CURWENSVILLE – Frustration could be seen on Coach Matt Wassil’s face along with the entire Curwensville Golden Tide basketball team. From the opening tipoff, the team found themselves behind as the Kane Wolves overpowered the Tide enroute to a 63-52 victory.
“I thought our scoring was balanced the whole game,” said Wassil afterwards, “However in the first half we couldn’t defend and in the second half we couldn’t rebound.”
Wassil credits Kane’s Cory Waigand for beating their defense as he scored 25 points while going four of five from beyond the arc and seven of eight on the foul line. Waigand also accounted for a team high five rebounds and four assists for the Wolves.
“He (Waigand) could shoot outside and that really got us behind,” said Wassil.
Kane’s Arie Paup also proved tough to defend as he garnered four rebounds and four assists.
“In the first half, we couldn’t defend them and they got out really quickly on us,” said Wassil. “In the second half, I thought we defended them a lot better but we couldn’t get the rebounds when we needed them.”
Both Andrew Starr and David Kalgren gained a team high 11 points for Curwensville, while David Dixon led the team in rebounds with six. Kalgren also led the team in assists with six.
Wassil was happy with the performance, but he said that the game is not about shooting percentage, but is more about scoring percentage.
“If you go 1 for 3, yes it’s only a 33% shooting, but it also means two points on the scoreboard, and that is what matters,” said Wassil.
Kane also won the Junior Varsity matchup, 44-39, to start the evening.
Curwensville is back at home Wednesday night to take on the Moshannon Valley Black Knights, which is a make-up game that was postponed earlier in the year due to the weather.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
1st 2nd 3rd 4th FINAL
KANE 15 20 14 13 63
CURWENSVILLE 10 13 16 14 52
TEAM STATISTICS
FIELD GOALS: KANE-17/20; CURWENSVILLE-16/29
FREE THROWS: KANE-12/17; CURWENSVILLE-12/17
FOULS: KANE-17; CURWENSVILLE-19
THREE-POINT SHOTS: KANE-Waigand (4), Bucheit; CURWENSVILLE-Starr, McGary
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
KANE: Waigand- 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists; Bucheit- 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists; Paup- 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
CURWENSVILLE: Starr- 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists; Kalgren- 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists; McGary- 9 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists