DOVER - A spilled bottle of pop prior to last night's stunning upsets the week before in the 30th Annual Tuscarawas County Class B Basketball Tournament at Memorial Hall continues to be symbolic. Ray Stull took his 7-year-old son, David, along for the 1st time to a cage tilt and was just as goggle-eyed as the frenzied, hilarious and heart-broken fans who witnessed a history-making night, but that bottle of pop that was upset proved an omen of the following:
And all that adds up to pure design, because the tournament this year has spelled doom to the League stalwarts. As a result, the annals Saturday night will pit neighbor against neighbor. Only a mere spill or 2 separates today's proud villages of Stone Creek and Baltic. The Dundee Bulldogs, who ran into a fistful of tough luck when their starting center, Sophomore Weldon Flynn, was carried to the dressing room with an ankle sprain just after the 3rd stanza started and will have to collide with the Midvale Blue Devils on Thursday night at 7;30 in a Consolation Division contest. The Gnadenhutten Indians and Tuscarawas Broncos, who folded completely under the Golden Panther onslaught, will clash in the other Consolation tilt at 8:45.
Thus, for the 1st time in 8 long years neither the Blue Devils nor the Strasburg Tigers will be battling in the final round. And that, cage fans, is history.
With Freshman forward Bill Jones collecting the hearts of fans as rapidly as he did points (31), Head Coach Ken Newlon's brilliant Stone Creek Golden Panthers (2-0) (10-11) (20-36) finally arrived...and just at the right moment. Winding up the season in 9th place in the League with a 3-7 record, the Golden Panthers showed on numerous occasions that they had plenty of scoring potential if they could get all the gears meshing at the same time.
They did last night, surging into an 18-12 lead at the close of the 1st quarter and then coming right back to claw, cuff and clobber the Broncos right off the floor. The struggle was figured to be a rugged battle on the basis of the Tuscarawas Broncos (2-1) (10-12) (39-38) who dropped the Panthers 59-50 late in the season, but there was no contest here last night.
And with Stone Creek leading 24-14 midway in the 2nd frame, son David began thinking about his grandma, a Tuscarawas fan, by the way. "Tusky will catch up sometime, won't they, Dad?", he inquired a little fearfully. Later, after the Leopards roared to a 48-25 margin going into the final frame, he merely said: "Gosh."
In addition to Jones' sensational performance, the Broncos' downfall was written when the Colts were forced to shoot over the Stone Creek zone. They just couldn't find the rim, and that was that! Bolstering the Golden Panther attack were Senior guard Willis Ridenour who meshed 12 and Sophomore forward Jim Lorenz who collected 10. Sophomore center Harry Thompson, Head Coach Chuck Lorenz' jump-shot artist, paced the losers with 14 markers, while his teammate Junior forward Don Tharp was hog tide by the Panther defense.
STONE CREEK GOLDEN PANTHERS - 64
Jim Lorenz (329) F 2-6-10
David Gross C 1-3-5
Bill Jones (318) F 13-5-31
Jerry Gasser C 1-3-5
Jerry Billman C 0-1-1
Willis Ridenour G 5-2-12
Ken Heid G 0-0-0
Miller G 1-2-4
TUSCARAWAS BRONCOS - 36
Don Tharp (270) F 1-3-5
Bill Wilson F 0-0-0
Dave Myers F 0-0-0
Dick Ronald F 1-2-4
Bob Briggs F 0-1-1
Harry Thompson (279) C 6-2-14
Larry Myers G 3-0-6
Jim Henry G 0-0-0
John Adams G 1-0-2
Ralph Vesco G 0-0-0
Rich Hill G 2-0-4
Thursday, February 21, 1952
Ray Stull, Sportswriter
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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