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Brendan Clark often blocks out the crowd noise. Doing so has allowed Clark to help keep Loyalsock surging all season.
Monday at Montoursville, however, Clark could not drown out that noise. Boisterous spectators jammed every part of Montoursville’s cavernous gym, creating an outstanding high school basketball environment.
And Clark was the one who so often had Loyalsock’s fans delightfully cheering loud. He brought the noise all night.
Clark scored a career-high 27 points, drained five 3-pointers and scored every way imaginable, helping Loyalsock defeat its rival, 71-48. Jaylen Andrews scored 20 points and all five starters made significant contributions. Still, on Montoursville’s Senior Night, it was Clark who produced his own senior moment.
“It was electric. Normally I say I can’t hear the fans and usually I can’t, but tonight there was no escaping it,” Clark said. “Coming out here and winning tonight was great and doing what we did as a team felt amazing.”
Clark always has been a team-first player and no matter how often questions were asked about his performance, the captain always brought it back to the team. Loyalsock (17-3) has gone through a lot this season, suffering multiple injuries and losing all-state forward Saraj Ali, a week ago. But the Lancers keep moving forward and won their 13th straight game Monday.
Clark set the tone early, hitting two quick 3-pointers. Jaiden Ross and Gage Patterson followed with 3-pointers and just 2 1/2 minutes in, Loyalsock led 14-4. Montoursville (11-9) battled hard the entire game but could never pull closer than nine again as Loyalsock drilled 10 3-pointers. Often when the Warriors did rally, Clark was there to stifle the momentum, including in the third quarter when he scored 10 points and made all five of his shots from the field and foul line.
“The teammates that were making the passes to the open shooters, allowing them to knock the shots down was great. It was great team basketball,” Clark said. “This is a brotherhood. I’ve been on a lot of teams and this is the closest team Iáve ever been on and it’s awesome.”
That was a good way to describe Clark throughout the third quarter. He scored his 10 points that quarter in the first five minutes, hitting a 3-pointer and two running, foul-line jumpers. Even when Clark was fouled he could not miss, converting a baseline jumper as his arm was hit before completing the 3-point play at the line and giving Loyalsock a 53-34 advantage.
Clark is the only player remaining who saw anything more than late-game minutes last season when Loyalsock captured the Class AAA state championship. He was a valuable reserve as a junior and has become quite an all-around weapon as a senior.
“Clark has stepped up. Without him tonight it might have been a different outcome,” Loyalsock coach Ron Insinger said. “He is very supportive of the younger kids. He has just become a good role model.”
“I knew I was no longer going to be able to rely on other people making plays for me. I knew I was going to have to make plays for other people,” Clark said. “To our coach CI (Insinger) and our assistant Jeff (Everett) I have nothing but thanks and gratitude for them. They worked with me over the summer and they made me a better player and my teammates make me such a better player, too.”
Those teammates also shined throughout the game. Andrews has emerged as one of the area’s premier sophomores and helped Loyalsock close out the game in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of his 10 points while adding five rebounds and three steals. Patterson played a huge role in the third quarter, making three steals and he added nine points, six rebounds and six assists. Ross was a big part of Loyalsock starting strong and hit the boards hard, grabbing nine rebounds. Nate Bauman consistently found the open man and dealt five assists.
All the excuses are there for Loyalsock. No starters remain from last year’s state champion and the injuries have mounted. Instead of sulking, Loyalsock just keeps working, improving and winning. The work continues, but beating two quality teams in three nights, including Hughesville last Saturday, has revealed this team’s toughness as well as its talent.
“They continue to amaze me. Whenever they made a short run we seemed to have an answer. Thatás the sign of a pretty good team,” Insinger said. “The thing is although we have less depth now the boys are just resilient. Some of them are still in the neophyte stages as far as knowing what to do at the right time and so on, but gosh, they are competitors. They play with high energy and that’s all a can ask for.”
Montoursville coach Mark Mussina has seen that from his team all season as well. Loyalsock stormed out Monday and led 19-6 after a quarter but Montoursville never buckled. The Warriors pulled within nine midway through the second quarter and were down just 11 early in the third when Clark started taking the game over. Loyalsock’s lead grew as high as 21 in that third quarter, but Noah Shaffer scored seven straight points, bridging the final two quarters and pulled Montoursville within 55-41 before Loyalsock countered strong and created separation.
Shaffer has been one of the areaás most improved players this season and has given Montoursville (11-9) another threat as the playoffs approach. He scored 12 second-half points, relentlessly attacking the basket. He also drained two 3-pointers and added two assists.
“He just keeps coming. Heás got confidence in his shot and he keeps getting after it,” Mussina said. “He was our best player day in and day out in the preseason. He just has that motor and he brings it every game.”
John Schneider has as well and the Montoursville forward produced another double-double, finishing with 10 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. Sophomores Bryce Eberhart and Quinn Ranck had strong second quarters, helping cut a 15-point deficit to nine and combining for nine points. Brayden Brown added five rebounds off the bench.
Montoursville suffered a cruel blow in the first quarter when Nolan Kutney, the lone starter back from last year’s team, suffered what looked like a serious injury. Kutney started strong and had four points before landing awkwardly after completing a difficult drive for a basket. Despite that and Loyalsock’s hot shooting, Montoursville never moped and gave Loyalsock a tough contest.
This was about what Loyalsock did right; not what Montoursville did wrong.
“We won the second quarter, we hung around for the two middle quarters but we said before if they have a good shooting night against us we can’t win because they’re too much better than us in transition,” Mussina said. “They were both tonight, but we kept getting after it it and kept coming, and I’m proud of that.”
LOYALSOCK (71)
Brendan Clark 10 1-1 27, Jaiden Ross 4 0-0 9, Jaylen Andrews 8 1-1 20, Nate Bauman 2 2-2 6, Gage Patterson 4 0-0 9, Tyler Gee 0 0-0 0, Alec Kulp 0 0-0 0, Braydon Miller 0 0-0 0, Will Burdett 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 4-4 71.
MONTOURSVILLE (48)
John Schneider 4 1-2 10, Bryce Eberhart 2 0-1 4, Isaiah Fenner 3 0-0 6, Nolan Kutney 2 0-0 4, Jared Matlack 1 1-2 3, Noah Shaffer 5 0-0 12, Quinn Ranck 2 0-0 5, Tanner Menne 1 0-0 2, Brayden Brown 1 0-2 2, Ian Labatch 0 0-0 0, DJ Alexander 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 2-7 48.
Loyalsock 19 15 21 16-71
Montoursville 6 17 16 9-48
3-pointers: Loyalsock 10 (Clark 5, Andrews 3, Ross, Patterson); Montoursville 4 (Shaffer 2, Schneider, Ranck).
Records: Loyalsock 17-3. Montoursville 11-9.