The Hutchinson News from Hutchinson, Kansas • Page 12

wm Hutchinson 83, Olney, 111. 75 Keady bar the door (News photo by Frank Neimeir) Connie White (20) of Mercer County I'Viday niglil. Mercer, a favorite of the 7,000 plus on Junior College, Trenton, N.J., arches a shot over the out- hand to watch the game, upset defending champion Vincennes. stretched arm of Vincennes, Inch, defender Mike Darretl. Action In background is Trailblazer Harold Miles (53).

game during semifinals of the NJCAA basketball tournament at The King is dead, long live By Fred Mendell A new king will rule National Junior College basketball in 1973. Mercer of Trenton, N.J., survived an incredible first half cold spell and a brief winterish retur.n in the second half and manipulated its way to a 62-58 victory over the defending champion Vincennes Trailblazers in a championship semifinals game at the Arena, Friday night. With a story-book comeback, Mercer gained a 25-25 halftime tie. The chill returned in the second half as the Trailblazers rode the under basket shooting of Phil Spence and the medium to long goal shooting of Dave Edmonds and Eartha Faust to a lead with about 12 and a half minutes remaining. White-ignited Connie White started Mercer on the come-back trail, hitting a J2 -footer and following with one 'nearly twice that long.

Melvin "Weldon added a drive-in lay-up, and White came right back with Jong one, pulling Mercer to within three. Mike Garret interupted the Mercer rally with a fielder for Vincennes, but the Vikings came Tight back with a field goal by Freda, another by Weldon that put Mercer 42-41. That gave Mercer its first lead in the ball game at 42-41. He was fouled while shooting and converted. Vincennes was a long way from finished.

It took a lead of 47-43 and was ahead 51-50 with 3:55 remaining. Marty Prendergast hit two free throws, with 3:42 to go and the Vikings were ahead at 53-51. Spence stole the ball and drove in for a lay-up that gave Vincennes its last lead of the game at 53-52. Control tactics When Richie Freda sank a pair of free throws to put Mercer out from 54-53, and the Vikings regained the ball they started a control game. Mel Hughlett fouled Weldon the wrong man.

Weldon sank 'em both to make' it seven in a row. Freda slipped in for a lay- up off an in-bounds play. Vincennes turned the ball over and Weldon put the game in wraps with a crisp-shot. That made it 60-53 for Mercer with 1:22 to go and the rest was anticlimax. Faust hit a sizzling long one.

Mike Darrett was fouled as he made a shot, ana sank the freebie to cut Mercer's margin to two, 60-58, but only 34 seconds remained and Mercer has a fine keep-away game. Richie Freda put it out of reach with two free shots with only 11 seconds to go. The first half of the game rates high on the list unbelie- vables. Started cold The Mercer Vikings were so cold they made Antartica look like a tropical paradise when the game opened. Melvin Weldon of Mercer County was fouled while shooting, and made the second of his two free throws to put the first point on the board.

And there it stood, a lonely sentinel while Coach Allen Bradfield's Trailblazers racked up 12 straight points and rolled nine minutes and 31 seconds off the clock. Vincennes wasn't hitting for any high per cent, something less than 45, but the Viking per cent on its first 15 attempts was a frigid .000. liroke ice John Ford finally connected on a four-foot side shot, giving Mercer its first field goal of the game and breaking the ice. Mike Leaphart followed with a 15-footer, and the teams started trading goals. Vincennes led 14-5, 18-7, 20-9.

That was the scoreboard reading with five minutes remaining in the half. The Vincennes suddenly came down with a bad case of turnover, and the Vikings caught fire, scoring goals in pairs until, with 27 seconds remaining, Mer cer trailed by only two, 23-25, and had ball possession. Mercer let the clock run down until it showed five seconds. Melvin Weldon took a 20 foot shot, and it missed. Vincennes rebounded, but Weldon slipped around behind Darrett, the re- bounder, grabbed the ball from His fingers and put it through the hoop for two, giving Mercer a 25-all tie at halftime.

Weldon, Mercer's team captain, played his finest tournament game and led the Vikings with 22 points. Connie White had 17. Phil Spence had 17, and Eartha Faust 14 for Vincennes. Mercer carries a 33-3 record into the championship game. Saturday night.

Men-tsr ((i2) I'rundurigust Weldon Young White Kri'ilu Leaphart Kurd Sheurur Kuutlmun Totals VmrcmiL's (58) Kaust Edmonds Spt'iu'e Miles Darrett liughlette Halley Totals Mercer Vineeimes Turnovers Mercer KG FT -ri 2 7 8-11 2 0-2 1-3 2 4-4 1 0-0 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0-1 TP 1 7 3 22 5 4 17 8 2 2 0 0 23 16-24 14 62 KG r-T-A TP 6 2-2 5 0-0 7 3-5 3 0-0 4 1-1 0 0-0 1 0-0 26 6-8 25 25 33-58 14, Vincennes 22. By Barbara Caywood Hutchinson's Blue Dragons rode a sizzling first half into the finals of the National Junior College Tournament Friday night, defeating Olney, 111., 83-75. The Blue Dragons are in the championship game for the first time since 1949, the first year the tournament was held in Hutchinson. They lost to Tyler, in that game and have finished no higher than third in the 25 ensuing years. Hutch was third in 1958 and again in 1966.

They meet Mercer of Trenton, N.J. at 8:45 Saturday night. The Dragons all nut mew one Blue Knights of Olney out of the Arena in the first half. Olney came into the game having gained the reputation as the most disciplined team in the tournament because of their precision and patience in running their offense. No chance But the Dragons never gave them a chance to run much of an offense in the first 20 minutes.

Led by the sensational outside shooting of 6-5 freshman forward Teko Wynder who hit 10 of 12 from the field before intermission, the Dragons raced out in front of Olney by 11 points, 18-7, with less than eight minutes gone and by the 3:26 mark, they were leading by a whopping 24 points, 42-18. The Dragons hit 7 of their first 10 shots and were still cooking on high with 4:40 left when they had hit 19 of 27. For the first half, they meshed 22 of 32 for an extra warm 68.7 per cent. Olney started to hit late in the first half and pulled to within 17, 46-29, at intermission. New team Olney came out reorganized in the second half and threw a big scare into the Dragon faithful.

Rudy Jackson, Hutch's 6-10 freshman center, who did a whale of a defensive job on Olney star Roger Morningstar, went to the bench with four fouls with 10:35 remaining and the Dragons leading by 13. Meanwhile, Olney's Robert Taylor was burning up the nets. By 7:12, Olney had pulled within four points, 69-64, and Hutch Coach Gene Keady put Jackson and John Terry, who was Hutch's rebound leader and who also had four fouls, back into the game. Jackson lasted only 19 seconds before drawing his fifth foul at 6:53. With 5:10 remaining, Olney pulled within three points, 70-67, on another bucket by Taylor, who hit 25 of his 38 points in the second half.

Then the Dragons regained their poise, put their defense back in high gear and from 4:57 to :35, outscored the Blue Knights, 11-4. Cooled off Wynder, who cooled off in the early part of the second stanza, warmed up again and hit six of the 11 points, Charles Terry hit a pair of free throws, John Terry drove in for a layup and Kenny Joe Love hit a free throw. The Dragons had a more comfortable lead often points, 81-71, with 35 seconds left and the packed house of over 7500 relaxed a bit. Olney closed out with two free throws and another field goal by Taylor, but Joe Love got in the last lick for the Dragons, hitting an 18-foot jumper with five seconds left for the final 83-75 margin. Rudy Jackson and Kenny Joe Love were outstanding on defense for a the Dragons, holding State scores Morningstar and hot-shooting guard Rick Bussard to ten points each.

Wynder also did a good job on Lovice Smith, limiting him to ten points. The Dragons had a 37-23 total in rebounds with John Terry leaping for 11. Jackson pulled down eight while Wynder had six and Charles Terry got five. Wynder hits 29 Wynder, who was hitting steadily from the 15-20 foot range, added nine second-half points to his first half total of 20 and finished as the Dragon leader with 29. He hit his first seven shots in a row in the first half.

Jackson got 14 for the Dragons and Charles Terry scored 13, nine of them at crucial points in the second half. Robert Taylor, the 6-4 frosh forward for Olney, was high scorer in the game with 38, including 25 in that tremendous second-half effort. In 3A semifinals The Dragons take a 19-game win streak into the championship game and now stand 29-3 for the season. Olney meets Vincennes, Ind. in the third place game.

The Blue Knights are now 30-7. Hutchinson (83) FG FT-A TP .1. Terry 3 0-2 4 6 Wynder 14 1-2 2 29 7 0-1 5 14 ('. Terry 5 3-4 3 13 Hill 2 0-0 1 4 Shoemaker 1 0-1 1 2 Love 4 3-4 0 11 Single 1 0-0 1 2 Bnckhus 1 0-0 1 2 Weissheck 0 0-1 1 0 Totals 38 7-15 19 83 Olney, 111. (75) FG FT-A TP Bussnrd 5 0-0 1 10 Turner 1 3-5 5 5 Smith 5 0-0 5 10 Morningstar 5 0-0 4 10 Taylor 15 8-9 4 38 I'jspenschied 0 0-0 2 0 l.ittleford 0 2-2 0 2 Totals 31 13-16 21 75 At Halftime: Hutchinson 46, Olney 29 Turnovers: Hutchinson 10, Olney 14 Page 12 Hutchinson News Saturday.

March 17, 1973 A A scoreboard Game 18 Poplar Bluff, Mo. 89, Twin Falls, Idaho 87, consolation semifinals. Game 19 Cocoa, Fla. 85, Paducah, Ky. 74, consolation semifinals.

Game 20 Tigerville, S.C. 101, Bacone, Okla. 97, elimination game. Game 21 Trenton, N.J. 62, Vincennes, Ind.

58, championship semifinals. Game 22 Hutchinson 83, Olney, III. 75, championship semifinals. Saturday's pairings Game 23, 1 p.m. Poplar Bluff, Mo.

(28-10) vs. Cocoa, Fla. (24-3), 5th-8th place. Game 24, 2:45 p.m. Stone Ridge, N.Y.

(32-5) vs. Tigerville, S.C. (27-8), 4th-7th place. Game 25, 7 p.m. Vincennes, Ind.

(28-4) vs. Olney, III. (30-7), 3rd-6th place. Game 26, 8:45 p.m. Trenton, N.J.

(33-3) vs. Hutchinson (29-3), championship. Buhler tumbles By Alan Krob EMPORIA The favorites were upended here Friday night in semifinals of the Class 3A basketball tournament, setting up a championship meeting between Shawnee Heights and Parsons. Shawnee Heights jumped to an early lead over Buhler and defeated the Crusaders 69-61, while Parsons stunned top-seeded Phillipsburg, 62-55. Buhler, Mid-Kansas League champion and seven times state basketball champion, led Shawnee Heights only once, 4-2 with 5:18 left in the first quarter.

The T-Birds countered quickly, however, and raced to a 22-14 lead as the first quarter closed. Shawnee Heights converted on 100 per cent of its first half free throw attempts and left the court on top at intermission, 38-30. The T-Birds continued to hold a comfortable lead after three periods, 54-44. Buhler's Mike Kroeker spared Slippery Rock is defeated in NAIA KANSAS CITY (AP) Guilford, N. parlayed lightning quickness with the shooting if Lloyd Free and M.

L. Carr for a 77-69 victory over second- seeded Augustana, 111., Friday night and rolled into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic basketball tournament finals against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Eastern Shore, the No. 8 seed, gained the final showdown by routing Slippery Rock 113-82 on the fancy shooting of Tommy Nelson, Joe Pace, and Rubin Collins. Eastern Shore and Guilford clash for the title Saturday at 8:45 p.

m. CST. Ice-cold Augustana, the nation's No. 2 small college team, hit only nine of 44 field shots in the first half and at one point went six minutes 27 seconds without scoring. The Vikings, losing only their second of 29 games, trailed at intermission 35-23.

Once in the second half, with 16:45 left, the Vikings sliced Guilford's lead to four points before Carr hit two consecutive baskets, Ray Massengill followed with one and Carr added another in rapid succession to open up a 12-point gap. After that, it never was closer than six points and this East again in 54 finals KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Wichita East and Topeka moved into the finals of the Kansas 5A basketball tournament Friday night. Wichita East defeated Wyandotte 73 came with less than IV2 minutes remaining. Free scored 25 points and Carr 19.

Chuck Menzer topped Augustana with 16. John Laing, the Vikings' big star, made 14 and was held to two free throws in the first half. Second-seeded Augustana, 111., met Guilford, N. in the second semifinals game. Eastern Shore, 27-4, spotted The Rock an early six-point lead twice before the Hawks stormed back with a fastbreak that all but drove the Pennsylvanians out of municipal Auditorium.

The victorious Hawks scored almost at will, sinking long shots, layups, everything, until they built up a 17-point advantage within 10 minutes. Things got even worse for Slippery Rock in the second half. William Gordon hit two field goals and Collins added another as the second half opened and the Hawks led 6138. The Rockets never got closer than 19 points after that. Nelson had 23 points, Pace 20 and Collins 18.

Owen Long was high for Slippery Rock with 16. a mini-rally in the tinal quarter as he hit two 15-foot jumpers to pull the Crusaders within seven, 51-58, but that was as close as they were to come. Shawnee Heights finished the game with 49 per cent field goal shooting and a 62 per cent success at the foul line. Buhler hit only 37 per cent of its field shots and 44 per cent of its free throw tosses. Glen Peterson led the Shawnee Heights attack with 25 points.

Dennis McPahil had 13 and Gary Droge 12. For Buhler, Kroeker finished with 21, Stan Schmidt had 12 and Udean Pounds 11. Parsons beat Phillipsburg 6255, and Shawnee Heights downed Buhler 69-61. Parsons, with a 19-5 record, is in the state tourney for the fourth year in a row and still is looking for its first state championship. Shawnee Heights is 21-3.

Phillipsburg, 21-2, will play Buhler, 20-3, for third place Saturday night. Parsons' 5-foot-11 Steve Odaffer scored 29 points for another good game. Blane Johnson led. Phillipsburg with 18. Parsons held a 30-29 edge after a close first half in which Phillipsburg played man-to-man defense.

Phillipsburg opened the second half with a zone defense and in five minutes Parsons shot up a 45-36 lead. Phillipsburg went back to its familiar man-to-man work, but the damage was done. It could get no closer than 56-51 with 3:45 to go. Shawnee Heights record 21 3 Buhler record W20L3 Shawnee Heights 69 Jeff Voth 3-0-3, Dennis McPhail 5-3-3, Tom Dinkel 4-1-4, Gary Droge 6-0-4, Glen Peterson 8-9-3, John Hasting 2-0-1, Terry Pease 0-0-1. Totals 28-13-19 Buhler 61 Udean Pounds 4-3-2, Mike Kroeker 10-1-2, Stan Schmidt 6-0-3, Byron Adrian 2-0-3, Ralph Pauls 4-0-5, Jerry Hodges 0-3-4, Ron Reade 1-0-1.

Totals 27-7-19 SH 22-38-54-69 14-30-44-61 College title to Wesleyan EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP)Kentucky Wesleyan's' Jyronna Ralston sank a free throw and a basket in the last 45 seconds 62, and Topeka topped Wichita overtime period Saturday Class 5A at Kansas City ALL. GAMES SEMIFINALS Class 5A at Kansas City Wichita East 73, Wyandotte 62 Topeka High 69, Wichita Southeast 64 Class 4A at Wichita McPherson 81, Leavenworth 69 Junction City 65, Coffeyville 45 Class 3A at Emporia Parsons 62, Phillipsburg 55 Shawnee Heights 69, Buhler 61 Class 2A at Topeka Frankfort 54, Northeast of Arma 44 Basehor 65, Alma 50 Class 1A at Dodge City Lebanon 63, Ransom 54 Garden Plain 49, Little River Southeast 69-64 The winners meet in the finals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Wichita East established an early lead and led at the half, 33-22.

Wyandotte didn't begin to narrow the margin until they employed a press at the beginning of the final period, but it was too late to catch up. Jonathan Young had 30 points and Ernest Carter had 26 to account for the majority of East's scor- night, giving the Panthers a 7876 victory over Tennessee State for the Nattional Collegiate Athletic Association College Division championship. It was the fourth national title in eight years for the Owensboro school, one of the smallest colleges in the country, with an enrollment of 714 students. Ralston's clinching points capped an uphill battle for a Charles Moore and Mike sle an team that had fallen 45 ing. Kerr had 13 each to lead Wyan dotte.

The Topeka-Wichita Southeast game was close until the final period. Topeka trailed at the half, 40-38. Garry Lee scored 16 of his 20 total points in the first half for Topeka, but teammates picked up the scoring chores in the second-half rally. Sports results 25 68 NAIA Semifinals Maryland-Eastern Shore 113, Slippery Rock, Pa. 82 Guilford, N.C., 77, Augustana, 111.

69 NCAA COLLEGE DIVISION Consolation Assumption, Mass. 94, Brockport, N.Y., St. 90 Championship Kentucky Wesleyan 78, Tennessee St. 76, overtime PRO SCORES Detroit 121, Buffalo 100 (NBA) New England 7, Minnesota 4 (WHA) Atlanta 135, Phoenix 127 (NBA) Baltimore 103, Boston 97 (NBA) Indiana 98, New York 89 (ABA) Virginia 123, Carolina 118 (ABA) Virginia 3, Baltimore 1 (AHL) behind at 56-54 with 7:30 left after leading throughout the earlier stages of the second half. Wesleyan twice caught the Tigers, at 62-62 and 64-64, but neither team could connect in the final minute and a half.

Tennessee State, converting Wesleyan turnovers into fast break baskets, went in front early in the game and the Tigers stayed there until Wesleyan tied it at 18-all with 11:20 to go- Two baskets by Mike Williams and two more by Ralston sparked Wesleyan to its biggest lead of the game, 30-22, with four minutes left in the first half. Three baskets from Michael Johnson helped bring Tennessee State a 32-32 tie at the half. Tennessee State tied the game five times early in the second half, then took tthe lead with 7:30 left, 56-54, after a five-point flurry by 6-foot-7 Leonard Robinson. Wesleyan's scoring leader was the tournament's most valuable player, Williams, with 27 points. Johnson, a freshman, led the youthful Tennessee State attack with 22.

With Wesleyan's Williams on the all-tourney team were teammate Roger Zornes, Robinson, Ron Gilliam of Brockport State and Mike Boylan of Assumption. Boylan scored 45 points as Assumption defeated Brockport 94-90 for third place. Boylan's 45 points was the tournament's one-game high, and the Assumption star wound up with a five-game tourney total of 123 points. It was the highest finish in 12 College Division tournament appearances for the Worcester, school, which closed out its season at 25-3. The tourney scoring champion, Brockport's Ron Gilliam, hit 23 points, bringing his five- game total to 165 points.

Mike Panaggio also had 23 for the Eagles, who finished the season at 22-6. 1.