DOVER - Three Tuscarawas County teams will be shooting basketballs at the Dover Memorial Hall hoops tonight and when the smoke clears at least one of the 6 county schools in the Class B Sectional Tournament will be on the wayside. The Sectional joust, which will send 2 survivors to the District Tournament next week at Brilliant, opens at 7:30 with the Port Washington Purple Riders, the "Cinderella" team of the county dribble derby, taking on the Holmes County Champion Killbuck Bucks. In the nightcap, at about 8:45, the County Tournament Champion Midvale Blue Devils will vie with the Dover St. Joseph Ramblers.
The doors to the gym will open at 6:30. All tickets will be sold at the door. They are priced at 50 cents for students and 75 cents for adults. Both games tonight may be battles all the way because a look at comparative scores indicates such and because tournament gold will be at stake. The Purple Riders, which took home its 1st County Tournament Trophy when it beat the Gnadenhutten Indians for Consolation Division honors last Saturday night, will have an edge in size on the Bucks from Holmes County, but the Blue Devils and Ramblers are about even when it comes to height. All 4 clubs are blessed with excellent shot-makers and high scoring affairs may be in the offing.
Both St. Joseph and the Diablos have trounced 2 Carroll County teams, the Malvern Green Hornets and Augusta Blue Devils, while both Killbuck and Port lost to the County League Champions Strasburg Tiger, but topped the Baltic Eagles handily. Dover St. Joseph, which has the poorest record of the teams in action tonight, trounced Augusta 77-42, while Midvale rocked the same club 83-20. The Ramblers from Dover; however, were upset in their tussle at Malvern 74-52, but later gained revenge by a 64-39 count at Memorial Hall. The Blue Devils played the Green Hornets once and whipped them easily 80-44.
All-Countians Larry Swinderman and Dick Leggett are the shining lights for the Diablos, while George (Sonny) Zifer and big George Milylori are the scoring standouts for the Dover St. Joseph Ramblers. Swinderman has scored 503 points and Leggett 430 as the Midvale Blue Devils won 18 of 23. St. Joseph has played 18 contests with Zifer getting 318 in 18 and Milyiori tossing in 299 in 16. The other starters for Midvale and points scored include "Chuck" Seldenright at center 98, John Columbo at forward 227 and John Beans at guard 247. For additional rebound strength Head coach Pete Hilliard can call on Gary Haney, who has tallied 67 points. Seldenright goes 6-3 and Haney 6-0, but the others are under the 72-inch mark.
For the Ramblers, coach by Charley Lucas forward Don Pace has tallied 142 points and guard Joel Spiker 148 and Bob Barker 121. Their rebound power lies in the 6-2 Milyiori and the 5-11 Spiker, 5-11 Bill Rieger who has scored 41 points in 5 games after becoming eligible the 2nd semester is the 6th man, while Mike Seibold, 5-10, who has tallied 30 markers, is usded for added board strength. Head Coach Bray Toot of the Port Washington Purple Riders will likely go with his regular lineup of 6-1 Tom Jones and 6-1 Ed Bates at the forwards, 6-2 Nick Frank in the pivot and 5-9 Bob Welsch and 5-10 Denver Glazer at the guards. Bates has scored 468 points as the Purple Riders have won 15 of 22. Frank has accounted for 323, Jones 298, Welsch 200 and Glazer 196. 6-1 Bill McConnell who also scored 165 is the 6th man.
Killbuck Head coach Virgil Allison will start 5-10 Jack Niehart and 5-10 Larry Haun at forwards, 6-1 Ron (Butch) Arudt at center and 5-11 Lee Tidball and 5-10 Ken Spurgeon at the guards. Tidball is a Junior land Spurgeon a Sophomore, while the other 3 starters are Seniors. Arndt, an all-county choice, is averaging about 29 points per game. The Yellow and Black won 13 of 18 regular season outings and then beat Big Prairie-Lakeville and Berlin for the county tournament title. The Bucks gave Strasburg a battle before bowing 67-53, while Port fell to the Tigers 64-46. Killbuck whipped Baltic 81-62 and Port trounced the Eagles 103-73. The victor in the opener will play Malvern and the Ramblers-Blue Devils winner will meet the Tigers-Blue Waves winner. Tomorrow night at 7:30 the Berlin Panthers opposes the Dennison Railroaders, while the nightcap sends the Bengals against the Dennison St. Mary Blue Waves.
Wednesday, February 29, 1956
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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