Huge first quarter lifts Muncy past Bucktail 81-49
By Bees O’Brien
FARWELL, PA- Bucktail knew that their Tuesday Mid Penn Conference West Division clash with Muncy wouldn’t be easy. The Indians entered the contest with 13 wins, the number 3 spot in District IV’s 2A playoffs race and a 90-37 victory over the Bucks back in January.
Bucktail never gave up and showed huge improvements from their first meeting at Muncy and turned the previous 53-point loss into a tough and gritty 81-49 defeat this time around.
The first quarter of play became nothing short of a nightmare for head coach Mike Charcalla and his Bucks. The bigger and faster Indians relied on their size and extremely accurate shooting to build a 33-12 lead.
Noah Confer would strike first for the Indians, but the Bucks would counter his quick layup on the next possession. Brody Pentz would dish out one of his game-high 6 assists to Johnny Green to knot the score at 2-2.
Gary Whipp’s three point play with 6:35 remaining in the first would shrink Muncy’s lead to 8-5. The Indians would go on a quick 9-2 run that was capped off with the defending Mid Penn Conference player of the year Ross Eyer converting a layup to extend their lead to 17-7. Bucktail’s Will Steele would stop the bleeding with a three-point basket with 5:00 remaining the quarter to make the score 17-10 in favor of visiting Muncy.
Pentz would once again find Green to shrink the Muncy lead to 21-12, but a 12-0 run by the Indians over the course of the last 3 minutes of the quarter would make the score 33-12, in favor of the visitors.
The Bucks continued to press on in the second quarter. Bucktail was only outscored 18-14 in the second frame, but still trailed 51-26 at the break.
Johnny Green kept his squad’s spirits up in the third quarter by scoring 9 of his team’s 13 points. Muncy would score 19 in the third quarter to build their lead to 70-39.
Depth began to be a problem for the Bucks in the second half. Illnesses to some players would result in Bucktail only being able to go six deep.
An 11-10 Muncy fourth quarter would set the final and draw the game to a close with Muncy picking up the 81-49 win.
Bucktail’s Johnny Green led all scorers with a career-high 18 points. He also added 8 rebounds. Brody Pentz collected his 9th double-double of the season by scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with his 6 assists. Gary Whipp scored 9 points, had 5 assists and 4 steals. Will Steele scored 8 points for the Bucks.
With the win Muncy improved to 14-6 on the season and is gearing up for what promises to be a wild District IV 2A playoff bracket. St. John Neumann (14-4), Northwest (17-3), East Juniata (14-7) and South Williamsport (13-8) join the Indians in the title hunt.
Bucktail fell to 5-10 and despite the loss is still very much in the playoff hunt in 1A. On Thursday they’ll get a chance to improve their chances of a home court quarterfinal playoff game when they host Galeton (8-11) in the annual “Pink Out” game in Farwell. The Tigers currently sit in the number 5 spot, one spot ahead of Bucktail. That game, along with the Lady Bucks contest against Galeton will be livestreamed on The Record Online Thursday at 6 p.m. Action starts with the girls game, which will be followed by the boys contest.
“We were just outsized tonight.” Coach Charcalla said of the contest with Muncy. “Galeton will be a game we will matchup better with. The crowd should into it with it being the Pink Out Game. Hopefully that gives the kids some energy.”
Muncy 33 18 19 11 = 81
Bucktail 12 14 13 10 = 49
BUCKTAIL- Green 6 4-6 18, Pentz 6 1-2 13, Whipp 4 1-2 9, Steele 3 0-0 8, Mason 0 1-2 1, Charcalla 0 0-0 0, TOTALS- 19 7-12 49
3FG- 4 (Green 2, Steele 2) Rebounds-26 (Pentz 11) Steals-9 (Whipp 4) Assists-11 (Pentz 6) Blocks-2 (Mason, Steele) Turnovers- 13
