Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 19

v-1 i NATION REGION Rivers rise in wake of storm1 A Authorities remain silent on satanism allegations1 MESSENGER-INQUBRER pir(tsM(B(sIlMdl VOL 116 NO. 48 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 7, 1 990 350 MARK C. MATHIS Sportswriter 1979 regional final still the talk of Bremen HISTORY Like coal, basketball is a bond for county ir i SCHOOLi Bremen High Eagles. FOUNDED! 1920. ENROLLMENT! 200.

FIRST TEAMSi Boys. 1924; girls, 1974. DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIPS! Boys, 1959. 1961, 1964, 1965. 1973, 1979, 1982.

LEADING SCORER: Ray Harper. 3,033 points. Editor's note: Today the Messenger-Inquirer begins "Muhlenberg Madness," a seven-part series on the rich basketball tradition surrounding the seven high schools in Muhlenberg County near the end of the final season before the schools consolidate into two new schools. By Jake Jennings Messenger-Inquirer It's all right to talk about basketball while waiting for a turn in the chair at Cletus Noffsinger's barbershop in Bremen. Just don't do it when he's cutting your hair.

"He'll scalp you," joked Bremen mayor and grocery store owner Roy Shaver. Noffsinger, a lifelong resident of Bremen, has been keeping the score book for the Eagles for 25 years. He graduated from Bremen High School in 1963. Trimming hair and talking Bremen basketball are two things Noffsinger likes to do best. His barbershop is a favorite place for the locals to get together the day after a game and discuss the shots that were made and the calls that were missed.

But, as this season winds down, the talk around the shop will switch to games of the past not of games to come. This is the last year for varsity basketball at the old gym in northwestern Muhlenberg County. All high school students who now go to Bremen will attend the new Muhlenberg North High School. But traditions die hard, and as long as there are people who remember the old high school, the people will continue to talk about big games 10 or more years past as if they had been played yesterday. Like the 1979 finals of the regional tournament when Bremen lost, 69-52, to the Owensboro Red Devils and.

You only have to visit Muhlenberg County once to know how much basketball means to this area. Only coal has rivaled the attention given to basketball here. But not just any kind of basketball Muhlenberg County basketball. That's especially apparent to a visitor to the 10th District basketball tournament. Last year's tournament is where this detached observer got hooked.

The 10th District Tournament is the essence of high school basketball, at least what it once was. That's fitting because the essence of Muhlenberg County is its high school basketball. "The importance of basketball to the county?" Drakesboro coach Robie Harper asked, repeating the question. "Well, it's a way of life. A way of night life." A way of life that will exist only for another week, actually two, if you count the district tournament that begins Feb.

26. There will still be basketball, but it won't be the same. The seven high schools in Muhlenberg County will be consolidated into two. Bremen, Central City, Drakesboro, Graham, Greenville, Hughes-Kirk and Muhlenberg Central will become, simply, Muhlenberg North and Muhlenberg South. Harper will coach at Muhlenberg South.

Central City coach Tony Hopper will guide See BOND5 their duo of super-juniors Rod Drake and Dwight Higgs. "I remember Higgs stayed at the top of the circle and they finally started getting the ball to him," Noffsinger said of Higgs, who scored 22 points in the second half. "He just killed us. Drake was tough, too." Ray Harper, a junior guard for Bremen, was held to 14 points in that game, half his average. Eddie Lewis, now the Bremen girls' coach, was the Eagles' leading scorer that night with 22.

Harper would graduate in 1980 at the top of Bremen's leading scorers' list with 3,033 career points a record that will stand forever. Bremen boys varsity basketball began in 1924. Records from the beginning to the mid-1940s are sketchy because the gym, and all the records, burned down. Nobody remembers exactly when that happened. But everybody recalls the winning years and the seven district championships the Eagles claimed from 1959 to 1982.

A Bremen team never made it to the Sweet 16 Tournament, but the Eagles were regional runners-up three times. Bryan Whitaker, who graduated from Bremen in 1966, has coached there for the past 15 years. He said he'll miss the local schools and the See BREMEN5 I Allen Lake, Messenger-Inquirer Barber Cletus Noff singer, a 1963 graduate of scorekeeper for 25 years. Bremen is in the midst of its Bremen High School, has been the Eagles' final basketball season. KWC 'fired up' to even score with USI USI at KWC SITE: Sportscenter.

TIMEl 7:30 p.m. RECORDS! KWC 22-1 overall, 12-1 in Great Lakes Valley Conference. USI 17-5 and 10-2. SERIESi KWC leads, 18-11. LAST MEETING! USI won, 84-78, atUSIJan.

13. RADIO! WVJS-AM, 1420. TV: Owensboro Cable 2, 7:30 p.m. and taped at 10:30 p.m. WOMEN'S GAME: 5 p.m.

didn't prepare ourselves to play in a hotly contested, physical basketball game. "We tried to adjust during the game, but that won't be a problem this time." USI was more aggressive from the start, built an early lead and leyan never caught up, although the Panthers did make it close in the last 10 minutes. "I think we were more of a surprise to them the last time we played," said USI assistant coach Vic Coleman. "They didn't know what to expect from us. We played a couple ranked teams, and we were better than last year, and they hadn't played teams of that caliber yet." Wesleyan has won nine games in a row since that setback.

"We've got to keep their guards from penetrating and beat them on the boards," Coleman said. "We've got to control Corey Crowder. Anytime you've got an Ail-American on a team, the other guys look up to him and play off of him. "We've got to keep him from having a huge game. We don't expect to keep him to 10 points.

We want to keep him around his average." Chapman's concern is controlling USI's inside game led by 6-9 center Ilo Mutombo (12 points, eight rebounds per game), Dennis Humphrey (11 ppg, four rpg) and Rick Stein (nine ppg, five rpg). "Even though their guards (Chris Johnson, 15 ppg, and Robin Clark, 14 ppg) played very well, their inside people controlled the game, from scoring to rebounding," Chapman said. "Our inside people have a big challenge." Crowder leads Wesleyan in scoring See KWC 5 By Rich Suwanski Messenger-Inquirer No. 1 Kentucky Wesleyan can't erase the only blemish on its 22-1 record, but it can even the score in the season series when the Panthers host No. 18 Southern Indiana tonight at the Sportscenter.

Game time is 7:30. Wesleyan sits atop the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a 12-1 record, 22-1 overall. USI is third in the GLVC at 10-2 and 17-5 overall, USI beat Wesleyan 84-78 in the teams' previous meeting in Evansville last month. "We've thought a lot about how we played the last time, and we didn't play the way we're capable," said KWC senior center Bobby Newton. "They beat us up and down the court, and inside and outside.

"We're pretty fired up for this game and they're going to come in with the same attitude. It's going to be a battle." After the loss to USI, KWC coach Wayne Chapman shouldered the blame, saying he didn't put the team in the right frame of mind. "We're doing things a little differently this time," he said. "Mostly we Bob Bruck, Messenger-Inquirer Randy Awrey, left, Kentucky Wesleyan's new football coach, listens to Athletic Director Wayne Chapman at a news conference Friday. KWC names Awrey head football coach Cats have little time to celebrate INSIDE UK at ALABAMA SITE! Tuscaloosa, Ala.

TIME! 7:30 p.m. RECORDS! Kentucky. 13-10 overall, 9-5 in the SEC. Alabama, 17-7 overall 8-5 In SEC. SERIES: Kentucky leads 81-25.

LAST MEETING: Kentucky beat Alabama 82-65 in Lexington on Jan. 1 7. RADIO! WOMI-AM, 1490. 7:30 p.m. tuted football in 1983.

Awrey, 34, replaces Billy Mitchell, who was fired at the end of the football season last November. "We want to get a positive atmosphere started and moving, from the players to the faculty and all the people I met," Awrey said. "They all want this team to succeed. Everybody wants to see this thing go. Everybody wants it to work and that makes it an easy job.

"If you step in and do it right, they'll be in your corner. It's only going to take hard work and dedication to the job. Those things See AWREY5 By Rich Suwanski Messenger-Inquirer Kentucky Wesleyan College began a new chapter in its football program when it appointed Randy Awrey as its head football coach Friday. Awrey, who was a defensive coordinator for five years at St. Lawrence College in Canton, N.Y., gave an upbeat introductory speech to a room filled with about 50 students and administrators at Wesleyan's Health and Recreation Center.

He promised hard work and a positive atmosphere for a program that has not had a winning season since the school reinsti- I Weekend sports calendar, sports statistics, Page 2. I High school sports, Page 3. I NBA, college basketball, personal fitness, outdoors, Page 4. I NFL, auto racing, Page 5. I Sports on television, television listings, Page 6.

I Movie listings, Page 4A. I Calendar of events, Page 2B. part is that you've only got 24 hours to prepare for it." Kentucky defeated the Crimson Tide 82-65 on Jan. 17 In Rupp Arena as Reggie Hanson scored 20 points, Deron Feldhaus 19, John Pelphrey 16 and Miller 10 in a balanced attack. Alabama is coming off an 86-74 homecourt loss to Mississippi State in which it shot only 35.5 percent from the field.

The only bright spot for the Tide was a 29-point, 10-re-bound effort by Robert Horry. Miller leads Kentucky in scoring with 19.9 points a game, followed by Hanson with 16.2, Feldhaus 14.4 and Pelphrey 13.1. Alabama is led by Melvin Cheatum with 16.1 points and Horry with 13.3. Associated Press LEXINGTON There wasn't much time for the Kentucky Wildcats to savor their upset over No. 9 Louisiana State.

Only two days after shocking LSU 100-95 in Rupp Arena, Kentucky visits Alabama in an important Southeastern Conference game for both teams tonight "We enjoyed it a little bit a couple of hours," guard Derrick Miller said of the LSU game. "But now it's all business again." Kentucky, 13-10 overall, is 9-5 in league play, a half-game behind leaders Georgia and LSU. Alabama, 17-7, is right behind at 8-5. The Wildcats are riding a four-game win streak that-includes a 78-74 victory over Florida, their first triumph on the road this season. "Physically and mentally, it's not that difficult to play the next game," said Kentucky coach Rick Pitino before practice Friday.

"The difficult.