DOVER - Very little excitement highlighted the opening of the 35th Annual Tuscarawas County Class A Basketball Tournament at Memorial Hall last night, but what there was little Dundee provided. The favorites romped over their opponents in fine fashion as the defending Champion Midvale Blue Devils started things off by powering their way to an impressive 97-55 victory over the Tuscarawas Broncos, while in the nightcap the Port Washington Purple Riders recovered from "shock" the 1st half to go on to an easy 85-53 decision over the Dundee Bulldogs.
In winning their contest, Midvale displayed finesse that had been lacking throughout the season with the exception of the last few games on their regular schedule. The Blue Devils unleashed an offensive scoring punch that made the rest of the county coaches sit up and take notice. The Devils, copping 10 of 18 games this year and breaking on the back side of the ledger in the last 3 games, were never in trouble after the 1st quarter when the Broncos, which won only one of 18 games during their rebuilding season, was only 3 points behind.
In the 2nd contest, Port Washington carried an 11-7 record into the tournament and were heavily favored, but overconfidence got them into trouble momentarily as the Bulldogs took advantage of the situation and threw a scare into the rangy Purple Riders. The Pups, which won only one of 20 games during the regular campaign and that an overtime decision against United Local of Hanoverton, had nearly every fan in Memorial Hall cheering for them in the early part of the game as the scrappy lads jumped to an early lead, but were over-powered as the evening developed to drop a lopsided verdict.
After a rather dull first game, the Dundee Bulldogs (0-1) (1-20) (33-54) were determined to stir up action and they were every successful in doing just that. The scrappy lads of Head Coach Jesse (Jack) Reese capitalized on free throws early in the 1st quarter, while also hitting well from the field and surprised the fans as they led all the way in the 1st period.
At the end of the initial quarter, the underdogs were on top 17-12 and seemed on their way to a major upset. Playing a control type game throughout the 1st period which literally shattered the Port Washington Purple Riders (1-0) (12-7) (26-54) zone defense, the Bulldog players had fans on their feet almost the entire time as they sensed an early upset in the making.
But the tremendous height of the Purple Riders paid off as Port hit the court running in the 2nd fame and with high-scoring Seniors 6-2 Ed Bates and Denver Glazer leading the way, the winners tallied 32 points to post a big 44-30 lead at intermission. Dundee held Port Washington to only 16 points in the 3rd stanza, but could find the mark for only 9 themselves and trailed 60-39 going into the deciding canto.
The winners added 25 more points to their total and rolled on to an easy victory in the final quarter. Bates led the scoring and took honors for the game with 28 markers, on 11 field goals and 6 free throws. Glazer with 21 and Senior Jerry Hannahs' 16 rounded out the victors scoring.
Junior Willie (Bill) Smemmer, playing an outstanding game, popped in 14 points, 12 of them in the 1st half, to lead the Pups. John Sigrist tallied 13 and Dean Burrell scored 11 for the losers also.
PORT WASHINGTON PURPLE RIDERS - 85
Ed Bates 11-6-28
Jim Emler 1-1-3
Nick Frank 1-0-2
Jerry Hannahs 6-4-16
Denver Glazer 7-7-21
Don Ferrell 3-3-9
Ron Phillips 1-0-2
Larry Combs 0-2-2
LeRoy Davies 1-0-2
DUNDEE BULLDOGS - 53
Willie (Bill) Slemmer 4-6-14
John Sigrist 4-5-13
Dean Burrell 2-7-11
Frutig 2-5-9
Rod Fruchey 2-2-6
Landis 0-0-0
Eash 0-0-0
PORT 12-44-60-85
DUNDEE 17-30-39-53
Tuesday, February 12, 1957
Jim De Mello, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
