CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) – What a difference 48 hours makes.
(Photos by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. Check out more of Jared’s work here.
On Wednesday, Clarion-Limestone couldn’t get much to go right and Karns City couldn’t get much to go wrong in the Gremlins regular-season finale win over the visiting Lions.
But Friday night, the tables were turned and the result was C-L’s fifth KSAC title in seven years thanks to a 51-32 win over Karns City in the KSAC Boys’ Championship Game at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
“It means a lot,” sophomore guard Deion Deas, who was named the exploreClarion.com/D9Sports.com KSAC Title Game MVP as well as the Hager Paving Player of the Game, said. “Last year (when C-L lost to Keystone in the title game) it hurt so much. I thought about it for a couple of days straight. Now, winning it, I’m going to go home happy, real happy.”
C-L’s Deion Deas with EYT Media Sports Editor Chris Rossetti after receiving his MVP Plaque from Rossetti. Photo by Jared Bakaysa
Deas played a key role in the Lions taking home the title scoring a game-high 20 points while dishing out a game-best four assists and coming away with three rebounds and two steals. He was at his best in a game-changing third quarter scoring eight of the Lions’ 16 points as C-L outscored Karns City 16-4 in the quarter to break open a 17-13 halftime lead.
“Once I started hitting one or two, it became a rhythm for me,” Deas said. “I started feeling it more and more.”
Listen to Deas’ full thoughts on the win.
After scoring 66 points in Wednesday’s 66-54 win, Karns City struggled to find any offensive rhythm Friday and had fewer points, 17, after three quarters Friday than it did after a quarter, 19, Wednesday. The Gremlins shot just 26.1 percent (12 of 46) and were 4 of 20 from 3-point range while turning the ball over 22 times leading to 21 C-L points.
“We had trouble getting to the basket all night long,” Karns City head coach Chris Bellis said. “A little bit was because of a size disadvantage and a little bit was us just not being aggressive enough.”
C-L was able to spread the Gremlins out using a 3-2 zone.
“We did change up some things defensively tonight,” C-L head coach Joe Ferguson said. “Some things we saw in the game Wednesday night that we were pretty weak on. The guys bought into it. The kids brought in to the defense we were going to play tonight.”
Hayden Callen added 13 points and three steals for C-L, while Christian Smith scored nine points.
Austin Fahlor paced Karns City with 13 points and five rebounds. Jacob Friel added six points, eight rebounds and four steals and Nathan Waltman had six points and seven rebounds.
CHRIS’ THOUGHTS
1. Coming in you had to figure it was going to be tough for Karns City to win.
They often say it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. It might be tougher to beat a team twice in three days.
The team that loses the first game knows it has to get to work to change something if it wants the outcome to change, while the team that won the first contest has to walk a fine line on whether or not to change some things up or continue the formula that caused success in the first game.
“It helped playing them Wednesday, to be quite honest,” Ferguson said.
Deas echoed that.
“We worked hard,” Deas said. “Yesterday we watched film. We got our heads in the game. We were ready for today.”
2. You live by the three, you die by the three.
One of the reasons Karns City won Wednesday night was the Gremlins were hot from beyond the arc, especially in the first half when they hit six 3-pointers to help them build a 10-point halftime lead. That was the polar opposite Friday night.
Karns City was 3 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half and it was a big reason they shot 5 of 20 for the half.
“Early on, we were settling for the three,” Bellis said. “They had us spread out in that zone. We were getting some decent looks. But as the half progressed, we started to spread out a little bit.”
Playing in big games is nothing new for C-L, and only Hayden Callen hadn’t played a big game at Tippin Gym. The Lions looked a lot more relaxed than Karns City, which won the D9 Class 3A title at Tippin last year but had very few of this year’s players see action in that game.
“This is kind of like a home court to us,” Ferguson said. “The kids felt real confident coming in. A lot of high school basketball comes down to the confidence level of the players.”
4. C-L found a comfort level for the first time in weeks and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
To put it mildly, C-L was struggling entering the game Friday having lost 3 of 4 and having gone just 7-5 since mid-January after a very promising start to the season.
But some of that beginning of the year Lions showed up Friday night.
“We just didn’t have chemistry after the mid-part of the season,” Ferguson said. “We had a long lay off, and we just had trouble getting back into rhythm. I just give the kids all the credit tonight for coming out and pulling together as a team. They played the best defensive game they played all season.”
5. Let’s not look past how unbelievable this run in conference play has been for C-L.
Sometimes in sports, we get tired of the same team winning or used to our team always being in contention. Let’s take a second to reflect on what C-L has done.
A small public high school has now played in five straight KSAC Championship Games winning four of them and has been in six of the past seven title games winning five championships.
That is remarkable and a testament to the program Ferguson and assistant coaches Scott Fox and Billy Kelley, who was actually a member of the first team to win the KSAC Title Game at C-L in 2012. But it is also a testament to the players that have come through the program. It takes a commitment and a dedication to get better and to stay good. And C-L has been fortunate to have kids coming through the program that have that commitment and dedication.
Inevitably, this great run will end at some point. It always does at a small school. Talent will dry up for a while, kids will lose interest, coaches will change. But that’s something to worry about for another day. Right now, it’s a time that everyone from Strattanville to Limestone to Corsica should be celebrating their high school basketball team.
THE OUTCOME
Clarion-Limestone improved to 17-6 on the season with Karns City falling to 16-7. The Lions took two of the three meetings from the Gremlins this year.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Both teams head to the District 9 playoffs.
C-L is in the Class 2A bracket. It appears the Lions are the No. 4 seed and will rematch with Clarion for a third time in the opening round at some point this coming week.
Karns City should be the top seed in the Class 3A bracket. The defending champion Gremlins should get a bye into the title game where they will play the winner of the Brookville vs. Kane semifinal game.
CLARION-LIMESTONE 51, KARNS CITY 32
Score by Quarters
Karns City 6 7 4 15 — 32
C-L 10 7 16 18 — 51
KARNS CITY — 32
Austin Fahlor 5-11 0-0 13; Jacob Friel 3-8 0-0 6; Nathan Waltman 2-5 2-3 6; Ethan McElroy 1-3 0-0 3; Chase Beighley 0-8 2-2 2; Logan Pistorius 1-5 0-0 2; Anthony Kamenski 0-0 0-0 0; Nolan Riley 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 4-5 32.
CLARION-LIMESTONE — 51
Deion Deas 8-15 1-1 20; Hayden Callen 6-11 0-0 13; Christian Smith 3-9 2-4 9; Ian Callen 2-5 0-0 4; Nick Cyphert 1-1 0-0 2; Julian Laugand 1-2 0-0 2; Ian Hawthorn 0-0 1-2 1; Curven Goheen 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Kerle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-43 4-7 51.
Three-pointers: Karns City 4-20 (Austin Fahlor 3-5; Ethan McElroy 1-3; Chase Beighley 0-7; Logan Pistorius 0-3; Nolan Riley 0-2), Clarion-Limestone 5-11 (Deion Deas 3-5; Christian Smith 1-3; Hayden Callen 1-2; Julian Laugand 0-1).
Rebounds: Karns City 18 offensive, 19 defensive, 37 total (Jacob Friel 8, Nathan Waltman 7). Clarion-Limestone 4 offensive, 17 defensive, 21 totals (Ian Callen 7). Assists–Karns City 5 (Jacob Friel 2; Nathan Waltman 2). Clarion-Limestone 12 (Deion Deas
4).
