Kasen Metzger

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Facing an elite opponent with one of your best players on the sidelines is a daunting task.

The Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers were fortunate that they didn’t have to endure that fate Wednesday night.

The Tigers rolled out the welcome mat at the Hollidaysburg Senior High School gymnasium for a very good Clearfield team that is one of the best in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference this season. But Hollidaysburg came into the matchup fully armed, as standout senior forward Kasen Metzger returned to the lineup after having missed the previous two games with an ankle injury.

With Metzger scoring 16 points and slick sophomore guard Vince Albarano scoring a game-high 27 — including eight in the final minutes to put the Golden Tigers back into the driver’s seat after they had lost a fourth-quarter lead — Hollidaysburg staved off Clearfield, 55-53.

“Getting Metzger back after he had missed the last two games was big for us,” said Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear, whose Tigers improved to 12-3 overall and 10-3 in the conference. “I thought that he played really well tonight.”

Metzger said that he’s back at full throttle after the injury.

“I felt great tonight, for sure,” said Metzger, who also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

With Albarano scoring nine first-quarter points, Hollidaysburg bolted out of the gates with a 14-2 lead at the start of the game.

Albarano added three field goals and Metzger had two field goals, including a 3-pointer, in the second quarter, as the Tigers built a 33-22 halftime lead.

“I thought that we built enough of a cushion early in the game that it really helped us there at the end,” Lear said.

Nonetheless, Hollidaysburg, which entered the fourth quarter with a 44-33 lead, got a big scare from Clearfield in the fourth quarter, which the Bison carried, 20-11. After Metzger’s putback gave Hollidaysburg a 46-37 lead, Clearfield reeled off the next 10 points to take its first lead of the game, 47-46, with 3:11 remaining.

Senior guard Parker Collins started the Clearfield surge with a driving bucket, was fouled on the play, and finished the three-point play. Junior forward Tanner Kaskan’s field goal from the paint, followed by a 3-pointer from the left side by senior guard Evett Maines, pulled Clearfield to within a point, 46-45.

Moments later, Maines — who led the Bison with 18 points — was fouled and hit both free throws to stake Clearfield to the 47-46 lead.

“Hollidaysburg is an extremely well-coached team, they’re always very well-prepared, and Brad does a fine job with them,” Clearfield coach Nate Glunt said. “Our players showed a lot of character by coming back after falling behind tonight.

“It was just a matter of them making a couple more shots than we did tonight,” Glunt added.

Albarano came up with those big shots in the final minutes for Hollidaysburg. He scored off the drive, was fouled, and made the free throw to complete a three-point play and put the Tigers ahead, 49-47 with just under three minutes left.

Albarano added a 3-pointer from the left side with 1:47 showing to give Hollidaysburg a 52-47 lead, and after Clearfield responded with consecutive field goals by senior guard Braison Patrick and Maines to pull back to within one point, 52-51, another Albarano field goal put Hollidaysburg up, 54-51 with under a minute left.

“That kid is really special,” Metzger said of Albarano. “He brings a lot to the table. He’s our guard, he runs our plays, and he handles that very well.”

Patrick’s bucket pulled Clearfield to within 54-53 with 20 seconds left, but the Bison were forced to foul and junior Tyson Delerme hit one of two free throws for the Tigers with six seconds left to give Hollidaysburg its 55-53 final margin of victory.

Clearfield — which got 14 points from Collins and 13 from Patrick — still had a chance to win the game with a last-ditch 3-pointer, but the try from the deep right corner by Collins hit off the side of the rim and fell to the floor as the buzzer sounded.

Hollidaysburg made some defensive adjustments Wednesday after losing a 71-59 decision at Clearfield in the first week of the season.

“We put in a couple new wrinkles offensively as well,” said Lear, whose team hosts Westmont Hilltop Friday night as part of a boys-girls doubleheader between those two schools. “At this point in the season, when you’re playing the better teams, you’ve got to put in some wrinkles.”

CLEARFIELD (53): Patrick 6 0-0 13, Collins 5 3-3 14, Ev. Maines 7 2-2 18, Glunt 0 0-0 0, Kaskan 4 0-0 8, Rumfola 0 0-0 0, Broad 0 0-0 0, Eas. Maines 0 0-0 0. Totals – 22 5-5 53.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (55): Albarano 11 3-4 27, Zimmerman 1 2-2 4, Metzger 7 0-0 16, Stultz 2 0-0 5, Delerme 1 1-2 3, Frazier 0 0-0 0, Wolfe 0 0-0 0, Padamonsky 0 0-0 0. Totals -22 6-8 55.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Clearfield 12 10 11 20 — 53

Hollidaysburg 18 15 11 11 — 55

3-point goals: Clearfield 4 (Ev. Maines 2, Patrick, Collins); Hollidaysburg 5 (Albarano 2, Metzger 2, Stultz).

Records: Clearfield (14-2 overall, 12-2 in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference); Hollidaysburg (12-3, 10-3).

Officials: Mike Andrews, Doug McNulty, Tom Fountaine.

JV: Hollidaysburg, 59-35. High scorers–Dominic Natoli and Nolan Livengood, CLF, 8 apiece; Wyatt Frazier and Colton Sullivan, H, 14 apiece.