54 - Right Down The Line

RIGHT DOWN THE LINE
With Art Cicconetti, Sports Editor
Monday, March 15, 1954
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio

THERE'S BEEN A BELIEF in Ohio basketball circles that any team which gets through the District Tournament is a potential State Champion.  "They're all tough from here on in," has been the saying.  And yet there are those who have begun counting Tuscarawas out of the picture because of the more spectacular deeds of the other 3 teams in the Northeastern Class B Regional Tournament.

Lets take a look at some of those fabulous deeds and see why the Vienna Mustangs, Copley and the Columbiana Clippers are being classed as "World-beaters."  First, of course, we'll have to go over the record of Rex Leach, the Mustang's 5-3 and 1/2 offensive magician.

LEACH has set a new scoring record in each tournament in which he has participated this year.  While the undefeated Vienna of Trumbull County were soaring through their county festival, Leach tossed in 29 points in one game for a new high there.  In the Sectional Tournament, the Mustangs' flash totaled up 38 in one game for a new mark.  He set the record in the Kent District Tournament at 33 against Shreve and then came back to make it 43 against East Sparta last Friday night.

According to unofficial information we received from up north, Leach had 813 points going into the District meet.  That's 889 markers after those 2 high-scoring sprees in the District.  It has also been announced that the swift-moving spark-plug of the Vienna powerhouse had 813 through Friday's victory.  As of today, we have no idea at which point this total applies.  Anyway you look at it, that's a lot of points and considering the fact that he's averaged some 55 percent of his shots throughout the season, his feat's are even greater.

THE COLUMBIANA CLIPPERS has no such a scoring phenom as Leach, but the Clippers have plenty of height and they can run with the best.  The Columbiana County kings have a 6-6 center in Homer Gilcrist and the rest of the team isn't too small.  They tell us that these Clipper cagers are fast and deadly shooters.  They whipped Wayne County's Northwestern Huskies 65-49 last Friday night and the Huskies' only other loss was to the Strasburg Tigers.

The Copley Indians is another undefeated aggregation.  The big gun in the attack of the Indians is a 6-6 Black by the name of Ray Pryear.  This lad has a "wingspan" of some 82-inches according to the dope sheet.  He scored 36 points on Highland in the Kent Tournament last week against a zone defense that was designed to keep the ball away from him.  The defense clicked fairly well, but Pryear's rebounding ability gave him 13 field goals.  He missed 4 action shots and 4 of 14 free throw tries.

SOUNDS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE, doesn't it.  Don't count the Tuscarawas Broncos out yet though.  Head Coach Chuck Lorenz's charges beat one of the State's top clubs when they toppled Strasburg on Friday night.  That fact that they edged the Tigers twice in the last 2 weeks is even more significant.  That victory over the flushing Orioles may have been made possible by a mistake on the part of an Oriole player, but remember that Tusky had to overcome an 11-point deficit to even be in position to pull the game out of the fire in the last seconds.

The Broncos have been the most effective tournament team we've seen this year.  They've played each game with the same relentless offensive pacing that can't be discounted.  Perhaps the other teams will have more height and speed.  The Bronco-Busters will be in there up to the hilt and they'll have a pretty fair defense of their own that should help.  Tuscarawas will go into the meet as one of the 2 underdogs with Columbiana probably getting the other berth in that category.  That's a good place to be in this stage of the game.

The underdog can relax and fire away with all the punch at its command.  The favorite, expecially with an undefeated record to uphold, will have to prove its right to stay on top.  Judging from Tusky's other performances along the tournament trail, the Blue and White can go into this meet in the right frame of mind.