CLEARFIELD, Pa. – McGuffey’s Colin Chapman back cut the basket as time wound down, and Clearfield’s defender was just a split-second late fouling Chapman as he put the Highlanders up two on their way to a 48-46 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class 4A boys’ playoffs Saturday at DuBois Middle School.
Chapman missed the free throw, but Clearfield wasn’t able to get a final shot off suffering a heartbreaking loss for the second straight year in the opening round of PIAA play.
The District 9 champion Bison (23-2) trailed by 14, 41-27, going to the fourth quarter but rallied to tie the game at 46 with 19 seconds left.
Will Myers, who ends his career as the all-time leading scorer in school history, was the force behind the comeback scoring 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
But in the end, the deficit after three quarters of play proved too much with McGuffey (19-6), the WPIAL fifth-place finisher, getting its first-ever PIAA playoff victory.
Trent Belleville paced the Highlanders with 24 points and 11 rebounds with Chapman adding 15 points.
Tommy Hazel had a team-high 18 points for Clearfield with Evan Brown adding 11.
Clearfield trailed 12-10 at the end of a quarter and 25-20 at halftime before being outscored 16-7 in the third quarter with Belleville scoring 10 of his points in the quarter.
Last year, the Bison led Mars going to the fourth quarter only to end up losing to the Planets, who went on to finish second in the state, by seven.
McGuffey faces WPIAL champion New Castle in the second round Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. The Hurricanes beat the Highlanders, 73-40, in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
MCGUFFEY 48, CLEARFIELD 46
Score by Quarters
McGuffey 12 13 16 7- 48
Clearfield 10 10 7 19 – 46
MCGUFFEY – 48
Andrew Allender 2 0-0 5, C.J. Cole 1 0-0 2, Trent Belleville 9 6-8 22, David Chapman 0 0-0 0, Sean Edlis 0 0-0 0, Chase Miller 1 0-2 2, Colin Chapman 6 2-4 15. Totals 19 8-14 48.
CLEARFIELD – 46
Evan Brown 5 1-3 11, Reese Wilson 0 0-0 0, Dave McKenzie 1 1-2 3, Tommy Hazel 6 3-6 18, Will Myers 5 3-4 14, Jon Gates 0 0-0 0, Ryan Chew 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-15 46.
Three-pointers: McGuffey 2 (Allender, Chapman). Clearfield 4 (Hazel 3, Myers).
