Basketball

C-K boys earn historic win

Bulldogs win first-ever state playoff game

MUNCY -- Claysburg-Kimmel found itself in a somewhat familiar position on Saturday at Muncy in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs.

In the District 6 opener, the Bulldogs were up by 10 heading into the fourth quarter before their opponent tied it with a minute remaining.

So on Saturday, coach Mike Harris wasn't panicking as the Bulldogs saw an 11-point lead to close the third quarter dissipate to a tied game and a one-point deficit at one point.

"The whole time I said just relax, we've been here before. It's a game of runs," Harris told his players.

Claysburg-Kimmel did just that and kept its composure. It resulted in a thrilling victory on the road.

Claysburg-Kimmel scored with five seconds remaining to take a one-point lead and watched a Muncy 3-pointer hit off the rim and fall out of harm's way to secure an exciting 63-62 first-round state playoff win in Muncy on Saturday evening.

The Bulldogs made history on Saturday, and the players were more than happy to do so. C-K now has the program's record for most wins in a season (16) and did something no other Claysburg-Kimmel team has ever done -- win a state playoff game.

"It's awesome because the baseball guys are in there screaming 'hey we gotta postpone the scrimmage on Tuesday.' And that's what it is about, the kids," Harris said. "They played hard, played their guts out and it's fantastic."

Claysburg-Kimmel held an 11-point lead to close out the third quarter and put Muncy in a big hole late.

The Indians, however, never hung their heads or got down. Muncy kept playing its style of basketball the best it knows how and slowly chipped away at that deficit.

Claysburg Kimmel's Brayden Haney did damage in a two-second span. After he scored with 14 seconds left, he managed to steal the ensuing inbounds pass and scored a layup and drew a foul. He then sank the and-1 free throw and scored five fast points in a two-second window to give Claysburg-Kimmel a 46-35 lead as the third quarter wound down.

From there though, Muncy started battling and clawing back.

"Down 11 going into the fourth was rough. Are we going to do our thing? It's like we finally woke up in the fourth quarter and then it kind of came down, it was back and forth, back and forth. Now all of a sudden, four or five minutes left in the game, we got it down to one possession game rest of the way and you kind of knew that was how it was going to go," Muncy coach Jason Gresh said. "We got in a little foul trouble there, puts you in an awkward situation trying to do some different things there and try to get back in the game. I thought the kids fought their butts off to get back in.

"We did a nice job rebounding and getting to the hoop finally. Knocked down some shots finally. They worked hard and that's all I can ask at the end of the day," Gresh added.

The Indians made it a two-point deficit when Zalonis drilled the third of three consecutive 3-pointers to make it a 50-48 contest. Just 11 seconds later, Noah Confer had a steal and basket and tied the game at 50-all with 4:10 to play.

"We lost some guys a couple guys and they got hot. I said 'listen, they haven't hit an outside shot the whole first half, but they can shoot it, so you better be ready in that second half.' And that No. 25 (Zalonis) got hot, I think 3 (Confer) hit a couple, he's their stud and best player," Harris said. "I thought we limited No. 10 (Stiles Eyer) pretty good, he didn't really get off and he's their second-leading scorer."

Muncy tied the game at 52-all thanks to Nate Rogers' basket with 3:45 to play and it was then Zalonis who gave Muncy its first second-half lead of the night. With 3:16 to play, Zalonis let go a shot and put Muncy ahead, 54-52.

Claysburg-Kimmel tied the game 30 seconds later off two free throws by Aidan Simpson and the two went back and forth the rest of the game.

Muncy held a 62-61 lead with 12.8 seconds to play thanks to Confer driving and scoring and then sinking the ensuing and-1 free throw for the lead.

The Bulldogs didn't panic though, and got the ball to Elias Ritchey, who took it inside the paint and scored with five seconds remaining for a 63-62 lead.

Ritchey finished with 11 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and four steals. Simpson had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Cory Walter had 10 rebounds and two blocks.

"Muncy's a well-coached program. They have the banners in the gym. For our guys to come here, two hours, a small school and get it done? It's the first time in school history the boys have won a state game," Harris said.

Confer and Zalonis led Muncy with 17 points each while Confer had a double-double with 12 rebounds, giving him 500 for his career. Eyer added 10 points and had a team-high six rebounds and three steals. Confer also had a team-high six rebounds and blocked two shots, doing a little bit of everything for Muncy.

Claysburg-Kimmel (63): Haney 7 5-5 21; Walter 1 0-0 2; Ritchey 4 3-8 11; Napolitano 2 1-2 5; Simpson 4 4-7 12; Douglas 2 0-0 4; Treon 3 2-4 8. Totals -- 23 15-26 63.

MUNCY (62): Zalonis 7 0-2 17; Confer 7 1-2 17; Eyer 4 2-2 10; Rogers 2 3-4 7; Shearer 2 0-0 5; Hampe 2 0-0 4; Meyer 1 0-0 2; Lisemee 0 0-2 0. Totals -- 25 6-12 62.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Claysburg-Kimmel 14 16 16 17 -- 63

Muncy 16 13 6 27 -- 62

3-point goals: Claysburg-Kimmel 2 (Haney 2), Muncy 6 (Zalonis 3, Confer 2, Shearer).

Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (16-10); Muncy (20-7)