Two Bolivar Cardinals and a Midvale Blue Devil battle desperately for control of the ball to their torrid tournament final last night at Memorial Hall. Players contesting control of the ball are Lee Lundenberger (9) Bolivar, Bill Haueter (10) Bolivar and Jack Rennicker of Midvale. The Blue Devils finally edged the battling Red Birds 48-44 after trailing until the final period.
DOVER - A determined band of Gnadenhutten Indians' surprise 59-51 victors over favored Tuscarawas Broncos and Bolivar's Cardinals, who thrilled a packed house of nearly 1,500 fans as they forced the Champion Midvale Blue Devils to come from behind to earn a 48-44 decision, furnished the major part of the action in the opening round of the 26th Annual Tuscarawas County Tournament at Memorial Hall Thursday night.
The Strasburg Tigers, defending tournament Champions, had little difficulty in rolling over the Sugarcreek-Shanesville's crappy Pirates 66-40, while Port Washington's Purple Riders topped the Mineral City Tigers 58-41 after halting a Tiger rally in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
For more than 3 quarters of the Midvale Blue Devils (1-0) (21-2) (43-23)-Bolivar Cardinals (0-1) (10-11) (39-33) tilt it appeared that Head Coach Al Bricker's Red Birds had a major upset in the making. After relinquishing the lead to the highly favored Blue Devils for a brief time in the initial period, the Cardinals, paced by a pair of sharpshooting forwards, Chuck Swonger and Senior Bill Haueter, grabbed a 13-9 first quarter margin and were quite in front 26-21 at halftime and 37-32 at the close of the 3rd stanza.
With the pressure on in the 1st and 3rd periods, Midvale was unable to halt the Bolivar offensive which featured deadly side-court marksmanship by Haueter and Swonger. The Blue Devils fast breaking offense was marred by shaky ball-handling and the Cards defense which broke up Midvale passes repeatedly in the scoring zone.
Midvway in the 2nd period, Bolivar held an 18-13 advantage, but Junior forward Jack Ford who, with the aid of little Senior guard Dan Carlisle, was able to salvage the victory, flipped in a one handed shot, but Haueter matched this bid with a fielder as the Cardinals stayed on the pace and held their 5-point margin at halftime.
In a furious 3rd quarter, Ford meshed 7 points. Junior forward Dave Renicker added 2 and Junior center Gene Byers and Carlisle each counted once from the foul circle as the Blue Devils made a desperate attempt to pull even, but Swonger's 4 points, coupled with 2 each by Sophomore center Ed Grossenbacher, guards Chuck Tawney and Junior Dallas Seward kept the Red Birds out front holding a 5-point lead at the end of the quarter.
Swonger added a free throw immediately after the start of the last canto, but Carlisle meshed an action shot, was fouled and hit from the charity lane to make it 38-35. After Tawney had tallied from the foul circle, 2 fast field goals by Carlisle and Ford knotted the count at 39-39 and Renicker put the Blue Devils ahead to stay with a push shot inside the foul circle.
Ford led both teams in scoring with 19 points and his teammate little Carlisle added 15 markers for Midvale. Swonger collected 16 for Bolivar, while Haueter picked up 14 points.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 48
Jack Ford F 8-3-19
Dave Renicker F 3-1-7
Jim Golder F 0-0-0
Bob Sherrell C 1-2-4
Gene Byers C 0-1-1
Bob De Mattio G 1-0-2
Dan Carlisle G 6-3-15
BOLIVAR CARDINALS - 41
Chuck Swonger F 7-2-16
Bill Haueter F 5-4-14
Lee Lundenberger C 0-4-4
Ed Grossenbacher C 1-0-2
Dallas Seward G 1-1-3
Chuck Tawney G 2-1-5
Friday, February 20, 1948
Rex Ridenour, Right Down The Line
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: Last night's official attendance of 1,418 was above the 1,236 figure that marked the opening night attendance in 1947. The fans started lining the sidewalk outside Memorial Hall at 5:10 and in a half hour the line stretched to the corner of 4th street. Officials estimated that around 200 fans were unable to get inside. Lee Lundenberger, Bolivar center, was playing with a badly sprained right ankle which kept him on the bench for part of the Midvale game.
No comments:
Post a Comment