KARNS CITY - Tyler Callihan is known for his scoring.

But he plays a pretty mean game of defense, too.

Callihan, who is averaging a robust 23.5 points per game for the Karns City boys basketball team, made perhaps the biggest plays of the contest on the defense Friday.

The Karns City senior slapped passes intended for Clarion center Peter Baschnagel away twice for steals in the final 15 seconds to preserve a 51-46 victory for the Gremlins.

"They weren't necessarily bad passes," said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi. "Tyler just knocked them loose."

Midway through the game, Andreassi and assistant coach Steve Weibel decided to put Callihan on Baschnagel, not only to control the center but also to have Nathan Knox guard Clarion's other big man, Ryan Hritz.

The plan worked.

"I give Coach Weibel all the credit for that move," Andreassi said. "Tyler can leap and he's just a good enough athlete to do it."

Callihan's late heroics, which also included the go-ahead points on a short jumper after Baschnagel blocked his first attempt, helped the Gremlins to gut out an important Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference win.

The 6-foot-1 guard did score 30 points, but he had stretches of uncharacteristic inaccuracy.

Part of that had to do with Baschnagel, a tall, lanky center with arms that would make Stretch Armstrong envious.

Baschnagel forced every Karns City player to alter his shot in the paint. The 6-foot-6 junior finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine blocked shots.

"We have one of the best shot blockers around," said Clarion coach Rob Leone. "He's a force on defense and offense."

After a scintillating first quarter in which the Gremlins took a 20-18 lead, both offenses struggled in the second quarter.

Clarion managed just 10 points in the frame while Karns City could muster only four points on 2-of-9 shooting.

"We had one bad quarter," Andreassi said. "Our third quarter wasn't exactly the greatest either, but we overcame it."

Karns City saved its best for the fourth quarter, as it has done all season.

The Gremlins did squander a four-point lead late in the quarter, with Clarion moving ahead on a 3-pointer by Eric Moore with 40 seconds left, but Karns City didn't give up another point.

In fact, the Bobcats didn't get off another shot until Adam Donaldson launched a halfcourt, desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"Team defense is why we won the game in the fourth quarter," Andreassi said. "In that situation there, people will say it was because of one man, Tyler, but he's just one guy."

Leone was well aware of Callihan and set out to do everything to disrupt him.

It almost worked.

"You have to really go at him," Leone said. "We put our best defender on him, but he's also a great passer."

Knox scored 15 points and combined with Callihan for all but six of the Gremlins' points.

Even before the opening tipoff, Karns City faced some adversity.

Starting forward Josh Behrens sprained an ankle during the pre-game warm-up and tried to play, but he sat out the entire second half.

Callihan also had some cramping problems in his left calf - a recurring theme for the Karns City star this season.

The victory on Karns City's home floor put the Gremlins in first place in the league.

"This is pretty huge for us," Andreassi said, "because you gotta win a big game like this at home. We've won three big games that have gone down to the wire. To be a championship team, you must overcome things late in the game, and we've done that."

CLARION 46

Brandon Hilver 2-4 2-2 6, Tyler Burnworth 0-1 0-0 0, Neil Cyphert 0-1 0-0 0, Sean Wolfe 1-3 0-0 3, Eric Moore 3-11 2-2 7, Andrew Banner 2-4 0-0 5, Adam Donaldson 1-5 0-0 2, Ryan Hritz 4-9 1-2 9, Peter Baschnagel 5-12 2-5 12. Totals: 18-50 7-11 46

KARNS CITY 51

David Black 0-8 0-0 0, Steve Black 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Callihan 9-24 8-10 30, Nathan Knox 6-13 3-6 15, Mark Ferguson 1-4 0-2 2, Ryan Early 2-4 0-1 4, Josh Behrens 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Fiscus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-54 11-19 51

3-point goals:

Wolfe, Moore, Banner, Callihan 4

JV:

Karns City 43-38

Saturday:

Montour @ Karns City

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