Senior Guard Ralph Vesco (11) of the Tuscarawas Broncos fires away at the basket in the 1st quarter of last night's Regional Tournament contest with the Columbiana Clippers, while Junior Guard Rich Davis (5), Junior Forward Terry Deems (10) and Senior Center Larry (Doofy) Myers, all of the Broncos, close around the basket including Center Homer Gilchrist and Forward Ray Patchen of the Clippers.
YOUNGSTOWN - Despite the fact that they controlled the pace of the game and were never outmanned under the boards, the Tuscarawas Broncos dropped out of the State cage tournament last night when they fell before the Columbiana Clippers 65-53 at Youngstown before 3,793 fans. Head Coach Chuck Lorenz's charges threaded their way through the expected press put up by the Clippers throughout the game. The Blue and White controlled the pace of the contest with its deliberate style of play and the rebound work was a deadlock.
Tusky faltered in the 3rd stanza; however, and turnovers in the fore court gave Columbiana more chances to score. The northerners took advantage of this to whip into a lead which they never relinquished. In a far different type of ball game, the Copley Indians upset the Vienna Flyers 57-56 in the 1st game with a substitute guard Ron Savola calmly cashing in on 2 free throws to score the clinching points with 58 seconds left to play.
Columbiana and Copley, now undefeated in 24 starts, will tangle in the Youngstown Fieldhouse at 8:15 tonight for the Regional Championship and the right to advance to the State finals at Cleveland next week.
Displaying the brand of ball that carried them through the tournament brackets to Youngstown, the Tuscarawas Broncos (7-1) (22-3) came from behind a 5-point deficit in the early stages of the game and moved to a 1st period 9-8 margin. Tusky went into its slow, deliberate style of play at the very outset of the fracas, but lost chances to score and the deadly accuracy that pulled Columbiana far ahead in the 3rd stanza was given a preview as the Clippers shot out in front.
The Broncos, led by Senior center Harry Thompson, galloped back into contention towards the end of the period with a flash of zip. Thompson meshed 2 of his favorite jump shots from far out over the Columbiana zone defense and he added 2 free throw tosses to take Tuscarawas out ahead. Staying in their tight zone defense, Tusky held the Clippers to one field goal in the 1st part of the 2nd frame with the advantage see-sawing back and forth.
Columbiana deadlocked the count at 13-13 and 16-16 and then shot ahead with guard Hub Keylor swishing 2 push shots from side court and guard Ray Burkhart driving in for a jump shot that found its mark. Still the Broncos, tagged as slight favorites, came back as they closed the gap to 24-22 at halftime. Five straight points at the outset of the 3rd period gave Tuscarawas their last lead of the game as they drove to a 27-24 edge in showing their comeback strength that gave them victories over the Flushing Orioles and Strasburg Tigers in the District jousts.
Burhart and forward John Case, the Clippers' nifty "little man" began hitting from outside the Tusky zone and the Columbiana ball handling bored small openings in the tight wall of the Bronco defense as the Clippers sailed ahead. Case tallied 8 and Burkhart scored 6 as Columbiana grabbed a 9-point lead and then finished the quarter with a 44-36 advantage after Junior forward Terry Deems and Senior center Larry (Doofy) Myers had chipped the deficit to 6 points.
The Northerners maintained its edge all the way through the final canto as the margin shuttled from 7 to 11 points until Coach Lorenz began shooting in his substitutes with little more than a minute remaining. Columbiana followed suit and the Clipper subs increased the edge as the game faded out. Keylor and big center Homer Gilchrist , whose work was steady if not spectacular all the way through the game, each tallied 14 to lead the Northerners to its 20th win. Burkhart had 12 and Case collected 11.
The Blue and White's offense punch was divided between Deems' 13, Vesco's 12 and Thompson's 11 points. Tusky ended their most successful basketball campaign in the school's history with a record of 22 victories and but 3 defeats.
COLUMBIANA CLIPPERS - 65
Ray Patchan F 2-2-6
John Case F 3-5-11
Baraes F 1-1-3
Grefner F 1-0-2
R. Gilchrist F 1-0-2
Homer Gilchrist C 6-2-14
Warrick G 0-1-1
Hub Keylor G 4-6-14
Ray Burkhart G 6-0-12
TUSCARAWAS BRONCOS - 53
Terry Deems F 6-1-13
Larry Myers F 0-2-2
Dave Myers F 1-0-2
Ed Hill F 0-0-0
Harry Thompson C 4-3-11
Don Decker G 0-0-0
Ralph Vesco G 4-4-12
Jim Henry G 2-0-4
Rich Davis G 1-3-5
Jerry Briggs G 2-0-4
Saturday, March 20, 1954
Art Cicconetti, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: The Columbiana Clippers promptly lost to the Copley Indians 54-44 the next night.
NOTE: The second spectator death of Ohio's High School Basketball Tournament season was recorded last night at the Class B Regional Tournament here. Ralph V. Wilcor, 52, Akron, collapsed and died as Copley defeated the Vienna Mustangs 57-56 in a game between unbeaten quintets. Last Saturday night at Dayton, Middletown School Supt. Earle R. Seidner, 47, died of a heart attack as Davien Roosevelt defeated Middletown's defending Champions 64-62.
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