Mirror photo by Mike Boytim BG coach Ryan Lestochi talks to his team during a timeout in Clearfield.

CLEARFIELD — Down a starter, Bishop Guilfoyle Academy appeared to be on track to take care of business Thursday in a crucial Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference Eastern Division game against Clearfield.

The Marauders took a 14-point lead on Alex Krimmel’s 3-pointer with 5:40 to play in the third quarter, but the Bison stormed back to trail by just five at the end of the quarter and scored 12 of the first 14 points of the fourth quarter to take control of the game in a 53-48 win.

The loss for the Marauders ended a historic LHAC run.

“I tell these guys all the time that you learn more from failure than you do success,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Ryan Lestochi said. “You need failure to show you what you need to get better at. That was tonight. We had some real errors tonight. I felt we let this go a little bit. We can definitely learn from it. We might have looked ahead. That was 48 straight conference wins for this group. This is their first experience losing a conference game in three years. I hope we’ll handle it like I expect we will.”

With the loss, Bishop Guilfoyle dropped to 10-3, but both of its previous losses were to teams outside of the conference and District 6 — New Castle and Trinity. Clearfield improved to 13-1 with its only loss to LHAC West foe Forest Hills, which doesn’t count in the East standings. The victory put the Bison in a position to be the No. 1 seed out of the East in the four-team LHAC playoff and BG at No. 2. The Marauders are a game ahead of Hollidaysburg and have already beaten the Golden Tigers, but the teams meet again in BG’s next-to-last game of the regular season.

“Bishop Guilfoyle is an excellent team. Everyone knows that,” Clearfield coach Nate Glunt said. “They are so successful and extremely well-coached. We knew it was going to be a really tough game. Our kids were excited. This was our first home game since Dec. 30. They were so fired up to get back home and to play Bishop Guilfoyle.”

The Bison led 13-11 after a quarter, but after Braison Patrick’s jumper to start the second quarter, BG scored the next 12 points and took a 28-18 lead into the half.

“I thought we were playing really solid basketball,” Lestochi said. “We stuck to our game and guarded the ball well. I was really happy up to that point.”

Patrick, one of two senior 1,000-point career scorers for Clearfield, led the Bison with 21 points, but it was Parker Collins that got them back into the game.

He scored all 16 of his points in the second half, including 12 in the third quarter — all after Krimmel’s 3-pointer put BG up by 14.

“I want to give Parker Collins a ton of credit,” Glunt said. “We were down 14 points in the third quarter, and our kids never quit. Parker Collins stepped up. I have seen him do it in other games — but not against Bishop Guilfoyle. He carried us that third quarter. He was absolutely fantastic.”

Evett Maines, Clearfield’s leading scorer this season and the other 1,000-point scorer, made his first basket on a layup to begin the fourth quarter after missing part of the game in foul trouble.

Collins then made back-to-back baskets to put Clearfield ahead, 45-44.

“We knew they had a lot of quality shooters,” Lestochi said. “It’s hard to deal with, because they have so many. Obviously our focus was on (Maines) and (Patrick), but (Collins) started making some shots. We didn’t guard well under the hoop. We gave them some easy baskets, and the next thing you know, they were rolling.”

Troy Ruggery and Jake Kissell each made one free throw to put Bishop Guilfoyle back up by one, but on a second-chance opportunity, Maines drilled a 3-pointer with 4:53 to put the Bison ahead to stay.

“It felt good,” Maines said. “I had not seen one go in all game, so when I saw that one go in, I felt locked in and was able to play well down the stretch. Being able to beat one of the best teams at home is great. We’ll probably see them again in the conference playoffs, but for now, we’re going to enjoy this one.”

Glunt never lost faith in his senior, who finished with just five points.

“Ev plays with confidence,” Glunt said. “All of our kids have that confidence and are so supportive of each other. That 3-pointer, he got a great pass, and he knows not to hesitate. He hit it, and it was a huge bucket for us.”

After both teams struggled to score, Patrick’s 3-pointer with 2:48 left made it 51-46.

Ruggery got a steal and made a layup — BG’s only field goal of the fourth quarter and first since two minutes remained in the third — which cut the deficit to three.

Krimmel missed a 3-pointer with a chance to tie in the final minute before Patrick missed two free throws and gave BG a final chance. Kissell’s driving lay-in attempt with 14.8 seconds left rolled off the rim, and Clearfield made two free throws to ice the game.

“As it got tighter and they came back, I don’t know if it was that we got tired with limited guys playing or if it was just the intensity of the moment,” Lestochi said. “We did not handle pressure situations well.”

Coach Lestochi’s son, starting guard Tyson Lestochi, was not at the game and was simply described as “unavailable” by his father after the loss.

Clearfield hosts Tyrone tonight and still must play at Hollidaysburg on Jan. 28.

“Fortunately for us, our team was playing really well with Braison and Parker getting us going,” Maines said. “They were encouraging me to keep shooting the ball. Coach believed in me, and luckily we knocked a few down and were able to win the game.”

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (48): Consiglio 4 0-0 9, Ruggery 4 3-6 11, Krimmel 5 1-2 13, Kissell 1 1-2 4, G. Okonak 3 0-0 6, Lightner 0 0-0 0, C. Okonak 2 0-0 5. Totals — 19 5-10 48.

CLEARFIELD (53): Collins 7 0-0 16, Ev. Maines 2 0-0 5, Patrick 8 2-5 21, Glunt 1 0-0 2, Kaskan 2 1-2 5, Rumfola 1 0-0 2, Broad 1 0-0 2, Ea. Maines 0 0-0 0. Totals — 22 3-7 53.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 11 17 16 4 — 48

Clearfield 13 5 21 14 — 53

3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 5 (Krimmel 2, Consiglio, Kissell, C. Okonak); Clearfield 6 (Patrick 3, Collins 2, Ev. Maines).

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (10-3); Clearfield (13-1).

Officials: Dan Solomon, Derrick Soellner, Keith Redfoot.

JV: Bishop Guilfoyle, 74-34. High scorers–Elias Baker/Justin Wheeler, BG, 14 each; Easton Maines, C, 14.