Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 41

COURIER-POST, Saturday, March 17, 1979 41 l0 Wildwood ousted in NJSIAA final I Orange bounces 'Hounds in finals By DON BENEVENTO Courier-Post Staff 1 I 1 tJ" St ar ELIZABETH-The road through Oz has ended a few steps short of the Emerald City. Oh, the Wildwood High School basketball team made it to the door, but the Wizard turned them away. Coming through a long trail of upsets during the entire tournament season, the Warriors finally met the wicked witch in Wood-Ridge which stopped the Wildwood drive by scoring a 74-58 decision to capture the NJSIAA Group 1 championship here Friday in Elizabeth High School. But never really lacking in courage, heart and brains, the Warriors didn't give up their dreams of rainbows easily. They came from 16 down at half-time to cut the deficit to five in the fourth period, but eventually fell in the wake of Wood-Bridge's ability to stay calm, shoot fouls, and run long stringsof unanswered points when it counted most.

Like in the fourth period. Wild-wood had cut an 18-point deficit with five minutes to play in the third quarter down to 54-49 with 4:32 left in the game. But just then, Wood-Bridge ran off 10 straight points with Kevin Ket-cho hitting four, and the game, along with Wildwood's chances of becoming the winningest team in Group 1 championship history was gone. "We dug ourselves too deep a hole," said Wildwood Coach Bernie McCracken. "We started with a bad shooting night (2-for-17 in the first period) and we never really got back.

We had our shots from the perimenter which we usually make. Tonight, we didn't." Wildwood, playing in the finals for the 11th time in its history, seemed slightly in awe of what it had got itself into during the first period. The 28-1 Blue Devils used a patterned offense to run of to a 6-0 lead and Wildwood (17-8) was never able to get on top after that. Bob Shafer finally got the Warriors on the board by canning a shot at 4:40 and Mark Bakanowsky followed with a shot to close it to 6-4 HUNDRED OF TOP a iiimmi nff it Lv" AssocistGd Prsss THERE'S LITTLE DOUBT what John McEnroe thinks of the call he got from a linesman during 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win over Alvaro Betancur in Davis Cup play. McEnrow, Stockton prevail to give U.S.

Davis Cup lead FILE'S ON VDEO CASSETTE VHS BETA 34" G. PG R.X. cur replaced Velasco for the second match and was overpowered by the 20-year-old McEnroe, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. McEnroe took just 61 minutes to dispose of the 27-year-old Betancur, who has played on Colombian Davis Cup teams for eight years. McEnroe, a southpaw, is rated among the top five players in the world, and Betancur, who met him for the first time, concurred, saying, "He's one of the best." Betancur said he knew McEnroe Late shot upsetting to Cheyney SPRINGFIELD, Mo.

(AP) -Guard Rory Lindgren canned two free throws with 1 4 seconds left Fri-' day night to propel Wisconsin-Green Bay into the NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament finals with a 46-45 upset victory over defending champion Cheyney State, Pa. In Saturday's championship match, Green Bay will face North Alabama, which used 21 points from guard Perry Oden to overcome a nine-point deficit and nip Bridgeport, 85-82, earlier Friday night. Green Bay's narrow Friday night victory avenged the 47-40 triumph Cheyney State took over Wisconsin to claim the 1978 title. It also broke Cheyney State's 18-game winning streak. The game was tied six times and the lead changed hands 13, the last coming with 1:13 left when freshman guard Paul Anderson dropped in a layup to forge a 44-43 Wisconsin lead.

Cheyney State then missed a free throw before Lindgren hit his charity tosses to seal the triumph. Center Ron Ripley and Lingren each recorded 15 points. Guard Charles Murphy was high for Cheyney with 14 and freshman forward George Melton added a dozen. Cheyney State, which will play Bridgeport in the consolation game Saturday, moved to 23-7 on the season, and Wisconsin stands at 24-7. Temple's Casey named PHILADELPHIA Don Casey, who led Temple to a 25-4 record and into the NCAA tournament this season, has been selected National Association of Basketball Coaches District 3 Coach of the Year.

Make More Money! VIDEO CASSETTE RENTALS, Brooklawn Shopping Center Brooklawn, N.J. 08030 10-9, Sat. 10-6 and that was as close as Wildwood ever got aftder Wood-Ridge ran off the next six in a row to end the first period with a 12-4 lead. "We were told they were good shooters," said McCracker regarding the team that gunned in 26 of 47 shots. "But we thought if we pressured them we could stop them from making them." Instead, it was Wildwood that continued to struggle as things turned from bad to worse in the second quarter.

Though Bucky McCracken got his team a quick bucket to open the session, Wood-Ridge again assumed a commanding lead at 28-10 by scoring a string of 13 unanswered points. Wildwood's ace guard, Birdie McNeal, who suffered through a 7-for-25 shooting night for 15 points, finally broke the string with a bucket at 2:18. But the Blue Devils lead got up to as high as 32-1 2 before the half ended at 32-16. The teams exchanged baskets through the early part of the third period before Kirk Gaines came off the bench to give Wildwood a badly needed hot hand. Gaines began hitting from all over the court as the Warriors chipped away at the deficit and got a 38-20 margin down to 44-36 by the end of the third period, Gaines had eight points in the stanza and finished with a 6-for-9 showing from the floor.

"During the time we came back we weren't even setting up against their zone," said McCracken, who has coached four Wildwood teams into the finals. "We just kept trying to beat them down court and fire up our shots." It worked for a while, but Wood-Ridge finally caught on though not until just a little bit later. But Wood-Ridge never really seemed shaken by what wasjiap-pening and blew it open behind Ket-cho, who finished with a game-high 23 points. STORES AIR FILTERS Change with every tune-up to improve performance, gas mileage. ONLY $1.49 each CRC 5-56 Lube Spray Penetrates, De-rusts, and Lubricates.

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Rt.70 Marlton, N.J. 983-3911 AT 1ST UXATIONS PARTS. RCA 8 inc. I 456-9510 I S56 was tough, "but I didn't realize how tough until I actually played against 1 him. I didn't expect him to be so fast.

He's so quick in everything." He said the fast Cleveland Skating Club courts gave the U.S. team an advantage but added that McEnroe "is tough on any kind of court." McEnroe said his serve was working well, "my concentration was good," and he made few mistakes. Stockton, 28, looked just as strong in defeating Molina, Colombia's No. 1 player. Molina said he had never seen Stockton play so well.

"He wasn't making any mistakes. I kept thinking he has to miss some shots." But at the end of the match, Molina said he was "still waiting for him to start missing shots." The series ends with two singles matches Sunday. CZZ3C WRQUEST TUNE-UP KITS Points, rotor and condenser. MOST U.S. CARS Except dual points, electronic ignition, Uni Set and Pinto ONLY $1.99 Kii By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff ELIZABETH -Coach Ken Leary said it was turnovers that killed Pla-santville High School's hopes for a Group 2 state championships here Friday night, but most obervers thought that Orange's Hubert Mitchell was a bigger factor in the Tornadoes 73-67 victory.

"We had 32 turnovers," said Leary, very disappointedly. "I wasn't that impressed with Orange. I thought we should have won the game." Leary refused to blame the loss of Earl Skinner and Bcrnie Todd, who both fouled out with slightly more than five minutes to play. Todd was whistled out with 5:33 left and the game tied at 53-53. Skinner, the Greyhounds premier rebounder, exited at the 5:05 mark with his team in front 55-53.

At that point, Mitchell hit the first of two free throws, missed the second, but grabbed the rebounds and put it back up for two points to give Orange a 56-55 advantage, one that it would never lose again. The North Jersey champps, who became the first school in the state's history to win a championship in every group, stretched their lead to 65-55 with 2:53 left. But Plasantville showed why it is ranked as South Jersey's No. 1 team by refusing to fold. Instead, the Greyhounds roared back, and when Greg Reid hit a two-pointer with 0:34 it was a barnburner at 67-65.

Craig Austin, Tracy Stephens and Troy Denby, all reserve players, brought the Greyhounds back to the brink of a tie before Bob Cole and Curtis Coates converted four points from the foul line. That was the end for the previously unbeaten Cape-Atlantic League champions. "I guess the trouble was," began Leary, "that we lost the lad as fast as we got it." Plasantville had led at one point, 48-34, after outscoring Orange 12-1 in a balanced rally that had the shore fans hysterical, but left the champs' Coach Cliff Blake simply biding his time. "I- wasn't straight-faced, "we played that way all season, coming from behind in most of our 25 victories." Mitchell, who scored all of his points in the second half and 14 during the stretch when Orange out-scored Pleasantville, 33-9, to take a 67-57 lad into the final period. "I talked to Hubert at halftime," said Blake.

"I just told him he hadn't played very well in the first half and this was his last game. Boy, he sure did a job for us, didn't he?" Pleasantville shot 27-for-63, Orange a shade better at 28-for-62, but it just seemed to be a deeper bench that proved to be the difference despite Leary's accent on the turnovers. Orange had its own turnover problems, committing 28 of them, which helped Pleasantville on its way to a big third-period lead. Pleasantville is now 1-4 over the past six seasons in the state finals. Skinner's two help Firebirds triumph PHILADELPHIA Larry Skinner's two goals and an assist carried the Firebirds to a 5-3 victory over the Binghamton Dusters Friday night in an American Hockey League game.

Binghamton opened the scoring in the first period on Tom Price's power play goal. The Firebirds came back to tie the game on a goal by Mike Dwyer two minutes later. Skinner scored his 20th and 21st goals in the second period and third period goals by Ralph Klassen and Bill Prentice opened up a 5-1 Philadelphia lead. Binghamton came back with third period goals by Richard David and Richard Gren-ier. Two GSC mermen are All-Americans GENESCO, N.Y.-Brothcrs T.J.

and Walt Holt earned All-American honors, which go to the first 12 in each event, and picked up Glassboro State College's first points in the NCAA Division 3 swimming championships here Friday. T.J., a sophomore, did 54.87 to place third in the 100-yard backstroke and become an All-American for the second straight year. He was seventh In the event in 1978. Holt's senior brother, Walt, was 10th with 1:02.81 In the 100 breast-stroke and scored what Coach Tony Lisa called the Profs' "major surprise." The Pros came out of the day with 15 points and in 16th place in the field of 72 teams. Johns Hopkins is far ahad in the championship scramble with 190 points.

The meet concludes today. AUTO PARTS YOUR DOLLAR SAL CLEVELAND (AP) Riding the crest of easy victories by John McEnroe and Dick Stockton, the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team carried a 2-0 lead into today's match against Colombia and could wrap it up with a doubles victory. McEnroe and Peter form one of the top doubles duos in the world, were named by U.S. team captain Tony Trabert to play in today's third match in the best-of-five North American Zone finals.

Colombian team captain Dario Behar said Thursday Ivan Molina and Orlando Agudelo would be his doubles team. However, the Colombian lineup was juggled by illness that took Jairo Velasco out of Friday's opening matches. Velasco, Colombia's No. 2 player, had complained of an ear ache Thursday, but his teammates said his condition worsened Friday, with flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems. Stockton opened the U.S.

defense of its silver Davis Cup trophy by beating Molina 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Betan- Bobby Allison looks forward to weekend HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) "Were looking forward to a great weekend," said Bobby Allison as he put the finishing touches today on his preparations for the Atlanta 500 stock car race Sunday and today's race that wrapped up the 1978-79 International Race of Champions series. Allison's optimism was understandable. The 41-year-old Florida native has a front row starting position for Sunday's $220,000 stock car series event.

He is also the defending champion, having won the 1978 race by nearly two laps in the worst runaway of the season. And his Ford Thunderbird looks even stronger this time. "The car is running good, and we're a stronger team than we were a year ago," Allison said. In fact, Allison has won the pole position for the last two races on the circuit. He scored an uncontested victory two weeks ago at Rockingham, and finished second at Richmond last Sunday.

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