The Jewett Wildcats' 6-4 Center Gary (Buck) Thompson clutches the ball firmly, while sitting down hard on the deck as the Strasburg Tigers' Senior Guard John Shetler, stretched out on his back, keeps his hand in the pileup with his teammate Sophomore Forward Jim Kuecher reaching in from the right. Six-two Forward Gary Telfor of the Wildcats surveys the situation on the spot. Junior Center 6-4 Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel of Strasburg and 6-0 Forward Larry Townsend of Jewett are at left.
The Strasburg Tigers' 6-4 Junior Center Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel goes up all alone to score 2 points for the Tigers in last night's 58-47 victory over the Jewett Wildcats. Senior Guard John Shetler of the Bengals and 6-0 Forward Larry Townsend of the Wildcats comes in at right.
The Strasburg Tigers' Cheerleaders are pictured above as they led the yells for the Tigers at Brilliant last night. Beulah Lewis is at left, Linda Kuecher and Vine Kratz at right.
BRILLIANT - The Strasburg Tigers' smooth functioning cage machine passed another milestone in the drive for the Eastern Ohio District Crown as it ran down the Jewett Wildcats in methodical fashion at Brilliant's sparkling basketball layout last night. Head Coach Don Martin's crew had the upper hand all the way after taking the lead in the opening quarter, but the Tigers really clinched their 27th triumph with a 4th canto that exploded the Wildcats right out of the picture 58-47.
A near capacity crowd saw the defending Class B District Champions take the lead just at the end of the 1st period and held it all the way through; although, Jewett threatened to overcome the advantage on several occasions. Lanky 6-4 Junior center Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel, whose hand was still badly bruised and sore at game time, was the big gun in the Bengal's attack and it was chiefly his control of the backboards that gave Strasburg their big advantage in the contest.
Senior forward Eldon (Zeke) Mullett of the Strasburg Tigers (6-1) (26-1) was tagged with 4 personals early on. He played the 1st quarter and part of the 2nd, but he sat out the rest of the contest until Goose fouled out with a minute and 35 seconds left to play in the game and the Bengals leading 58-44. Senior guard John Shelter and Junior forward Jerry Haswell came in to aid Goose under the boards along with 6-0 Sophomore forward Jim Kuecher, but the big center came through with timely tip-ins to throw back a Jewett Wildcat (21-5) threat more than once.
Zeke was one of the chief threats for Strasburg in his brief stay in the game. The stocky Senior pushed in 2 baskets from underneath just at the end of the 1st quarter to give the Tigers its 12-8 lead. Five-ten Guard Bill Cerett and 6-2 forward Gary Telfer were the 2 scorers for Jewett in the opening stanza with 4 points each with 6-4 center Gary (Buck) Thompson "covered like a blanket" by the Bengal defense.
Zeke came up with his 3rd and last field goal just as the 2nd quarter began rolling and Goose led Strasburg to a 7-point lead before Buck and Townsend, Jewett's 2 big guns, came through to pare the margin to 23-15 at halftime intermission. Buck and Townsend continued to hit for the Wildcats, but didn't get too many chances at the basket as Strasburg, spurred offensively by Shetler, stayed on top with the lead fluctuating between 7 and 3 markers.
The Tigers were still setting the pace 38-35 going into the final canto when they uncorked a drive that threw Jewett off stride and clinched the decision in the last 4 minutes of the battle. Haswell, Kuecher, Goose and Shetler shared in the final period surge, rolling to a 45-39 advantage in the 1st 3 minutes as the Wildcats hung on tenaciously.
Haswell then drove in for a layup and a short time later Kuecher added another basket on a fast break and the Bengals had its biggest lead of the game, 49-39. Strasburg traded a free throw shot with Jewett and Goose grabbed a rebound and layed the ball up for a basket that gave the Tigers a 52-40 advantage and then seconds later tossed in a push shot from the side to make it 54-41,
That was the game and with little more than 2 minutes remaining, the Bengals went into a semi-stall and picked their shots as they kept the Wildcats on the ropes. Goose ended up with 19 points for the top Strasburg scoring effort, while Shetler's offensive surge brought in 13 and Haswell collected 10.
Buck, whose twisting jump shot was Jewett's chief offensive threat, came up with 17 as he hit on 6 of his specialities and added 5 free throw tosses. Townsend came through with 15 for the Wildcats. Strasburg will defend its District diadem Friday night at 8:00 at Brilliant against the winner of tonight's tussle between The Tuscarawas Broncos and the Flushing Orioles.
Tickets for the Championship fracas may be obtained at the Strasburg High School or Houghtan's Drug Store in Strasburg. The price of the ducats is 75 cents for both students and non-students.
STRASBURG TIGERS - 58
Jerry Haswell F 3-4-10
Eldon (Zeke) Mullett F 3-0-6
Jim Kuecher F 3-0-6
Gale Huffman F 0-0-0
Jerry (Goose) Von Kaenel C 8-3-19
Fred Peters G 2-0-4
John Shetler G 4-5-13
JEWETT WILDCATS - 47
Gary Telfer F 2-4-8
Larry Townsend F 6-4-16
John Coutts F 0-0-0
Gary (Buck) Thompson C 6-5-17
Busby G 0-0-0
Larry Telfer G 0-0-0
Bill Cerett G 2-0-6
Wednesday, March 10, 1954
Art Cicconetti, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: At the beginning of the tournament I gave Strasburg an additional win. Strasburg's record is 26-1 at this date in time.
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