DOVER - The stage is set for the crucial semi-final battles in the Tuscarawas County Class B Basketball's 33rd annual tournament with 3 of the circuit's 4 top teams lining up in Wednesday night's headliners. The Tuscarawas Broncos defending Champions, who upset the Strasburg Tigers in the finals last year, face the favored Bengals once again in the upper bracket battle, while the Midvale Blue Devils will take on the Gnadenhutten Indians in the lower bracket.
A preliminary to the regular tournament contests will find the Stone Creek Golden Panthers meeting the Mineral City Tigers in a Consolation Division tussle. Saturday night's action saw the Blue Devils ease past the Tigers of Mineral City 74-60, while the Eagles ousted the Cardinals from the tournament 69-39 and the Golden Panthers bounced the Purple Riders 55-42.
The Midvale Blue Devils (2-0) (16-6) (62-29) trotted past the Mineral City Tigers (0-2) (4-17) (12-51) into the semi-finals round. Head Coach Pete Hilliard's quintet appeared to have too much for the scrappy Tigers from the very outset. The Blue Devils exploded for an 8-0 lead in the early moments of the contest and except for a brief time at the outset of the 2nd frame when the Cats rallied and had the game under control all the way. Four of the Diablo starters were in double figures in the scoring column with 2 of the Orange and Black holding up their teams' offensive attack.
Senior Bob Zontini and Junior Larry Swinderman were the top dogs in the Blue and Gold attack as they counted off 19 and 18 points, respectively, with the steady Senior Ron Weaver contributing 17 , while Sophomore Dick Leggett added 10. Pitchin' Junior Paul Lindsey, Mineral City's high scoring forward, was the top scorer in the game with 23 markers. Lindsey had an off night; however, as he missed 13 free throw chances in 22 attempts.
The Tigers ace was held in check throughout the 1st quarter and failed to score from the field until midway in the 2nd period. Junior Larry Yost was 2nd top scorer for the Spotted Cats with 13 points. Midvale took control of the game early with Zontini zipping in to the lead the attack, while the entire Blue Devil lineup contributed to a 23-point 1st quarter. Mineral City managed to hang on with Yost and Junior Terry Kirker leading the way and the Tigers began making a break in the 2nd stanza. Yost flipped in 2 fast field goals to counteract 2 by Swinderman of the Diablos and Kirker and Lindsey chimed in with 4 more points and it appeared that the game would settle down into a close battle.
Zontini, Leggett and Weaver had different ideas; however, and the Midvale trio pulled the Blue Devils out to a 42-29 advantage before Swinderman capped the 1st half action to give the League runner-ups a 45-29 edge. The Diablos put the game on ice in the 3rd stanza by moving out to a 24-points advantage, 66-42 at the far turn. The Midvale Reserves began to take over in the final canto and Head Coach Bob Penrod's Cats closed the gap to 14 points at the final buzzer.
In the lone contest during the regular season, Midvale walloped Mineral City 91-74.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 74
Dick Leggett 4-2-10
Lonnie Wolf 0-2-2
Bob Zontini 5-9-19
Ron Weaver 6-5-17
John Columbo 0-0-0
Gary Haney 1-3-5
Larry Swinderman 8-2-18
John Beans 2-0-4
Dave De Mattio 0-0-0
Chuck Seldenwright 0-0-0
Jerry Benedum 0-0-0
Loren Beans 0-0-0
MINERAL CITY TIGERS - 60
Paul Lindsey 7-4-23
Larry Yost 7-5-19
Joel Gordon 0-0-0
Carl Ickes 1-0-2
Sam Argento 2-0-4
Terry Kirker 2-1-5
Elmer Tope 1-5-7
Frank Abel 0-0-0
Bud Barnett 0-0-0
MIDVALE 23-45-66-74
MINERAL CITY 14-29-42-60
Saturday, February 21, 1955
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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