District 9 Boys’ Playoff Recaps from Feb. 17, 2016

CLASS A

CAMERON COUNTY 49, OSWAYO VALLEY 48

SHINGLEHOUSE, Pa. – Tenth-seeded Cameron County beat seventh-seeded Oswayo Valley for the second time in eight days, 49-48, in the opening round of the District 9 Class A playoffs at Oswayo Valley.

The Red Raiders (14-9) trailed 36-33 going to the fourth quarter but got 14 combined fourth-quarter points from Trae Smith and Derek Rieder to pull out the victory.

Rieder scored eight of his 12 points in the final eight minutes, while Smith added six of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Brandon Brabham led Oswayo Valley with a game-high 20 points and did his best in the fourth quarter to keep the Green Wave (16-7) in the game hitting three 3-pointers while scoring 10 points in the quarter. Brabham finished his career two points shy of 1,000.

Garrett Babcock scored nine points, all in the second quarter, for Oswayo Valley, which outscored Cameron 19-10 in the second frame to take a 28-25 halftime lead.

Cameron County will face second-seeded Ridgway in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Friday at St. Marys High School.

CLARION 51, JOHNSONBURG 37

CLARION, Pa. – A 17-0 fourth-quarter run lifted shorthanded and sixth-seeded Clarion to a 51-37 win over 11th-seeded and upset-minded Johnsonburg in the opening round of the District 9 Class A playoffs Wednesday night at Clarion High School.

The Bobcats (17-6) playing without leading scorer and rebounder Jonathan Smith because of a school policy, found itself in a dogfight with the Rams (9-15) leading by just one, 30-29, following a layup by Ryan Kilhoffer a minute into the fourth quarter.

But led by six points from Bo Miller, who was in foul trouble most of the game, Clarion had five players score during the game deciding run. Also scoring during the run were Ceventh Lynch-Skunda (4 points,) Ryan Anthony (3 points on a run-capping 3-pointer), Reed Anthony (2 points) and Cam Craig (2 points).

By the time Ryan Anthony’s 3-pointer hit home with 1:48 to go, Clarion led by 18, 47-29.

Craig, who missed the previous five games with an ankle injury, and Lynch-Skunda led Clarion with 14 points each. Craig added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Ty Burford was a monster on the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds helping Clarion outrebound Johnsonburg 40-22.

Kevin Benson paced Johnsonburg with 10 points and six rebounds and had an impressive slam dunk from a standstill to close out the third quarter, while Kilhoffer added seven points and seven rebounds.

Johnsonburg shot just 14 of 46 (30.4 percent) from the field, while Clarion hit on 15 of 36 shots (41.7 percent) including 9 of 18 in the second half. The Bobcats were also 16 of 25 from the line compared to 8 of 16 for the Rams.

Clarion will take on third-seeded Coudersport in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Kane High School

DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 47, OTTO-ELDRED 28

DUBOIS, Pa. -DuBois Central Catholic, the eighth seed, outscored ninth-seeded Otto-Eldred 32-13 in the second half to get a 47-28 win in DuBois in the opening round of the District 9 Class A playoffs Wednesday night.

The teams were tied at 15 at halftime, but DCC (16-8) started to take control in the third quarter outscoring the Terrors (14-9) 15-7 thanks to eight points from Christian LaParne, who had a game-high 24 points, including 17 in the second half.

Joey Varischetti added 15 points for DCC, which also got 11 rebounds from Thomas Grecco.

Dylan Closed led Otto-Eldred with 10 points, while Jordan Sherwood had eight.

DCC will face top-seeded Elk County Catholic for the third time this season in the quarterfinals. That game will be at St. Marys High School, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. It will be the Crusaders 5th game (out of 25) at St. Marys High School this year.

CLASS AAA

ST. MARYS 68, PUNXSUTAWNEY 66

ST. MARYS, Pa. – Brady Bauer exploded for 33 points, as second-seeded St. Marys held off visiting and third-seeded Punxsutawney, 68-66, Wednesday night to reach the District 9 Class AAA title game for the first time since winning it all in 2011.

Bauer scored 21 of his points after halftime helping the Dutch (15-8) hold off a second-half charge by Punxsutawney (14-9), which trailed 35-27 at halftime.

Punxsutawney, which got 27 points from Brandon Matthews, outscored St. Marys 27-18 in the third quarter to take a 54-53 lead after three. Matthews scored 12 of the 27 in the quarter while hitting three 3-pointers.

Jeff Wehler chipped in 11 points for St. Marys with Matt Marconi and Parker Housler each adding 10.

Devin Kelly contributed 11 points for Punxsy.  

St. Marys will face top-seeded and defending champion Clearfield in the title game. It will be the first times the teams have met in the title game since 2000, when St. Marys won, 50-34. The game will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

CLEARFIELD 59, BRADFORD 34

CLEARFIELD, Pa. – Cody Spaid nearly recorded a triple-double, as top-seeded and defending champion Clearfield cruised into the District 9 Class AAA title game with a 59-34 win over visiting Bradford, the fourth seed, in the semifinals Wednesday night at Clearfield.

Spaid had 13 points, 10 rebounds, nine blocks and two assists.

Tommy Hazel led Clearfield with 15 points, while Will Myers added 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.  

Andy Bacha led Bradford with 10 points. Deondre Terwilliger added nine points.

Clearfield will face St. Marys in the D9 title game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.