Curwensville 10 10 10 21 – 51
Keystone – 54
Gabe Demmer 0 0-0 0, Dom Corcetti 3 8-10 15, Drew Slaugenhaupt 0 0-0 0, Eli Nellis 5 3-4 13, Aiden Patrick 2 2-2 6, Drew Keith 7 0-2 18, Chaz Renninger 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 13-18 54.
Curwensville – 51
Grant Swanson 1 2-2 5, Davis Fleming 7 8-10 23, Chandler English 0 0-0 0, Braden Holland 1 5-7 7, Hunter Tkacik 1 0-2 2, Louie Tkacik 1 0-1 2, Parker Wood 6 0-0 12. TOTALS 17 15-21 51.
GAME STATISTICS
Keystone/Curwensville
- Shooting: 18-55/17-57
- Rebounds: 27/27
- Fouls: 15/11
- Turnovers: 12/15
- Three-Point Shots: Corcetti, Keith-4/Swanson, Fleming
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 49 – 63 9 – 8
02/05 KEYSTONE 51 – 54 9 – 9
02/06 MO VALLEY
02/10 @ DuBois Central Catholic
02/13 @ Clearfield
02/15 @ Bucktail