MORRISDALE — The holiday break has concluded for every school in the area, and even got extended by a day due to the frigid temperatures and the snow that decided to make its way through. What made it challenging was that there was not much time for practices for any schools, and having been away from the court for over a week, the Curwensville Golden Tide were itching to get back on the hardwood. This time, they loaded up the bus for a road trip, and went to the West Branch Area Senior High School, where head coach Danny Clark and his Warriors were ready to do battle.
Clark’s Warriors were set from the opening tip, and Curwensville head coach Josh Tkacik had his squad ready to go just as much. But, this night belonged to West Branch, as the homestanding Warriors went from opening tip to final buzzer as the leaders, handing Curwensville an 84-54 loss to drop the Tide to 2-6.
Curwensville’s struggles began early, as turnovers plus the fast-paced offense of West Branch set them behind. After one quarter, the 27-12 deficit was evident that the Tide would have to battle from behind. At the same time, the Tide were disciplined on the court, as they would commit zero fouls the entire first half. This kept the Warriors away from opportunities to get easy points at the charity stripe.
It did not make much difference as heading into the locker room, Curwensville still trailed, 49-25.
West Branch’s Dylan McGonigal led the scoring, putting up 33 points in the win. Owen Koleno, who made the only foul shots for the Warriors the entire game, added in another 20 points.
The second half saw the Tide play better basketball, but still saw themselves outscored by the opposition. In the final stanza, West Branch let many of the starters get a curtain call and allowed the younger players to get some playing time.
Davis Fleming led the Tide in scoring, putting up 24 points, while Chandler English added in another 13.
Curwensville gets to finish its four-game run away from it’s home court on Friday when they again load up the buses to face off with Harmony.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Curwensville 12 13 17 12 – 54
West Branch 27 22 21 14 – 84
Curwensville – 54
Evan McCartney 4 0-1 8, Davis Fleming 9 4-8 24, Chandler English 5 3-3 13, Hunter Tkacik 0 0-0 0, Tuck Tkacik 3 1-3 7, Trenton Best 0 0-0 0, Owen Dimmick 0 0-0 0, Breck Finn 1 0-0 2, Tristan Wills 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 8-15 54.
West Branch – 84
Lukas Colton 3 0-0 6, Joel Evans 5 0-0 10, Dylan McGonigal 13 0-0 33, Owen Koleno 8 3-3 20, Easton Emigh 4 0-0 8, Coby Kephart 1 0-0 2, Logan Liptak 1 0-0 2, Max Gibson 0 0-0 0, Connor Danko 1 0-0 2, Craig Fluck 0 0-0 0, Justin Esposti 0 0-0 0, Hansen Lannen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 36 3-3 84.
GOLDEN TIDE SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/04 @ St. Joseph’s Catholic ppd. 0 – 0
12/07 OSWAYO VALLEY 67 – 56 1 – 0
12/10 @ Williamsburg 49 – 59 1 – 1
12/13 @ Juniata Valley 64 – 85 1 – 2
12/16 @ Claysburg-Kimmel 66 – 70 1 – 3
12/18 MOSHANNON VALLEY 50 – 55 1 – 4
12/20 @ Glendale 64 – 62 2 – 4
12/23 @ St. Joseph’s Catholic PPD 2 – 4
12/27 @ Clearfield 62 – 72 2 – 5
01/03 @ Keystone PPD 2 – 5
01/07 @ West Branch 54 – 84 2 – 6
01/10 @ Harmony
01/13 WILLIAMSBURG
01/17 MT. UNION
01/21 JUNIATA VALLEY
01/22 @ Keystone
01/24 GLENDALE
01/25 @ St. Joseph’s Catholic
01/28 DUBOIS CENTRAL
01/31 WEST BRANCH
02/04 @ Moshannon Valley
02/06 @ Marion Center
02/07 HARMONY
02/10 @ Oswayo Valley
02/12 CLEARFIELD
