COLUMBUS - A vise-like defense that gripped them tightly in the 1st half and hurried the few good shots they did get ended the basketball wars for the Midvale Blue Devils (9-1) (25-4) here yesterday afternoon. In fact that led to the Smithfield Sentinels (30-0) limiting the Blue Devils to just 7 points in the entire 1st half. The Devils were eliminated by the highly favored Smithfield quintet by a score of 39-29. The Sentinels have yet to lose a single game. Midvale came back in the 2nd half and outscored the Smithfield lads, but they had dropped too far back to overcome the long 21-7 lead their opponents piled up in the 1st two periods.
In those opening periods Head Coach M.R. Helwick's team was unable to feed the ball into the pivot for #13 forward Frank Morrison or to shake #9 forward Jerry Young open at the sides. With those 2 boys cut down, the Blue Devils offense had nothing left to travel on. Meanwhile, Smithfield clicked regularly and piled up an 11-4 advantage in the 1st quarter and push it to the 21-7 score at intermissioni.
Led by #5 center Adrian Ford and #7 guard Captain Bob Baldwin, the Blue Devils began their 2nd half rush early in the 3rd period and paced a touch-and-go fight from the start of the period to the end and in it outscored Smithfield 12-10. Ford gathered a field goal and a pair of free throws during the quarter, while Baldwin contributed a fielder and a free toss. Morrison found the range and dropped in a field goal and 2 free throws to aid the onslaught.
Captain Baldwin narrowly escaped serious injury when he turned in one of the tournament's most spectacular plays during the period. Caught short by Smithfield's center Ed Zink who was dribbling in for a sucker shot on a fast break, Baldwin rushed him headlong, jumped, knocked the ball out of bounds with a beautiful clean sweep, but himself flew off the floor to the side of the court and had to hurdle 2 rows of benches to avert a collision. The referees called a foul on him for the flop and won themselves a long lusty round of boos.
Midvale scored 10 more points in the final quarter, while holding the Sentinels to 8. Ford twirled in 2 action shots and Morrison, Young and Baldwin one each.
Smithfield tallied on 3 fielders and a pair of free tosses. Zink won individual scoring honors with 18 points collected from 5 field goals and 8 free throws. His teammate Phillips, a forward, scored 12 markers, while Ford led the way for Midvale with 10 points scored on 4 field goals and 2 free throws. Morrison and Young each tallied 6 points. The Referees Tom Vernia of Chillicothe and Hugh McPhee of Struthers, called 16 fouls on Midvale and 12 on Smithfield. The Blue Devils lost #4 guard Warrent Leggett near the end of the 3rd period and Young early in the 4th stanza. Smithfield lost only guard Murphy, who left the game after Leggett in the 3rd period.
SMITHFIELD SENTINELS - 39
Burris F 0-2-2
Phillips F 5-2-12
Ed Zink C 5-8-18
Foster G-C 2-1-5
Murphy G 1-0-2
Campbell F 0-0-0
Cibulka G 0-0-0
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 29
Frank Morrison F 2-2-6
Jerry Young F 1-4-6
Adrian Ford C 4-2-10
Bob Baldwin G 2-1-5
Warren Leggett G 0-2-2
Lew Daltau G 0-0-0
Vic Paris F 0-0-0
Saturday, March 16, 1940
Clyde Shaffer, Sports Writer
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: The New Philadelphia Quakers went on to become Class A STATE Champions.
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