Junior Guard Eldon (Zeke) Mullett of the Strasburg Tigers scored 24 points in leading the Tigers to an inportant 70-63 win over the Tuscarawas County Basketball Champion Midvale Blue Devils at Memorial Hall last night. Zeke has 96 points in 7 games. He is now averaging 13,7 points per contest. He racked up 49 points in just his last 2 games.
The Tuscarawas County Consolation Champion Strasburg Tigers pose happily after their upset win over the Midvale Blue Devils by a 7-point margin.
DOVER - The Strasburg Tigers and Killbuck Bucks, winners of the Tuscarawas and Holmes County Class B crowns advanced into the Eastern District Tournament to be held in Memorial Hall this week with victories Saturday night. The Tigers, seeded in the upper bracket, had to roar from behind to overcome a 12-point deficit in ousting the Midvale Blue Devils 70-63 in overtime. The Killbuck Bucks (21-2) took command of its game with the Dennison St. Mary Blue Waves (9-9) midway in the 2nd frame and went on to win 66-56.
The Midvale Blue Devils (5-1) (20-7) and Strasburg Tigers (6-1) (23-4), 2 perennial rivals for top honors in Class B cage circles, staged a terrific battle for the packed house as they traded offensive punches right from the start. The Blue Devils had a 4-point lead with 3 minutes to play and started a stall, but Junior guard Eldon (Zeke) Mullett, who played another bang-up tilt for the Tigers, tied up Junior forward Dave Martin and the spell was broken.
Senior guard Don Graham gained control of the ball after the jump and was fouled. The Devils play-maker connected on one of 2 attempts to stretch the lead to 60-55 with 1:55 left to play, but Senior forward Jim Weinmann cut it down to 60-57 with 2 good free throw tosses. Graham had another chance at the free throw line and made 1 of 2 shots with Zeke Mullett sinking 2 free tosses seconds later to narrow the gap to 61-59 and Senior forward Max Bonifant, whose 4th canto drive was the big spark in the Bengal comeback, locked the game up at 61-61 with a minute and 15 seconds to go.
The Diablos took the ball out of bounds and then went into a stall until the fading seconds, but the strategy failed to pan out as Martin missed a jump shot from near the free throw line just as the buzzer was warming up to herald the close of the tilt. For the 2nd consecutive Saturday night, Fifth-Year Head Coach Don Martin's Tigers gained their 2nd wind in overtime and whipped 9 points through the nets. Weinmann and Senior center Dick Tolloti exchanged action shots from out front and then Bonifant and Mullett took over for Strasburg and sewed up the contest.
The Tigers roared out in front early in the ball game 5-0, but Midvale came back to take a 6-5 lead and from there on out it was a rip snorter with the lead changing hands 5 times before the Blue Devils grabbed the upper hand and pulled out 15-15 at the quarter's end. In the 2nd period, the score was tied up 4 times with Weinmann giving the edge to the Bengals just before the intermission buzzer with a long push shot. The Devils threatened to make a walk-away of the tussle in the 3rd stanza; however, with Senior forward Bill Anderson taking over as chief stoker of the fire.
Anderson blazed forward to score 10 of his 12 points in that 3rd period with Tolloti and Martin adding to the spontaneous fire as the Diablos whipped into a 53-41 advantage toward the close of the stanza. Sophomore center Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel tipped in a rebound just before the buzzer sounded to reduce the spread to 10 points 53-43.
The Bengals then began to clip the margin down in the last quarter and broke into a run that swept them to victory. Mullett was the high point man in the attack with 24 points, while Bonifant added 17, Weinmann 10, Goose Von Kaenel 11 and Sophomore guard Jerry Haswell finished up with 8 more markers. Martin and Graham each potted 16 points, while Anderson netted 12 and Tolloti 13 for the Diablos who dropped out after 5 straight tournament victories.
STRASBURG TIGERS - 70
Jim Weinmann F 5-0-10
Max Bonifant F 7-3-17
Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel C 3-5-11
Jerry Haswell G 3-2-8
Eldon (Zeke) Mullett G 9-6-24
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 63
Dave Martin F 8-0-16
Bill Anderson F 5-2-12
Dick Tolloti C 4-5-13
Ron Harmon G 3-0-6
Ron Weaver G 0-0-0
Wil Di Genova G 0-0-0
Don Graham G 6-4-16
Monday, March 2, 1953
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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