Senior Guard Fred Aul (Fritz) hit the nets for 10 points in leading his team to a 33-30 ousting of the Wheelersburg Pirates. Aul has a 7.9 point per game average and a total of 70 markers during the tournaments.
ATHENS - The Strasburg Tigers (9-0) (28-0) were ready to bid for State Tournament Honors tonight after squeezing their 28th straight victory out of the Wheelersburg Pirates (32-3) of Scioto County by a score of 33-30 in an old fashioned zone defense battle here at the Ohio University Gymnasium last night before a crowd of 2,000 fans. The Tigers, which needs only one more win to reach the State Class B finals at Springfield next weekend, meeting the Worthington Cardinals tonight in the Regional Championship game.
Worthington, which has a record of 28-4, qualified to oppose Strasburg last night by opening the Regional Tournament with a 34-32 victory over the highly touted and high scoring Glenford team, staving off a last period Glenford rally. Preliminary game tonight will be a Consolation Division contest between last night's losers, Wheelersburg and Glenford. The Tigers are highly favored to take the Championship from the Cardinals as a result of last night's win.
Strasburg wasn't on by a long ways as they battled through 3 gruelling quarters with Wheelersburg. But, they staged a final period rally twin, after the lead changed hands 9 times. Strictly a battle between zone defenses, the 2 teams made each other pay for every error, misplays standing out like a sore thumb. Neither club took too many shots at the bucket and seldom was able to regain the rebounds off the backboard when they did shoot. Guards brought the ball up slowly and in some instances they paused to say a few words to each other on the floor, while the game was in progress.
Wheelersburg, which was scouted as a fast breaking team, did try fast breaks in the 1st period, but saw that Head Coach Emmet Riley was holding either Senior forward John Garver or Sophomore forward Tom Haswell back to stop it, so the Pirates also went into a tight zone and from then on it was a question of who was going to capitalize on the other's mistakes. Starting out in good form, the Tigers piled up a 12-6 lead before Wheelersburg was able to shove its zone defense back close enough to the basket to keep Senior guard Fred Aul, Tigerman, away and to keep Sophomore Junior Yackey covered.
Garver opened the scoring for Strasburg with a free throw shot and Yackey soon followed with a charity toss, but guard Ray Conley and forward Gene Bennet slipped in field goals and Wheelersburg led 4-2. Senior guard Joe Diebel scored an action shot and a free throw toss and Aul hit his 1st fielder before Bennet scored a basket to give Strasburg a 7-6 lead.
The 2nd quarter saw the Tigers begin with Yackey getting a free throw and Garver a field goal to give them a 15-6 lead, but they lost it, failing to score any more during the period, while the Cardinals started looping in jump shots from around the free throw circle. Conley hit a basket and a free throw and forward Lowell Staker opened with 2 field goals and a free throw, while guard Dave Craycraft added the other 2 points and Wheelersburg was ahead 16-15 at halftime.
With the old fashioned zone defense battle beginning in earnest, the 2 teams went through the 3rd stanza with each scoring 6 points, all on field goals and the lead changing hands every time a basket was scored. Aul put Strasburg in the lead, Conley took it away, Yackey got it back. Staker took it away, Haswell grabbed it again with a long shot and Staker gave it back to Wheelersburg 22-21 as the final period started.
Neither team released its zone, but Strasburg swept into the lead, this time to stay, when Haswell dropped in another long shot. Yackey and Garver scored field goals and 5 minutes of the game was left when Conley nailed a sucker shot to cut the lead to 27-24. Garver scored again and guard Wilbur Mauk sank a bucket to give the Tigers a 29-26 lead with 4 minutes remaining. Forward Craycraft got in another free throw, but Aul popped one in and Mauk came back with a fielder and Strasburg was ahead 31-29 with 2 minutes to go.
Conley stole the ball and got 2 free throws with only one minute and 7 seconds remaining, but he missed the 1st shot and made the 2nd, cutting Strasburg's lead to 31-30 with about one minute remaining. Garver iced it with an action shot and theTigers stalled away the final seconds. Referees LeRoy Boyd and C.W. Jones called only 5 personal fouls on Strasburg and 13 on Wheelersburg during the contest. The Tigers being off on their free throw shooting and made only 5 of 14, while Wheelersburg sank 4 of eight.
.Aul had his field goal eye during most of the game and scored high for Strasburg with 10 points on 5 field goals, while Garver had 9 and Yackey with 7 was next. Haswell and Deibel had 4 and 3, respectively. Conley led Wheelersburg with 10 points sharing game honors with Aul of Strasburg.
STRASBURG TIGERS 33
John Garver F 4-1-9
Tom Haswell F 2-0-4
Junior Yackey C 2-3-7
Fred Aul G 5-0-10
Joe Deibel G 1-1-3
Ed Gasser F 0-0-0
Marvin Jeffers G 0-0-0
WHEELERSBURG PIRATES - 30
Gene Bennet F 2-0-4
Lowell Staker F 4-1-9
Cramer C 0-0-0
Ray Conley G 4-2-10
Wilbur Mauk G 2-0-4
Dave Craycraft F 1-1-3
Saturday, March 16, 1946
John Stratton, Editorial Staff
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
REGIONAL SATURDAY 3-16-46
Glenford vs Wheelersburg (CC)
Strasburg vs Worthington (TC)
No comments:
Post a Comment