Muncie Evening Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 35

THIRD-ANNUAL SHOOTOUT OPENS TOMORROW NIGHT Three new ffesams' sell" fee1 CVC fournaimenir cactiora 4 Balger Carpenter Jackson Kwiecinski Peters LeGrand By WARREN COLLIER Evening Press sports editor Coaches who have been here before have described the annual Cardinal Varsity Club Classic as one of the most pleasant experiences of their season. This year three new schools are involved, so Muncie's fans and school adminstrators will have a chance to send more first-time visitors to the Ball State campus back home with attractive memories of their Indiana trip. Of course, the Cardinal basketball sqoad and coaches don't want to become so friendly that their gracious hospitality allows the tournament trophy to slip away into someone else's show- The Cardinals will take the worst record (1-4) in the field into the tournament against their first-round foe. Georgia State, from Atlanta, will come in with a 2-6 mark. The two victories for the Panthers have been over Huntington College, 82-77, and Augusta College in their last outing, 73-69.

I Losses have been at the hands of St Leo, 70-64; The Citadel, 93-72; Montana, 74-62; University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 76-68; Iowa, 89-40, and Georgia, 89-53. The Panthers are playing under 27-year-old interim coach Mark Slonaker, who moved up to the head slot when the Georgia State Department of Athletics at 7 o'clock and the two winners will clash at 9 for the title. Ball State students will be off campus for the Christmas holidays, so there will be plenty of good seats available at the door for each session, according to assistant athletic director Norman Harmeyer. compete for the Christmas holiday prize. Host Ball State goes into action early, facing Georgia State in a 7 p.m.

game tomorrow. The second game will see Texas-Arlington play Rider University at 9 p.m. Saturday night, the two losers will meet in a consolation game The Muncie Evening Press Page 35 Thursday, December 20, 1 984' Celtics lose for first time this season in Boston Garden I uimii 'r':" "Wn By The Associated Press Don Nelson says it's not easy to stroll into Boston Garden and walk away with victory. He should know. Nelson used to play for the Boston Celtics and helped them win several National Basketball Association championships.

Now, be coaches the Milwaukee Bucks, and last night his team sent the Celtics to their first loss at home this season, 107-92. The Celtics had won all 11 of their games at Boston Garden this year and 17 straight over two seasons before running into a hot Milwaukee team. Terry Cummings scored 10 of his 29 points during a decisive streak early in the fourth quarter that put the game away. "It's not easy to win at Boston Garden," Nelson said. "You have to change your game plan against the Celtics all the time." In other NBA games.

New Jersey topped Washington 115-106, Phila- delphia stopped San Antonio 123-118, the Los Angeles Lakers beat Houston 123-116, Detroit outscored Denver 148-129 and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated Seattle 91-86. Nelson said he felt the Bucks, who were swept by Boston in four games during last year's Eastern Conference playoffs, caught the Celtics at the right time. fired head coach Tom Pugliese after the third game this season. Pugliese had coached only one year at Georgia State and there is no news from that campus about why the change was made. Slonaker was hired by Pugliese out of Lovett High School in Atlanta where the Rahway, N.J., native had coached the Lions to their best season in eight years.

The Panther coach had been an all-state player at Rahway High School and starred at the University of Georgia where he is listed as third on the all-time assist list behind former Olympian Vern Fleming (now with the Indiana Pacers) and Walter Daniels. Continued on page 36 Bill Martin scored 22 points and freshman Grady Mateen, who started at center, added 17 for the Hoyas, who led 14-2 after only 3V4 minutes. Morgan State, winless in nine games, got 14 points from guard Tom Foster. "Patrick wanted to play," Georgetown Coach John Thompson said, "but I thought it best not to let him if we could get away with it. It was important for us to let the young kids play and get a feel for things." Northwestern enjoyed a decided height advantage over unbeaten Duke, but the Blue Devils more than made up for that with shooting accuracy.

Duke, now 6-0, hit 78 percent of its shots in the first half in building a 36-19 bulge at intermission. "We're not an all-airport team, where we walk through an airport and people are amazed by how big we are," said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We showed excellent patience in the first half. Their height really hurt us, but our guys Continued on page 37 case. Head coach Al Brown has declared that amiability ends when the ball goes up for the center jump.

The third-annual CVC basketball challenge is scheduled this weekend in University Gym with teams coming here from Texas, New Jersey and Georgia to "They played maybe their best game last night in New York (a 126-108 rout of the Knicks) and they may have had a letdown," Nelson said. Milwaukee took a 78-73 lead into the fourth quarter and quickly broke the game open with a 20-8 burst. "The Bucks played us welL but it seemed like anything we tried to do, something would happen or a whistle would blow," said Boston's Larry Bird, who scored 18 points. "It wasn't a very good game. I'm glad I didn't have to pay to watch it." Cummings, who scored eight points during a 15-3 run that gave Milwaukee a 51-43 lead in the second quarter, said the Bucks played physical basketball.

"Our strategy was to lay the bodies on them and make them earn their shots," he said. Sidney Moncrief added 23 points for Milwaukee while Dennis Johnson had 18 for the Celtics, now 22-4 this season. The Pistons and Nuggets again hooked up in a high-scoring affair before reserve guard John Long and Vinnie Johnson scored 10 points apiece in the third quarter and Isiah Thomas had nine to help Detroit crack open a tight game in Denver. The Pistons led 75-71 at halftime but outscored the Nuggets 41-22 in be games against ninth-ranked Richmond, No. 14 Huntington North and 15th-rated Anderson.

In other contests tomorrow, Wes-Del (3-4) will be at Laurel (3-2) in a game postponed Dec. 7 because of poor weather, Central (6-0) will host Indianapolis Chatard (3-2) and Cowan and Wapahani will partic-pate in the two-day, four-team Blue River Tournament. Tomorrow the Blackhawks (0-5) will take on the host Vikings (4-4) in the first game and the Raiders (5-1) will play Tri (0-6) in the nightcap. An abbreviated schedule Saturday finds North Central (5-2) visiting Central and the final round of WINNING TOSS Western Michigan's with 16 seconds left to give the Mid-American Pete Hansen (arms raised) watches the ball slip Conference Broncos a 65-64 victory over the through the net for the winning point against fifth-ranked Blue Demons last night at Kalama- DePaul. Hansen dropped in a pair of free throws zoo, Mich.

AP Laserphoto. Western Michigan Broncos stun high-ranked DePaul the third period to take control. Long finished with 26 points and Johnson 22. Wayne Cooper scored 20 points and Calvin Natt had 18 for Denver. Last season, Detroit beat Denver 186-184 in triple overtime in the highest-scoring game in NBA history.

Micheal Ray Richardson scored 32 points and Mike Gminski scored 22, season highs for both players, and New Jersey pulled away in the fourth quarter. The Nets led 86-75 going into the final period, but Washington ran off an early 13-1 streak to pull within 89-88. But Richardson made a jump shot with 8:05 left, Buck Williams added two foul shots and Richardson then made a layup to put host New Jersey in command. Otis Birdsong scored 24 points while Williams had 21 points and 15 rebounds. Jeff Malone led the Bullets with 25 points, liams got 21 and Cliff Robinson 18.

Moses Malone scored 29 points and sparked a third-quarter blitz that led Philadelphia to its 11th victory in 12 games. The 76ers, down 60-58 at half-time, outscored San Antonio 26-12 to start the third period. In the fourth quarter, the visiting Spurs whittled a 17-point deficit down to four on a three-point play by George Gervin with 2:41 left But Julius Erving and Bobby Jones each made baskets to put Philadelphia ahead 118-110. Maurice Cheeks added 21 points for the 76ers while San Antonio's Johnny Moore, who scored 23 points in the first half, had 26 before leaving with an injury in the third quarter. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points and James Worthy had 31 as Los Angeles continued its hex over Houston.

The Lakers extended their winning streak in Houston to 10 straight games, dating back to Nov. 12, 1980, with a late surge that halted the Rockets. Houston held a 112-108 lead in the final minutes before a basket by Earvin "Magic" Johnson and a three-point play by Jabbar put Los Angeles ahead for good. Ralph Sampson scored 21 points for Houston and Akeem Olajuwon got 18 before each fouled out in the final 1:13. Los Angeles won its sixth straight game, aided by Norm Nixon's 23 points and Bill Walton's season-high 18 rebounds.

The Clippers led by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter before Seattle narrowed the margin to 89-86 with 33 seconds left to play. But Derek Smith, who finished with 20 points, made a layup after a pass from Walton with 18 seconds left to clinch it Al Wood scored 23 for the visiting SuperSonics and Jack Sikma added 20. road for the Blue River tourney. AH varsity games will begin at 8 p.m. Preliminary games will start at 6:30 p.m.

Against the Giants, North will have its stiffest test to date. Marion coach Bill Green starts a tall, veteran club which has four players averaging in double figures and three of them make up the big front line, which also is pulling down 28.5 rebounds a game, collectively. Forwards Lefon Bowens (6-foot-5) and Jay Edwards (6-4) are averaging 15.9 and 15.1, respectively. Center Jay Teagle (6-10) is scoring at a 14.5 clip and is the Giants' top rebounder at 10.8 a As I )l L. i.s.

-Y i.nnr I ni.il WMiirm.iwi' a Pete Hansen hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to provide Western Michigan's margin of victory over DePaul. The Blue Demons, who trailed by seven points with 5:40 to play, led for the last time on Marty Embry's rebound basket and free throw with 47 seconds to go. Hansen's first free throw bounced off the rim before falling through to tie the game. "My heart went as high as that ball did after the first shot," said Hansen. "But the second one was in the minute it left my hand.

What a great feeling." "After the first five minutes, we found our game plan was effec-, tive," said Vern Payne, coach of the 4-3 Broncos. "We could play with them and keep it close. The more the game went on, our confidence grew, and I think DePaul pressed as the game went on." Despite the absence of Ewing, who hurt his hand in the rout of DePaul, and backup center Ralph Dalton, Georgetown breezed to its eighth victory this season and 18th in a row over two seasons. By The Associated Press DePaul's Blue Demons, flying high just a few days ago, suddenly are in danger of going down in flames. DePaul, which last week was unbeaten and ranked No.

2 in the country, suffered a 77-57 walloping Saturday at the hands of No. 1 Georgetown and then dropped a 65-64 stunner last night to Western Michigan. "We're on the canvas," said Joey Meyers, DePaul's first-year coach. "We'll see now what we're made of. I'm certainly not pleased." While DePaul floundered last night, Georgetown blasted Morgan State 89-62 despite the absence of Ali-American center Patrick Ewing, who was resting a sprained left hand.

In other games involving ranked teams, second-ranked Duke hit 66 percent of its field goal attempts in romping past Northwestern 76-55, No. 6 Southern Methodist trampled North Texas State 90-45, No. 14 North Carolina State pounded St. Francis, 82-64 and No. 17 Virginia Tech ripped Rider 107-74.

game with game. Guard Lyndon Jones (6-2) is averaging 12.5 points a game. Only 5-5 guard Mallory is out of the double figure range, but he is handing out five assists a contest. Allen feels that, in order for the Titans to win the contest, the club will have to do three things well. "We have to keep them off the offensive boards," the Titan boss said.

"We also have to stop their transition game and we have to attack their half-court press. "Marion deserves to be ranked first Teagle is a good player. He's not a great jumper, but he works hard and positions well on the boards. The key to their success this LEFT CROSS Los Angeles Kareem Abdul-Jabbar clips the chin of Houston forward Robert Reid while they battle for a rebound. The only injury Reid suffered was to his pride as the i Lakers downed the Rockets 123-116 in an NBA game last night at I Houston.

AP Laserphoto. i PRE-CHRISTMAS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MENU Northside Titans on top-ranked Marion year, I believe, is the strong play they have been getting from their two sophomores (Edwards and Jones." To combat this lineup, Allen will have the 24.8-point scoring of Billy Butts and the 16.5 points of Dan O'Korn. In addition to Butts (6-3) and O'Korn (6-4), other starters probably will be Reggie Powell (6-5), George Pegues (5-9) and Roger Hubbard (5-10). The teams have played one common opponent. Marion blasted Anderson Highland 68-48, while the Titans played perhaps their worst game of the season in losing to the Scots 75-57.

By DAVE TERRY Evening Press sports writer For the third time this season Northside will take to the road to battle a state-ranked basketball team and the Titans (4-4) have three more games against teams 1 currently in the Top 20. The Titans of coach Wayne Allen I will be at No. 1 Marion (8-0) tomorrow in one of the featured games involving city-county clubs. So far this season North has dropped a one-point decision to New Castle, ranked 11th this week, and an 11-pointer to 12th-rated Muncie Central. Coming up after the holidays will When Wes-Del visits Laurel in a contest originally scheduled Dec.

7, but was postponed because of inclement weather at Laurel the Warriors will face one of the top scorers in the state in 6-4 Jimmy Mullins. The senior forward is averaging 27.0 points an outing, which includes a 44-point effort against Milan. Also in double figures for Jeff Siebert's Panthers are 6-7 Dave Anders and 5-11 Bradley Spurlock. Anders also is the leading board man, averging 9.0 caroms a game. Continued on page 36.