When youngsters shooting by themselves on playgrounds or in empty gyms imagine playing in big games as a varsity basketball player, they have in mind the kind of performance Tyrone senior Nick Cushion turned in last night against Clearfield.
Playing in his final home game, Cushion had the best offensive night of his career. He hit six three-pointers – breaking the single game school record of five that he already shared with Craig Fleming – scored a career-high 20 points, and was the difference in the fourth quarter when the Golden Eagles pulled away from the Bisons for a 64-56 victory.
With the score tied at 41 heading into the final frame, Cushion scored 11 points over the last eight minutes to help the Eagles put the wraps on their seventh victory of the season.
“He broke the record and that\’s great,” said Golden Eagle coach Mike Harris. “That\’s excellent. He played really well tonight and really shot the ball well.”
Cushion\’s third three-pointer of the fourth quarter came at the 4:29 mark and it began a 13-3 run that had the Eagles ahead 60-49 with just under a minute to play, but Tyrone\’s continued struggles at the foul line, and some untimely fouls, nearly let the Bisons slip back into the game late. The Eagles\’ went 8 for 14 in the final 1:34, and after Clearfield junior Tanner Kelly converted on a four-point play with 45 seconds left, the Bisons trailed just 60-53.
Clearfield fouled sophomore Josh Clark, who missed both, and 14 seconds and one Leonard Wilson foul shot later Bison guard Leonard Crotzer made a three to cut it to 61-56 with 28 seconds remaining.
Clark and Kevin Hershberger then went 3-of-4 from the line in the last 24 seconds to put the game away.
“Defensively, we really picked it up (in the fourth quarter),” Harris said. “We went to a man and really controlled the boards. We got just about every rebound that came off the glass.”
The Eagles continued to display a balanced scoring attack that has become the norm over the last five games. Joining Cushion in double figures were Hershberger (12) and Wilson (15), and nine Golden Eagles contributed points.
That was enough to overcome an outstanding individual performance by Kelly, who scored a game-high 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Joe Davis added 16 for Clearfield, which went 13 points over its per game average.
But the problem for the Bisons came on the defensive end: Clearfield was surrendering 46 points per game – the second best per game average in District 9. But Tyrone handled Clearfield\’s half-court zone defense and full-court zone press with patience, resulting in more open looks than the Eagles have seen in weeks.
“We\’ve been working on (full-court pressure) everyday since the beginning of practice,” said Harris. “They\’re all getting better and the good thing is everybody\’s coming back next year and they all have one year under their belt and they\’ve seen just about every press. I expect really good things next year.”
Tyrone led 16-14 after the first quarter after Cushion and Herhsberger combined to lead an 8-2 run to end the period, but the Eagles could manage only six points in the second quarter as the Bisons built a 24-22 halftime lead.
Junior post Tad Chamberlain, who did not play in the first half with an ankle injury, came off the bench to score spark Tyrone with a couple of baskets in the third quarter, and Adam Corle\’s trey at 2:08 gave the Eagles a 41-36 lead. But Kelly scored the last five points of the period to tie the game heading into the fourth.
HOOP NOTES: Tyrone improved to 7-15 with one game remaining tonight against Williamsburg….Clearfield fell to 8-15….Cushion now has 55 3-point goals this season – also a TAHS record. The old mark was also held by Fleming, who made 44 in 1989-90. Cushion surpassed that number Monday against Lewistown….joining Cushion in Senior Night ceremonies were Adam Hoover and Shane Gherrity. Of his seniors, Harris said, “They\’ve faced a lot of adversity, but those three guys came to work everyday. The thing I\’m most proud of is a lot of time, when you have a losing record, and you have seniors, they pack it in. That never happened with these guys. They worked their butts off and had great attitudes and it shows the kind of people they are.”
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone\’s jayvees defeated Clearfield 57-50, behind a balanced scoring attack that saw three Eagles hit double figures.
Adam Corle led the way with 14 points, while Jason Haney added 11 and Byron Kost scored 10.
Lucas Feathers scored 11 to lead Clearfield.
VARSITY
Tyrone 64 Clearfield 56
CLEARFIELD – Collins 1 0-1 2; Kelly 9 3-5 25; Crotzer 1 0-0 3; Fannin 3 0-0 8; Dearing 1 0-0 2; Davis 6 4-5 16; Meckey 0 0-0 0; Dearing 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 7-11 56.
TYRONE – Clark 0 1-4 1; Crabtree 1 1-2 3; Cushion 6 2-2 20; Gherrity 0 2-2 2; Hoover 0 2-4 2; Hershberger 5 2-4 12; Wilson 3 9-13 15; Chamberlain 3 0-0 6; Corle 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 19 19-31 64.
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 14 10 17 15 – 56
Tyrone 16 8 19 23 – 64
Three point goals: Clearfield 7 (Kelly 4, Fannin 2, Crotzer 1)
Tyrone 7 (Cushion 6, Corle 1),
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone 57 Clearfield 50
CLEARFIELD – Valenza 3 0-0 9; Woolridge 4 0-0 9; Morgan 2 0-1 4; Ryan 0 0-0 0; Kerr 3 0-0 7; Feathers 5 0-1 11; Moore 4 0-0 8. TOTALS: 21 0-2 50
TYRONE – Corle 5 2-7 14; Haney 3 5-6 11; Wilson 3 1-1 7; Kost 4 0-0 10; Morrow 4 1-3 9; Brockett 0 0-0 0; Shaffer 2 1-3 5. TOTALS: 21 10-20 57
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 7 16 16 11 – 50
Tyrone 13 20 9 15 – 57
Three point goals: Clearfield 6 (Valenza 3, Woolridge 1, Kerr 1, Feathers 1).
Tyrone 4 (Corle 2, Kost 2).
