The 1956 Strasburg Tigers...Sectional Co-Champion Team. FRONT: Shanon Hague - Bob Glasgow - Connie Kres - Shirley Gasser - Margaret Stanbarger - Beulah Lewis - Clyde Yackey and Nick Haswell. BACK: Head Coach Ken Newlon - Lloyd Deibel - Terry Zingery - Jerry Froman - Willie Rieger - Roy Gray - Jim Kuecher - Charles Burris - Don Weber - Woodie Norris - Bill Hensel Assistant Coach Dale McDonald. (The Daily Reporter Photo)
BRILLIANT - A sizzling Yorkville Ductillites (21-3) scoring machine, with 6-5 Henry Josefczyk and flashy Ed Baran at the controls, went head on with a scrapping Strasburg Tigers (4-2) (21-2) outfit on the Brilliant High School Auditorium basketball court last night and when the final buzzer had sounded, the Riverfront crew had an 84-73 victory and a ticket to the Class B District Finals. Yorkville's jet-propelled fast-break and uncanny marksmanship threatened to break the contest wide open more than once, but the Ductillites, despite a shooting average that bordered on a phenomenal 70 percent, had a battle right down to the wire.
Head Coach Ken Newlon's Strasburg crew turned in a top-notch performance in defeat and the loss of sparkplug Junior guard Jerry Froman shortly after the 2nd half began was a turning point in the clash. The defeat marked the 1st time in 4 years that this Tiger team has not been in the District finals. For the Ducks, the triumph avenged a 118-71 setback at the hands of the Bengals last year and gave Head Coach Earl Davis' charges the right to meet the Holloway Railroaders for the District Class B toga at Brilliant on Friday night.
According to shot charts kept by the Cats, the Yorkville Ductillites' shooting average for the night was near the 70 percent mark, an average that will figure to win ball games in any League. The Strasburg Tigers themselves came through with a healthy 38 percent figure, despite a 1st-period "deepfreeze" that saw them able to connect only 5 times from the field. Strasburg got more shots at the basket and for the entire 1st half held control of the backboards. The Tigers went to the charity stripe the same number of times as Yorkville, but the Ductillites had on their scoring clothes last night and few shots went awry for them.
The Tintowners connected on 16 of 20 offerings at the free throw line with the Bengals only getting 7 of 20. In field goals, the Ducks had 34, while the Cats had 33. This statistical view shows that despite their red-hot shooting from the field, the victors amassed their big advantage with accuracy at the charity line. Senior forward Willie Rieger turned in a tremendous game under the boards for the Strasburg Tigers throughout the contest and, while teaming with Froman and Senior center Ron Gray in the first 2 quarters, kept Strasburg rolling along with the speedy Yorkville Ductillites.
Froman's 2nd-period surge, when he picked up 12 of the 14 markers, helped carry Strasburg right back into contention, but the Tiger forward also picked up 3 quick personal fouls to add to one he was tagged with in the 1st quarter and put him on dangerous ground. Forward Ralph Rungo, guard Don Di Napoli and Josefczyk rushed Yorkville off to an early lead in the opening minutes of the game and it appeared that the Tintowners had too much punch for the Bengals. With the Ductillites leading 12-2 in the early minutes of the game, the Cats battled back and managed to hold its own through the remainder of the period with the Ducks holding a 22-13 lead at intermission.
The fireworks began popping in the 2nd frame as Senior forward Jim (Dandy) Kuecher, scoreless in the opening quarter, Rieger and Froman began to connect for the Strasburg Tigers. The Yorkville Ductillites' firewagon attack appeared to have lost its steam in the 2nd period and Strasburg slowly pared the deficit until with one minute to go in the half, the Tigers were but one point behind.
Head Coach Earl Davis called 4 time outs in the 2nd frame to give his team a needed break and the Yorkville Ductillites went into a stall in the last minutes of the 1st half with a 37-36 lead. Froman fouled Di Napoli with 6 seconds left on the clock and the Yorkville guard dropped both shots to widen the gap to 39-36 at half time. The Tigers roared back in the 3rd stanza and took their only lead of the game 44-43 when Kuecher stole the ball and canned a bunny shot, but the Ductillites grabbed the lead seconds later when Froman was charged with his 5th personal after only 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter.
Di Napoli's 2 free throw shots put the Ducks ahead to stay and Rungo quickly added 2 fielders at the throttle of a fast-break attack and the Yorkville Ductillites appeared on their way again. Kuecher and Senior guard Lloyd Deibel sliced the margin to 50-48, but at this point guard Ed Baran began his shooting show and tossed in 5 field goals in 5 attempts as Yorkville pulled away 62-54 at the far turn, despite Senior Bill Hensel's sudden surge.
Gray and Kuecher cut the deficit to 4 points as the 4th canto got under way, but once again Baran took over for the Ductillites to carry the Ducks, 12 points ahead at one time, with Josefczyk chiming in to bulge the advantage to 15 markers before Sub center "Chuck" Burris netted 2 of his 3 action shots of the evening to cut down the final edge. Josefczyk tallied 33 and Baran connected for 26, 20 of which came in the final 2 periods, as the Yorkville Ductillites scoring leaders connected on better than 60 percent of their shots.
Rieger totaled 19 to take scoring honors for the Bengals, with Kuecher collecting 18 after his slow start.
YORKVILLE DUCTILLITES - 84
Nick Gerolimus 1-0-2
Ralplh Rungo 6-2-12
Henry Josefezyk 12-9-33
Don Di Napoli 2-5-9
Ed Baran 13-0-26
STRASBURG TIGERS - 73
Jim (Dandy) Kuecher 9-0-18
Willie Rieger 9-1-19
Ron Gray 1-1-3
Lloyd Deibel 3-1-7
Jerry Froman 5-4-14
Charlie "Chuck" Burris 3-0-6
Bill Hensel 3-0-6
YORKVILLE 22-30-62-84
STRASBURG 13-36-54-73
Thursday, March 8, 1956
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: On Friday March 9th the Holloway Railroaders knocked off the Killbuck Bucks 94-87. On Saturday the Yorkville Ductillites got the best of the Holloway Railroaders 89-81 for a berth at the Regional Tournament. In the 1st Regional game, the Yorkville Ductillites (22-4) lost to the Chagrin Falls Tigers. The Chagrin Falls Tigers lost out in the State Semi-Finals to Columbus St. Mary 71-51 and then Columbus St. Mary lost to Arcanum (27-1) 72-71for the State Basketball Class B Championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment