Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 9

Saturday, January 25, 1986-Mattoon, (D.) Journal Gazette-B-1 "ja BearsDitka-says let's get it on'. B2. Arthur cruises to LOVC title; other results. B4. Eastern to.

face Valpo at home tonight. B5. Area coaches say Bears' defense Will pulverize Pats VlM Expery- School, 21-17: "What got the Patriots to the Super Bowl was their running game but the Bears' 46 defense will be too tough for them to move the ball against. "Plus, Eason has a high interception rate which leads to a lot of turnovers. He's too immobile the Bears rush will getto1 MATTOON It will be the Bears all the way in Sunday's Super Bowl.

At least that is the clear-cut opinion of my distinguished panel of experts. columnist polled the nine area high school coaches along with Eastern Illinois University's Al Molde and they all agree that Mike Ditka's Bears will win Sunday. And they all indicated that the Bears' rough-and-tough defense will be the difference. Amazingly enough, only two of them predicted the same score (20-7). The rest listed finals of 244, 24-17, 24-7, 21-17, 24-21, 16-3, 24-10 and 28-14.

The compiled average of those 10 scores is 22.5 for the Bears and 10.3 for the Patriots. Following is the prediction of each coach and his opinion why the Bears will win LARRY KANE, Mattoon High School, 24-0: "The Bears will wipe them out. I've never seen a tougher defense in my life. When they want to play a 46 the Bears have a strong enough defense to take care of that." Myers was the only one of the ten coaches to even hedge a little on his prediction. He said, "Even if the Bears lose and being a longtime Bears fan I could live with that Eason (winning)." Tony Eason is a former Illinois quarterback.

KIM HAWKINS, Martinsville School, 24-7: "The Bears defense will stop the Patriots' ground game. They (Pats) might score more than seven points but the Bears will gjve Eason fits. (Dan) Marino is the only quarterback good enough to beat them (the Bears)Wause he throws so quick on short drops which is why Miami beat the Bears. But, I don't think Marino could beat them again. He was just lucky the first time." JEFF LEYDEN, Cumberland High School, 20-7: "The Bears defense is too tough.

And, they've got a comparable offense to go with it. I just don't think the him. With the Bears' size on the defensive front he (Eason) will have trouble seeing down the middle. I do think you can have some success against the Bears with the short pass." AL MOLDE, Eastern Illinois Uni- versity, 24-21: "The Bears will probably win. I go along with the destiny thing that it seems to be their year.

I do think the game will be a lot closer than most people think it will be. "The Bears might be behind for awhile. The Patriots are really playing on an up-note but the Bears are pretty dominant. I really like their defense but I also like the (Continued on page B2) Bears 22.5-10.3- defense or whatever they simply wipe people out. They are big, fast and mean." VERLON MYERS, Charleston High School, 24-17: "There's no doubt about the winner my Bears all the way.

However, I think some people are selling the Patriots a little short. They've got a big, fine offensive front and four good run-ningbacks who keep coming at you. But, Patriots can stay with them offensively or defensively." KEITH SINCLAIR, Casey High Danville rolls up decisive 67-49 win over Green Wave By JIM KIMBALL JG Sports Editor FG-FGA FT-FTA RB PF TP 3 6 4 3 3 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 4 28 0-0 44 7-9 5-6 0- 0 1- 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 17-21 2- 6 4 14 3- 6 2- 4 2- 4 1- 3 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1 1- 5 0- 0 1- 3 16-46 4 3 3 1 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 19 Mattoon (49) Name Taylor Gagnon Smith Simmonds Endebrbck Dugan Reardon Shepley Lukow Otto Butler Tate Totals Danville (67) Name Small V.Robinson Cunningham Robinson Thomas Perryman Lovelace Murray Graves Stark Pope Totals FG-FGA FT-FTA RB PF TP 5 4 1-2 5- 9 5- 14 6- 11 6-11 3- 9 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 2- 4 0- 0 27-59 4 2 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 7 6 7 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 32 5-5 2-5 2- 3 3- 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-4 13-21 in the first quarter there's no other way to put," MHS coach Bob Avery moaned. "Danville has fine quickness but we just didn't handle the ball under the circumstances." Mattoon trailed 19-11 and 33-23 after the first two periods before Danville opened' up a 49-29 three quarter lead. The Wave could thread only 3 of 11 shots during the third period in getting outscored 16-6.

Danville tallied 12 straight points during one stretch to extend a 36-27 lead with 5:26 left to an uncatchable 47-27 with 1:46 remaining. The closest Mattoon could get to the lead was 15 points at 59-44 with 4:21 left to play arid had a chance to get closer. But, a bad pass, one of 23 turnovers Mattoon committed in the game, and a missed shot on the Wave's next two offensive trips put a damper on any kind of comeback. Avery then cleared the bench at the 3:22 mark and Danville enjoying a 59-44 lead. "We really had.

a bad night reacting to the pressure," Avery said of his team's disappointing play. "Once in awhile you just feel like the kids aren't with it tonight was one of those nights. "We just didn't have any motivating factors in our play: The timeouts didn't help nothing really clicked for us." Greg Smith, who normally devotes most of his playing time to directing the Wave offense, led the scoring with 13 points. He was 3-for-6 from the floor and 7-of-9 at the line for one of the few bright spots in Mattoon's play. Mattoon's leading scorer Ken Gagnon was next with 12 but could thread only 4 of 14 shots.

The Wave shot a mild .347 from the floor so Gagnon wasn't the only player having trouble finding the hoop against Danville's quick hawkers. Avery's club, now 6-10 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 Conference play compared to Danville's 11-5, 6-3 marks, respectively, will have a chance to get back on the victory trail tonight. Bloomington calls for an 8 p.m. engagement following the customary 6:15 sophomore contest. Score by Quarters 11 12 6 20-49 19 14 16 18-67 Mattoon Danville -MATTOON Danville's Vikings gained revenge for their early-season 41-40 loss to Mattoon's Green Wave here Friday night in a big way.

Coach Gene Gourley's surging club rolled up a 67-49 decision for their fourth straight victory while handing Mattoon its second straight loss. "It was a good win for us," Gourley said afterwards. "Not only did it keep our winning streak alive but I was really pleased with our offensive showing. "In factI played as well offensively as "we've ever played here. "Bob's (Avery) 2-3 zone has given us fits over the years.

But, our offensive execution was really good tonight." The scorebook supports his feeling. Four of the five starters finished in double figures. Yantz Robinson, who was scholastically-ineligible for the first Dan-ville-Mattoon meeting back on Dec. 13 in Danville, led with 15 points while sharing the Viking rebounding leadership with Stacy Robinson. Each had seven grabs.

Stacy Robinson and Jason Cunningham added 14 points apiece and smooth-shooting Andy Small 11 to give Danville more than enough firepower to hold off Mattoon. "Having four guys in double figures is a mark of good offensive execution," Gourley pointed out. "We've had two or three guys in double figures over our last four or five games." The Vikings wound up shooting .457 from the field but turned the ball over only 14 times "which has pretty much been our average recently," according to Gourley. The best crowd of the season (boosted by a group turnout of Mattoon Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary and Exchange club members) was on hand expecting an exciting game, but the Vikings put a damper on the expected festivities in the early going. Mattoon's guards couldn't handle the Vikings' speed and quickness.

i Turnovers: Mattoon 23; Danville 14. Shooting percentages: Mattoon Danville .457. Team rebounds: Mattoon Danville 0. Sophomore game Mattoon 10 15 12 18-55 Danville 12 18 14 14-58 MATTOON SCORING: Smith 2-1-5; Sawyer 6-315; Mike McQueen 6-1-13; Mark McQueen 6-2-14; Allen 3-0-6; McClelland 04-0; Butler 1-0-2; Nichols 0-0-0; Kolpin 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24-7-55.

Ken Gagnon scored to pull Mattoon even at 4-4 when disaster struck. Danville forced a bad pass on the Wave's next trip up the floor and Stacy Robinson turned it into an easy breakaway layin. Then, Yantz Robinson made a mid-court steal, scored on a driving layin and drew a blocking foul from Kurt Endebrock. He sank the charity toss to give Danville a 9-4 lead with 5: 35 left. The Wave spent the rest of the evening playing unsuccessful catchup.

"We had very poor shabby ball-handling Photo by Jay Klmbill Mattoon's Tony Simmonds launches a shot for two of his points. Trojans gain Salem title bid again Bird, Wedman lead Celts past Warriors 135-114 FG-FGA FT-FTA RB PF TP 0-0 3 0- 0 3 34 2 1- 1 5 3-3 8 0-0 1 1 4 741 24 0- 1 2-7 1- 5 5-8 10-15 4-8 0-0 2244 It 51 Centralia (51) Name Altadonna Rector Bieser Cooksey Shipley Dillingham Beguelin Team Totals Charleston (60) Name Everett Hlte Gueldner Lateef Oetting Hamner Hrvol Team Totals FG-FGA FT-FTA RB PF TP 1 10 0 3 4 0-1 3-7 -2-2 04 5-6 34 18-26 2-4 6-15 6-15 1- 3 0-0 2- 4 4-8 2149 Hite hit two free throws off a steal, Jeff Gueldner put in a second shot with his left hand, Hite converted on a steal by Jerry Hamner and Gueldner got a three-point opportunity off another Hamner steal. That stretch put CHS in command and in position to run off more than a minute on each of the next two possessions. "We did a whale of a job on defense tonight," Simons said. "That may be one of the best defense efforts all year.

When it got down to the nitty gritty, Hamner really did a good job picking it up on defense." Centralia, a team that owns a victory over perennial South Seven power Bentonr features a mobile 6-foot-7 junior capable of playing inside or out, and a 6-5 freshman that plays more like an upperclassmen. Rick Shipley, the big junior, finished with 23 points and eight rebounds despite the good defensive efforts of Rezwan Lateef and Gary Hrvol. "He's been averaging about 18 and had 30 last night (Thursday) against Hillsboro," Simons said. "All we wanted to do was hold him about his averase. Overall we did a pretty good job defensing him, though he got a few rebound baskets that concern us." Shipley defended Gueldner in Cen-tralia's man-to-man defense, keeping up with the 6-5 guard all over the court.

John Cooksey, the good-looking freshman, finished with 11 points and five rebounds. 1 30 13 By CARL WALWORTH Sports Editor SALEM southern excursion is becoming the right tonic for Charleston High School's basketball team. Not that the Trojans were playing poorly before they were 10-5 entering the week's play they appear more cohesive in their first two games at the Salem Invitational Tournament. CHS advanced to the championship game for the third consecutive year with a 60-51 victory Friday over Centralia. The Trojans play Edwardsville at 9 p.m.

today for the title. Edwardsville won 51-49 over Murphysboro in the other semifinal. Centralia proved to be a quality opponent. The Orphans, now 10-6, have good size and few seniors in a lineup that figures to be one of the best in southern Illinois the next few seasons. Charleston outscored Centralia 18-2 from a period of 1:56 left in the third quarter until 4:57 remained in the game.

The last eight points in that spurt were created by turnovers created by three- quarter court pressure. "For the first time all year, when the ball game was in balance we not only got the adjustments we wanted on the floor, but for the most part we did a good job taking care of the basketball," CHS coach Steve Simons said. "We did two things in that 18-2 spurt," bounds to pace the Milwaukee Bucks to a 117-92 victory over the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Pacers 35-17. After leading 29-23 after one period, the Bucks moved in front 52-36 with 3:54 remaining in the first half Tripucka leads Pistons DALLAS Kelly Tripucka scored 32 points and Isiah Thomas produced 20 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 129-120 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Wilkinshits36 ATLANTA Dominique Wilkins scored 36 points to enable the Atlanta Hawks to record a 117-100 victory over the New York Knicks, who played center Bill Cartwright for the first time in more than a year. 76ersclipCavs RICHFIELD, Ohio Maurice Cheeks went 8-for-8 in the first half from the field en route to a 30-point effort and Moses Malone added 28 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 121-114) victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. By United Press International BOSTON Larry Bird scored 25 points and Scott Wedman tied his season-high with 21 Friday night to. power the Boston Celtics to their seventh straight victory, a 135-114 decision over the Golden State Warriors. Boston'David Thirdkill came off the bench to establish a career high with 20 points 16 coming in the final quarter as the Celtics rolled to iheir 19th victory in 20 home starts.

The Warriors lost their fifth straight. Warriors rookie Chris Mullin, who was back after missing Wednesday's game because his brother was ill in New York, scored 24 points. Danny Ainge produced 16 points for Boston while Robert Parish had 13, Jerry Sichting and Dennis Johnson 12 each. Eric Floyd scored 19 and Purvis Short added 15 for the Warriork Boston played without forward Kevin McHale, averaging 22.5 points per game, who was sidelined with a sore left Achilles heel. Bucks top Pacers INDIANAPOLIS Charles Davis scored 24 points and grabbed 13 re Score by Quarters Centralia 11 16 11-51 Charleston 17 n-80 Turnovers: Centralia 20, Charleston 16.

Simons said. "We made an adjustment in the halfcourt offense, and the kids ran it perfect. And when the game could have gone either way (with the score 42-41 Centralia), the press just flat out ate them up. We made a little adjustment on the front of the press that allowed our defense to play a little more Intelligent. When your press is effective, all five guys are doing theirjob." In that final eight-point stretch, Darrell yft irf irfirt, idi A nfl 11.