Curwensville — The Curwensville boys’ basketball team did not see the court much this week. The heavy snow that pummeled central Pennsylvania cancelled school for three consecutive days, all of which were nights where practices were to be held.
Friday night, the team came to Patton Hall having seen the hardwood for the first time since last Friday night. Their opposition came from the Kane Wolves.
In a game that started out close and even, Kane used their zone defense to keep the Tide from getting close to the basket, forcing outside shots and getting big rebounds. That strategy paid dividends for the Wolves as they rolled to a 68-55 victory, extending Curwensville’s losing streak to eight.
Coach Matt Wassil said afterwards that the time away from the court didn’t hurt his team, but it was finishing plays that cost them.
“I think we played really well. That’s a tribute to the kids for their effort. You know, we weren’t in the gym for three days but the team played hard, as I expect them to,” Wassil said.
The first quarter came to a 14-14 tie as both squads kept pace, but in the second quarter Kane switched up as they played an aggressive man-to-man defense on in-bound passes. But, once crossing half court, the Wolves elected to play either a 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone, which kept the Tide at bay and forced some tough shots.
“When they went to zone, it really slowed us down and they clogged the lane,” Wassil said. “We do really well attacking the basket and they knew that. With the zone, it just makes it extremely tough to get that open lane.”
The outside shooting left Kane open to get some big rebounds and then push the ball the other way. That led to a huge night by Arie Paup as he led the Wolves in all areas of the game. He ended with 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Not to be outdone, both Tyler Anderson and Dave Bucheit made it into double-digits as they scored 12 and 11 points respectively.
For the Tide, they had a tough time against the Wolves’ tall center, especially with Kyle Barrett having to play off the bench. His back issues have kept his playing time down, but Wassil said he played well in the time he was on the court.
“We’re slowly trying to get Kyle into the game. With his back, we have kept his playing time down. But, when he’s in there, he is big for us,” Wassil said.
Meanwhile, the Tide began rolling into the fourth quarter as they pulled to within six points of the lead. The Wolves began committing a lot of fouls, especially on senior Jed Greslick, who saw the free throw line 13 times in the final 16 minutes. Of those shots, he only missed three, as he ended the night with 14 points. Fellow senior Sam Gardner also made it into double-digits as he scored a team-high 15 points.
Gardner also accounted for six assists while he and Greslick tied with five rebounds.
But, once again the zone defense wrecked havoc on the Tide as Kane out-rebounded Curwensville 15-6 in the second half, most of which came on the Tide’s end of the court after missed shots.
“You know, we just go through these lulls where we’ll play spectacular for one quarter then have mistakes in the next that put us behind. All the kids played well, we just fell short on the final effort,” Wassil said.
Curwensville came up just short in the junior varsity game as they lost 33-32.
The Tide (4-14) now has three remaining games on their schedule, only one of which is at home. Wassil said that he was going to have the kids work hard and believes they could get a few more victories before the season is over.
“We have to come out and play hard, especially for the seniors. We have three tough games left against Clearfield, Mo Valley and West Branch,” Wassil said. “I think we can win at least two of those games, if not all three.”
“We want to send the seniors out on a high note, that’s important.”
Curwensville’s final home game of the season will be Monday night as they play host to the Clearfield Bisons. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. with jayvee action to begin the night’s festivities.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Kane 14 17 15 22 68
Curwensville 14 11 15 15 55
GAME STATISTICS
Two-Point Shots: KN-24/48 CV-16/35
Three-Point Shots: KN-2/4 CV-3/11
Rebounds: KN-30 CV-14
Turnovers: KN-17 CV-12
Team Fouls: KN-14 CV-17
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
KANE 68
Paup 8 4-6 22, Leonard 2 5-7 9, T. Anderson 4 4-6 12, P. Anderson 0 0-0 0, Holt 4 0-1 8, Depto 2 0-1 4, A. Anderson 1 0-0 2, Bucheit 5 1-1 11. Totals 26 14-22 68
CURWENSVILLE 55
Barrett 3 0-0 6, Gardner 6 2-2 15, Greslick 2 10-16 14, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Starr 1 0-0 2, Johnson 3 2-3 10, White 0 0-0 0, S. McGary 0 0-0 0, B. McGary 3 0-0 6. Totals 19 14-21 55
Three-Point Field goals: KN-Paup (2) CV-Gardner, Johnson (2)
Foul Outs: CV-Starr