CLARION, Pa. – The Bison dynasty rolls on.
Also See: Brookville wins 3A 5-8-9 Subregional • Punxsy Girls Rally for 4A title • Clarion Boys/Girls Punch Tickets; DCC Wins Third-Place Game
Cole Miller scored 25 points as Clearfield pulled away from St. Marys for the Class 4A boys’ championship on Thursday, their D9 record ninth consecutive championship.
“All throughout the year, you face ups and downs,” Miller, the program’s all-time leading scorer said. “Coach (Nate) Glunt does a great job of getting our team through those downs and bringing us up and having great moments like this. It’s just awesome.”
See Miller’s full interview:
Both teams started slow. Miller scored the first five points of the game, and St. Marys (12-13) didn’t get on the board until a Charlie Coudriet putback with 1:35 to go in the first quarter made it 5-2.
Tanner Fox’s bucket with 7:45 to go in the second quarter gave St. Marys a 10-5 lead, but the Bison (17-6) closed the half on an 11-2 run, capped by a Braison Patrick 3 and a jumper from Miller just before the horn.
“It was a total team effort,” said Clearfield coach Nate Glunt. “These group of seniors, when they won a tournament and you could tell then that they were going to be special. They’ve come the whole way through our program and are just very fortunate to coach that group.”
The lead dipped below double-digits just once in the second half on Quin Gavazzi’s 3-point play at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter.
“Once the first couple of shots started to go in, everyone started to relax,” Miller said.
Patrick responded with another triple, followed by two more from Miller to close the quarter to essentially put the game out of reach. Andon Greslick also hit a shot from distance in the quarter for the Bison.
“When he’s (Miller) playing well, our whole team plays well,” Glunt said. “They feed off his confidence. It’s special.”
A Luke Pallo 3-point play in the early stages of the fourth quarter made it 41-26 and the Bison were able to finish it out from there.
With the win, Clearfield advances to play the third-place finisher from the WPIAL on March 10, which could be Laurel Highland, which is led by 4-star football recruit and West Virginia signee Rodney Gallagher.
“I love it,” Glunt said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Greslick was also in double figures for Clearfield with 11 points, while Patrick had six.
Anthony Nedzinski led St. Marys with nine points.
“We’ll just keep playing basketball and see where it gets us,” Miller said.
CLEARFIELD 47, ST. MARYS 30
Score by Quarters
St. Marys 8 4 14 4 – 30
Clearfield 5 16 17 9 – 47
ST. MARYS – 30
Tanner Fox 1 0-0 2, Anthony Nedzinski 2 4-5 9, Tyler Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Quin Gavazzi 2 1-1-6, Charlie Coudriet 3 0-1 6, Ben Paul 2 0-0 5, Lucas Bauer 0 0-0 0, Totals 11 5-7 30
CLEARFIELD – 47
Cole Miller 8 5-6 25, Andon Greslick 4 0-0 11, Morgan Billotte 1 0-0 2, Braison Patrick 2 0-0 6, Anthony Lopez 0 0-0 0, Luke Pallo 1 1-1 3, Bryalen Way 0 0-0 0, Kam Kushner 0 0-0 0, Kai Lynch 0 0-0 0, Ev Maines 0 0-0 0, Parker Collins 0 0-0 0, 16 6-8 47
Three-pointers: St. Marys 3 (Nedzinski, Gavazzi, Paul); Clearfield 9 (Miller 4, Greslick 3, Patrick 2).
