DOVER - The Baltic Eagles (6-1) (21-6) appeared to be revving up for a takeoff in the 1st quarter of Saturday night's barged into the fore-front in the early minutes to take a lead which they never relinquished. With every member of the starting lineup contributing to the attack the Eagles came up with a wide-open offensive surge that caught the Big Prairie-Lakeville Bulldogs' (21-6) defense flat-footed.
The Flyers moved to an 18-5 lead in the 1st four minutes of the opening quarter of the Sectional Tournament and stayed far out in front until the 3rd stanza when the Orange and Black did an about face and began cautiously trying to hoard their big advantage. The Bulldogs couldn't seem to get going in the 1st part of the game and the Pups rushed into a pressing defense after they saw Baltic surge far out in front.
The defense did not hamper the Eagles very much as they moved ahead 24-13 at the close of the initial period and soared far out ahead 39-21 midway in the 2nd frame. The press did take its toll of Big Prairie players; however, as the pace began to pile up the personal fouls. The Bulldogs raced back into contention in the 3rd quarter when the Flyers began to get cautious and the lead was soon cut down from its 47-33 half time margin to 8 points at 53-45.
The Pups' starting lineup began to move out of the game in the latter stages of the 3rd period as little Ron Rush, Jim Spurlock and John Conner all were banished with 5 personals within 30 seconds of each other and still a minute left to play in the 3rd quarter. The loss may have slowed Big Prairie up somewhat for a time as Baltic moved back out ahead 66-54, but the Bulldogs came bouncing back to close the deficit to 66-58 at the far turn.
Holmes County's Class B League Champions, who defeated the Eagles twice 66-65 and 68-63 in the regular season, continued to roar back into the picture as Dave Hudson and Harold Tate carried almost the entire offensive burden. The score was 76-73 in favor of the Flyers with 3 minutes and 45 seconds left and the margin of difference alternated between 3 and 5 points right up until with 2 minutes left in the game, Baltic returned to their slashing fast-moving offense and began to pull away with Junior Jim Uher and little Sophomore Glen Reidenbach at the controls.
Uher tossed in 3 field goals in the last 2 minutes, while Reidenbach connected for 2 to keep the Eagles in command despite the determined rally set up by the Holmes Countians. All of the 6 Flyer players who played the greater share of the game were in double figures with Senior Jim Wallace, whose slam-bang play netted 21 points, 20 of them in the 1st three periods, leading the attack. Reidenbach had 16, Junior George Regula cashed in on 9 of 13 free throw attempts and came up with 15 markers. Senior Errol Jacobs, whose rebounding was one of the contests' highlights, had 14, while Fritz Syler tallied 12 and Uher had 10.
Syler went out of the game with still 7 minutes left as he committed his 5th personal foul, while Uher, who sat out much of the contest after picking up 3 quick personals in the 1st period, came back to connect for seven of his markers in the last canto. Five Big Prairie players also hit for double figures with Tate and Spurlock leading with 16 points each.
The Baltic Eagles move on to the District Tournament.
BALTIC EAGLES - 88
Jim Wallace 9-3-21
Fritz Syler 5-2-12
Errol Jacobs 5-4-14
Jim Uher 4-2-10
Glen Reidenbach 7-2-16
George Regula 3-9-15
Ron Huprich 0-0-0
BIG PRAIRIE-LAKESIDE - 81
Will Young 5-3-13
Harold Tate 5-6-16
Dave Hukdson 4-3-11
Ron Rush 5-2-12
Jim Spurlock 5-6-16
Jack Conner 3-2-8
Ferris 0-0-0
Wells 1-3-5
BALTIC 24-47-66-88
BIG PRAIRIE 13-33-58-81
Monday, March 7, 1955
Art Cicconetti, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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