CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville Area High School boys basketball team’s reward, if one wants to call it that, for making it to the postseason for the first time since 2014 is bumping into the highest-scoring team in District 9.
The seventh-seeded Golden Tide will have to slow down North Tier League champion Coudersport if they are to spring an upset on the No. 2 seed in their Class AA quarterfinal in St. Marys Area High School Thursday night. Tip-off time will be at six o’clock.
“They’ve got a lot of talent and they’re pretty darn good,” Curwensville coach Matt Wassil praised the 19-3 Falcons, who averaged 77.6 points a game.
The defending district kingpins have topped 70 in 16 games, with highs of 100 once and 98 twice.
All but one of their wins have come by more than 20 points.
“They are dynamite in transition,” Wassil added. “If we turn the ball over, they’ll get layups. Bad shots and long rebounds, they turn them into layups.
“So it can’t be a full-court game. We’ve got to shorten the game, really value our possessions and make sure any shot we take is wide open or close to the basket.”
Coudersport has lost only to undefeated and No. 1 seed Ridgway 59-57, Johnsonburg 49-46 early in the regular season and St. Marys 83-81 last Wednesday. The latter is the No. 3 seed in Class AAAA.
In contrast, the Golden Tide (11-11) came out on the short end against Allegheny Mountain League champion Ridgway 52-32 and 57-44 as well as Johnsonburg 49-33.
Both teams own wins over Kane, the Golden Tide by 58-45 and the Falcons by 71-39.
Coudersport boasts two 1,000-point standouts in senior Jared Green at 1,471 and junior Owen Chambers at 1,311.
They’re averaging 24.7 and 18.0 points per game, respectively, while senior Hunter Ricke also is a threat with 11.0 ppg.
Seniors David Burd and Derek Keglovits will join them on the veteran and playoff-tested starting unit that advanced to the second round of the PIAA Class AA tourney last year.
“They’re kind of like Clearfield in that they don’t have anybody real big, just a bunch of guys the same size with a lot of skill,” Wassil said. “They’re tough to guard. They can put the ball on the floor, and they can shoot the ball well.
“We played them in the summer at Clearfield. I know it‘s not a true indication of how they‘ll look in the season, but you could tell they run the floor really well. If you don’t get back in transition, they’re gonna shoot a lot of layups.”
To counter the Falcon fast breaks, the Golden Tide must hold their own on the offensive boards, and Wassil is counting on juniors Christian Bakaysa and Avery Francisco to be active and effective inside.
“They’re big and strong enough to do the job,” Wassil said. “We can have two and a half rebounders on offense if someone drives, but as far as jump shots, we’ve gotta get guys back. If we don’t, it’s just too easy for them.
Senior guard Josh Terry is the Golden Tide’s big gun with 435 points and a 19.8 average.
Bakaysa (10.9 ppg), Francisco (8.0 ppg), senior Devan Barrett (9.6 ppg) and junior Noah VonGunden (2.1 ppg) will be the other starters.
They’re backed by seniors Nick Stewart and Nate McKenrick, junior Dakota Bloom and sophomore Jeremy Irwin.
“I’ve been pleased with Nick’s aggressiveness lately, and Nate has played himself into some minutes,” Wassil said. “Dakota and Irwin probably are gonna have to give us some minutes, too.”
The Golden Tide have averaged 54.3 points, one less than they’ve given up per game, and Wassil says they have to keep the score in that range to have a chance.
“If it gets in the 60s or 70s, they just have so much firepower,” he said. “We’ve gotta work the ball til we get a quality shot every time and not turn the ball over. We just have to make it a half-court game.
“It’s gonna take our best game to win.”
Thursday’s other quarterfinal games pit No. 3 Keystone (16-6) against No. 6 Brockway (11-12) and No. 4 Clarion-Limestone (17-6) against No. 5 Clarion (16-6) at Clarion University.
State-ranked Ridgway (24-0) will join the three survivors in the semifinals next week.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | @ Clearfield | 52 – 54 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | WEST BRANCH | 57 – 54 ot | 1 – 1 |
| 12/15 | @ Mo Valley | 61 – 49 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/20 | GLENDALE | 82 – 47 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/28 | @ Freeport Tourney | ||
| 12/28 | vs. Freeport | 54 – 85 | 3 – 2 |
| 12/29 | vs. Mercyhurst Prep | 32 – 46 | 3 – 3 |
| 01/03 | @ Ridgway | 32 – 52 | 3 – 4 |
| 01/05 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 3 – 4 |
| 01/09 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH | 58 – 49 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/11 | HARMONY | 90 – 74 | 5 – 4 |
| 01/12 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 5 – 4 |
| 01/16 | @ Elk County Catholic | 46 – 78 | 5 – 5 |
| 01/19 | KANE | 58 – 45 | 6 – 5 |
| 01/22 | MO VALLEY | 60 – 53 | 7 – 5 |
| 01/23 | RIDGWAY | 44 – 57 | 7 – 6 |
| 01/26 | @ Brockway | 48 – 53 | 7 – 7 |
| 01/30 | BROCKWAY | 50 – 58 | 7 – 8 |
| 01/31 | @ Glendale | 60 – 49 | 8 – 8 |
| 02/02 | JOHNSONBURG | 33 – 49 | 8 – 9 |
| 02/06 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 62 – 55 | 9 – 9 |
| 02/07 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 9 – 9 |
| 02/09 | @ Sheffield | 69 – 44 | 10 – 9 |
| 02/12 | CLEARFIELD | 29 – 49 | 10 – 10 |
| 02/14 | @ Harmony | 71 – 66 | 11 – 10 |
| 02/16 | @ West Branch | 46 – 52 | 11 – 11 |
| 02/22 | District 9 A Quarterfinals | ||
| 02/22 | vs. Coudy @ St. Marys |
