Winners of 24 straight games and the Tuscarawas County Class B Basketball Championship are the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates of 11th-Year Head Coach Earl Sundheimer, pictured above. On the photo are: BACK: Doyle Shumaker - Junior Miller - Captain Gene Mast - Bill Doll and Arios Gerber. MIDDLE: Warren Craigo - Bill Neff - Ernie Raber - Bob Lanzer and Blair Miller. FRONT: Manager Jim Showers and Coach Sundheimer.
Pictured above are Captain Gene Mast of the Pirates (left) and Bob Minnich of the Broncos (right) with County School Supt. W.E. Laws who awarded the trophies. The Daily Reporter award (on the left) to the Champions and the Sanitary Milk Award to the runner-up. Midvale carried away the Runner-up Trophy, individual medals went to the members of the Sugarcreek-Shanesville and Tuscarawas teams.. The winners, runners-up and Consolation Division winner advance to the Sectional Tournament.
DOVER - Sugarcreek-Shanesville High School basketballing Pirates extended their winning streak to an even 24 games and bundled up their 1st County Class B Basketball Tournament Championship in 6 years at Memorial Hall Saturday night when they nosed out the Tuscarawas Broncos 37-36.
The Championship game, which brought to a close the county's 22nd Annual Tournament...a record breaking competition in every respect...followed a ConsolationDivision final in which the Midvale Blue Devils won out over the Strasburg Tigers 32-29 to qualify for Sectional Tournament play along with the Pirates and Broncos. The Sectional opens on Thursday night at Memorial Hall.
One of the greatest finals program ever produced by the tournament in its long history, the 2 games were played before a sell-out, turn-away crowd estimated at more than 2,000 with actual paid admissions totaling 1,662, breaking the record of Thursday night when 1,513 paid to see the semi-finals. Total figures for the 2 weeks of play reached 6,846 admissions, another new record, breaking the previous mark of 5,846 set in 1941, according to W.E. Laws, Tournament Manager.
As the attendance records were broken, so was the record for hotly contested ball games...and they are legion in the tournament...but the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates (3-0) (38-24) (24-0) and the Tuscarawas Broncos (3-1) (21-26) battle which ran right down to the final buzzer before the Championship Crown settled on the heads of the Pirates. At a gruelling, punishing pace the 2 quintets fought with grimness and inspiration through the entire game with the Pirates barely beating their foes under the wire to chalkup their 4th title and entered the Sectional play for the 7th time.
In conquering Tusky, the Pirates turned back the tournament's most aggressive combination and one that under direction of 1st-Year Head Coach Jim Rogers gave the tournament some of its best basketball and with so much team work that it became almost impossible to single out a star. The one-point triumph was the narrowest squeak the Bucs have had all season and much of the credit for it goes to Captain Gene Mast, a forward, who stood out as the competition's greatest individual star. He practically single-handedly clinched the banner for his team Saturday in 2 plays right at the end of the ball game.
The first saw him bob up out of nowhere to grab the ball out of a Tusky player's hands and toss it neatly through the hoop for 2 points. And the other saw him hurtle through the air almost half way across the gym floor to intercept a Broncos fast-break pass and break up a play for an almost sure basket...one that would have changed the outcome of the game. His greatest competition came from Junior Dick Bonvechio, Tuscarawas' ace forward, who like Mast, changed the aspect of the game in the final seconds.
After a tight race through the 2nd and 3rd quarters, which had ended with Sugarcreek-Shanesville leading 19-18 and 28-26 the Pirates pulled up to a 30-26 lead, but the Broncos came back and gained a 31-30 edge on baskets by Bonvechio and guard Bob Minnich and a free throw by Junior forward Chuck Lorenz. Guard Junior Miller tossed a free throw for the Pirates to tie the score and them guard Ernie Raber potted a field goal on a follow-up to give the Pirates a lead they never lost.
They hiked the lead to 35-32 with 2 minutes remaining and 37-32 with one minute to go. There were only 48 seconds left on the clock when Bonvechio broke loose twice in rapid fire succession and scored a pair of field goals that boosted the Tuscarawas total to 36, just one point behind the Pirates. He was fouled on the 2nd basket and in the tiniest speck of time in the entire tournament missed the free throw that would have tied the score.
Those baskets were scored and the free throw missed all in 21 seconds and with 27 remaining, the Pirates' Junior Miller was fouled by Tusky's Senior guard John Donahue and took the ball out of bounds, the new Champions stalling away the remaining time.
Mast collected scoring honors for the evening with 19 points, tallied on 9 buckets and a free throw, while Bonvechio came in as runner-up with 14 points (7 field goals). Tusky's Minnich scored double figures by throwing in 11 points as well.
SUGARCREEK-SHANESVILLE PIRATES - 37
Warren Craigo F 2-1-5
Gene Mast F 9-1-19
Bob Lanzer C 1-2-4
Junior Miller G 0-2-2
Ernie Raber G 3-1-7
TUSCARAWAS BRONCOS - 36
Dick Bonvechio F 7-0-14
Dick Shumaker F 2-1-5
Bob Lorenz C 1-1-3
Bob Minnich G 5-1-11
John Donahue G 0-1-1
John Vesco G 1-0-2
Phil Lahm F 0-0-0
Monday, February 28, 1944
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: Reports come back that Charmis Davis, former Tuscarawas High School cage coach for 15 years and is now in the Army, is coaching a service team in the Southwest that has won 40 straight games...
NOTE: Jakc Rennicker, Midvale forward tallied 69 points ijn the county Class B cage tournament which closed Saturday night at Memorial Hall to set the pace for all the scorers; although, Baltic's Max Regula hit the highest average. Rennicker played in 5 games and averaged 13.8 per game, while Regula, who played in only 4, hit 63 points for an average of 15.8. The figures disregarded Bill Martin of Gnadenhutten who played in only 2 games where he chalked up 34 points. Don Niedenthal of Strasburg, who also played in 5 games, finished with 64 points behind Rennicker. Following is the list showing the number of games, field goals, free throws and total:
Jack Rennicker - Midvale Blue Devils 5-32-5-69
Don Neidenthal - Strasburg Tigers 5-29-6-64
Max Regula - Baltic Eagles 4-30-3-63
Dick Bonvechio - Tuscarawas Broncos 5-25-4-54
Gene Hawkins - Midvale Blue Devils 5-20-9-49
Blaine Gilmore - Port Washington Purple Riders 3-19-6-44
Jack Reiger - Strasburg Tigers 5-20-4-44
Gene Mast - Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates 3-19-1-39
Dallas Yackey - Strasburg Tigers 5-18-2-38
Glen Stille - Strasburg Tigers 5-16-3-35
Bill Martin - Gnadenhutten Indians 2-14-6-34
Ernie Raber - Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates 3-15-2-32
Warren Craigo - Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates 3-13-5-32
R. Kugler - Stone Creek Golden Panthers 3-12-4-28
Bob Minnich - Tuscarawas Broncos 4-9-7-25
THE DAILY REPORTER ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1ST TEAM
FORWARD - Dick Bonvechio (Tuscarawas Broncos)
FORWARD - Don Neidenthal (Strasburg Tigers)
CENTER - Bob Lanzer (Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates)
GUARD - Gene Mast (Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates)
GUARD - Max Regula (Baltic Eagles)
2ND TEAM
FORWARD - Jack Rennicker (Midvale Blue Devils)
FORWARD - Bill Martin (Gnadenhutten Indians)
CENTER - Bob Minnich (Tuscarawas Broncos)
GUARD - R. Kugler (Stone Creek Golden Panthers)
GUARD - Ernie Raber (Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates)
3RD TEAM
FORWARD - Warren Craigo (Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates)
FORWARD - Glen Stille (Strasburg Tigers)
CENTER - Gene Hawkins (Midvale Blue Devils)
GUARD - Blaine Gilmore (Port Washington Purple Riders)
GUARD - Junior Miller (Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates)
NOTE: The 9 teams taking part in the Class B Sectional Tournament opening at Memorial Hall on Thursday night, will draw for opponents at a meeting at Dover High School tonight at 7:30PM. Head Coach Dutch Furbay of Dover High School, Manager of the Tournament, will be in charge.
The 9 teams are:
Big Prairie Bulldogs of Holmes County
Dennison Railroaders of Tuscarawas County
Dover St. Joseph Ramblers of Tuscarawas County
Magnolia Panthers of Carroll County
Midvale Blue Devils of Tuscarawas County
Millersburg Knights of Holmes County
Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates of Tuscarawas County
Tuscarawas Broncos of Tuscarawas County
Walnut Creek Cardinals of Holmes County
The teams surviving the tournament will be qualified for the District Tournament finals at Zanesville from where the one winner will advance to the Regional Tournament at Logan.
SECTIONAL TOURNAMENT 3-2-44
Dennison vs Millersburg 7PM
Tusky vs Walnut Creek 8PM
Sugarcreek-Shanesville vs Big Prairie 9PM
SECTIONAL TOURNAMET 3-3-44
Magnolia Panthers vs Midvale Blue Devils 8PM
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