Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 108, Greencastle, Putnam County, 12 January 1984 — Page 9

Tiger Cubs and Mustangs collide in WCC showdown

By STEVE FIELDS Banner-Graphic Sports Editor The West Central Conference high school basketball race is a long way from being decided, but Friday night’s game between 3-0 co-leaders Greencastle and host Edgewood should go a long way toward deciding a champion. “This is the key conference ball game of the season at this point,” coach Doug Miller said of the second in a series of four straight WCC games his Tiger Cubs are playing. CLOVERDALE AND NORTH Putnam both play home games Friday. The Clovers host 8-2 Southmont and the Cougars entertain highly regarded 7-1 North Montgomery. Southmont and North Montgomery play each other Saturday night. North Putnam travels to Rockville Saturday night and Cloverdale is idle. South Putnam plays just one game before going on a week’s vacation, the Eagles traveling to Eminence Friday. Because of the WCC Wrestling Tournament Jan. 21 South will not play again until Jan. 24 when Greencastle is the visiting team. Three conference schools are tied up in the Hendricks County Tournament this weekend. Cascade is 5-5 after ousting now 2-2 Tri-West 65-52 in the opening game of the Hendricks County Tournament Wednesday night. Brownsburg defeated Avon 57-49 in the second game. EDGEWOOD ENTERS FRIDAY night’s WCC game with a surprising 6-2 record. The Mustangs routed North Putnam 93-45 and slipped by Martinsville 56-55 Saturday night. “That is the lowest number of points we’ve scored all year.” Mustang coach John Holmes said of the Saturday night game. Tempo control is a must for Greencastle because Edgewood likes to play coast to coast-run. “No, we don’t want to,” Miller said of running with the Mustangs. “At the same time we’re not going to change our style of play. If we’ve got the break we’ve got to take it.” Paced by 5-11 forward Mike Cage’s 16-point average and Mickey Jaccobs’ 15.8 points per game average, the Mustangs are not a patient ball club. They like to shoot from the perimeter. “If they’re on they can make it a long night for you,” Miller said. UNLIKE GREENCASTLE’S OFFENSE, Edgewood is balanced. Along with Cage and Jaccobs, the Mustangs have the WCC’s leading rebounder Jay Brown. The 6-2 forward scored 22 last Saturday at Martinsville. Holmes will also start 6-4 Dan Hacker at center and 5-10 Scott Drehr at guard. “We never know how our kids ate going to play,” Holmes said of the inconsistency that has plagued his team. “We’ll play a good game one night, then stand around for one. It’ll be a good ' testforus.” Unlike many Greencastle opponents, Holmes isn’t going to worry about Mike Cooper’s 27.7 scoring average. “If you concentrate your defense on one guy then the rest of them will kill you,” Holmes said. “He’s a nice ball player, but we’re not going to box-and-one or anything like that.” MILLER HAS MORE than the 8-2 Cub record to be happy about. Through 10 games Greencastle is shooting 53 per cent from the floor, paced by Cooper’s 61 per cent (104-170) norm. The Tiger Cubs are also hitting 66 per cent at the free throw line, led by Jay Hopkins’ 82 per cent (18-22). Jim Hunter, who has come on of late on the offensive end of the court, leads Greencastle’s rebounding at 7.5, followed by Cooper’s 5.0 rebounds per game. Cooper is also leading the team at 3.5 assists, followed by sixth man Craig Flint at 3.1 per game. Behind the state’s seventh leading scorer, Cooper, is David Smith with a 13.1 points per game average. SOUTHMONT IS WITHOUT doubt going to be the toughest team Cloverdale has played since scoring a 39-36 victory over Danville. “They are potentially the strongest team we’ve played up to this point,” coach A 1 Tucker said. “They probably are

County statistics Off. Def. Putnam County teams Record Avg. Avg. Greencastle 8-2 67.2 59.7 Cloverdale 7-2 55.5 51.5 South Putnam 3-8 56.5 61.1 North Putnam 0-10 54.0 70.1 T ournament Saturday Once beaten Greencastle plays defending champion Terre Haute South Saturday at 11 a.m. in the second game of the annual Greencastle Invitational Girls Basketball Tournament at McAnally Center. As usual there is not a weak team in the tournament field. Rockville, with just two losses, meets North Montgomery in the 9:30 a.m. tournament opener. The consolation game is set for 2:30 p.m. and the championship game for 4 p.m. McAnally Center Doors open at 8:15 a.m. for the first session and at 1:45 p.m. for the second session. All tickets are $2 and there are no season-tickets or advance sales. Terre Haute South defeated Rockville 41-36 in the title game last year.

Muncie North may play keep-away with Anderson

By STEVE HERMAN AP Sports Writer Muncie North has been successful with a fast-break offense during its current seven-game winning streak, but the 15thranked Titans wouldn’t mind a slower pace in Saturday’s matchup with Anderson’s No.l-rated Indians. Coach Wayne Allen’s philosophy is that the unbeaten Indians, who are averaging 85.2 points a game, will have a tougher time scoring the less they have the ball. His chief concern, of course, is Anderson’s Troy Lewis, who leads the state with a 37.7-point scoring average. “You can’t stop him,” said Allen. “But we’re still going to have to pay special attention to him. We’re going to have to. You can’t just say let him get his points or he’ll get 50 on you.” Allen hasn’t decided who to assign the unenviable task of trying to contain the 6-foot-4 Lewis, who has averaged better than 40 points over the past five games and who became the school’s career scoring leader last weekend. Probably either 6-4 Mike Abram or Richard Ivy will go up against Lewis, Allen said. "We don’t want to play a fast-break game the whole game with them, although we’ve been successful with the fast break in our last seven games,” the North coach said. “I just think in this particular game we’d like to make them (Anderson) very patient. We’re going to be patient on offense for one thing. We’re not going to just shoot the ball up. ” But don’t think the Titans are awestruck by the propsect of playing the state's No.l team.

WCC standings

WCC Total Greencastle 3-0 8-2 Edgewood 3-0 6-2 Cloverdale 3-1 7-2 Cascade 3-2 5-5 Danville 3-2 4-4 Tri-West 2-2 5-4 Owen Valley 1-1 5 ' 5 Monrovia 1-3 2-6 South Putnam 1-4 3-8 North Putnam 0-4 0-10

going to create more problems for us because they have a gigantic lineup. They present more problems for us than anybody we’ve played.” Steve Simmons could be the biggest problem. The 6-7 center is said to be one of the best big men in Indiana, averaging a deceiving 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists per game. He scored 38 points during two games last weekend. And because of the players around him Cloverdale can t play too tight of a zone defense. “We certainly don’t want to get into a transition game because this is their kind of game. They like to get up and down the court,” Tucker said. GUARD MIKE McCARTY leads the Mounties with a 15 points per game scoring average, followed by 6-2 forward Max Mercer at 14 and 6-2 forward David Byrd at 11 per game. Jay Harris starts at point-guard. Many are surprised at Cloverdale’s 7-2 start. “They’re a good ball club. A 1 Tucker does a fine jotb with his teams. It’s not surprising to me they’re 7-2. They have a winning tradition,” Southmont coach Ron Henricks said.

South putnam snapped a five-game losing streak last week at Rockville and coach Bill Merkel would like to enter this week’s break with a two-game streak going. “We did a few more things a little bit better. We played with more intensity through the entire ball game. I think everyone contributed something that particular night,” Merkel said of the third win. AS TO WHAT style of play the Eagles will use at Eminence the coach is uncertain. He plans to wait and see what kind of a night this young South squad has going for itself. But defensively they do know what has got to be done. “Gore has got to score for them to be effective,” Merkel said of 16 points per game scorer Brad Gore. “We’re not overlooking them and I’m sure it’s a ball game they feel they can win.” Mike McHugh continues to lead South’s scoring with a 14.3 points per game average, but of late is getting more help from teammate Adam Hull. The senior guard averages just 8.4 points per game, but has scored in double figures three straight games now, averaging 17.6 points a game during that streak. South also got double figure scoring from guard Rich Schrock against Rockville, as the Eagles put a new lineup of McHugh, Hull, Schrock Brian Christy and B.J. Pittman on the court for the first time this season. IT COULD BE said North Putnam is jumping from the frying pan and into the fire against North Montgomery. After playing it’s worst game of an 0-10 season, shooting just 25 per cent, the Cougars must now play a 7-1 team that is receiving votes in the Associated Press poll. “We’re just going to try to be patient again,” coach Bill Brothers said. In order to get the players to work harder in practice and create a little more competition within the team for positions, Brothers said some younger players are going to be brought up to the varsity and junior varsity levels and could push any slacking off starters for playing time. Despite North’s record, Charger coach Dwayne Rater doesn’t expect a cake walk, especially with Southmont ahead Saturday night. “We haven’t ever come to North Putnam yet that it wasn’t a basketball game. We’re certainly not going to look at their record when we go down there,” Rater said. AGAIN THE COUGARS will have a decided height disadvantage. North Montgomery starts 6-5 Mike Webster at center with 6-4 Tom Young and 6-4 Greg Pierce at forwards. Brad Lighty and Joe Warren are the two 5-11 guards. Pierce is the team’s leading scorer at 14 points a game, but the Chargers are balanced. “In over half of our games we ve had four or more players in double figures,” Rater said. As for North Putnam, patience with themselves continues to be the key. Brothers pointed out that during the opening minutes last week even though the Cougars fell behind 9-0, they were getting good shots. North got five shots under the basket during that period of time and two passes to wide open players went out of bounds. The offense is working, but the shots are not falling. “OUR INTENSITY HAS got to get better and our shot selection has got to get better,” Brothers said. North put up 63 shots last week. “We would have been just as effective if we shot 16 of 40,” the coach said of the shot selection. As for the starting lineup. Brothers wasn’t sure. He’s looking for five players who will play together, be patient and take good shots when they are presented.

“We’re looking forward to the game. We feel like we’ve got athletes that can compete with them,” said Allen. “They realize the importance of the game. Everybody wants to play the No.l team, and it’s going to get a lot of statewide attention. I don t think our kids should have any fear. I don’t know why they would.” Abram, described by his coach as “good as any athlete in the state,” leads Muncie North with a 20-point average. Next, at 17 points a game, is 6-3 Billy Butts. Ivy averages 16, while 6-1 Brennen Baker and 6-3 Dan O’Korn average 9 points apiece. “We’ve got great balance,” said Allen. “Another thing, we’ve been a really solid rebounding team. In our past seven games, we’ve done a lot of things really well. We’ve had a solid defense ... in the last seven games we’ve given up an average of 51 points a game ” North was ranked N 0.5 early in the season and won its first two games before losing back-to-back games to Muncie South and New Castle. The current winning string started with a 50-48 victory over Anderson Highland and included a convincing 79-60 victory over No. 11 Marion three weeks ago. “We had a lot of problems early in the season,” Allen said. “Baker, our point guard, didn’t play the first three and a half weeks because of a knee injury. In the pre-season, Abram was out two and a half weeks with a sprained ankle. We had several kids with colds. In just the last month or so, we’ve had all of the kids practicing together on regular basis. I think that’s made the difference for us.” Anderson plays unranked Muncie Central on Friday. The In-

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CHUCK FRANZ: Career-high2o points

Tiger Sharks win again

VEEDERSBURG-Paced by Quentin Oliver’s record performance the Greencastle High School men’s swimming team raised its record to 5-2 Tuesday night with a 112-60 victory over host Fountain Central. The Tiger Sharks host powerful Terre Haute North Thursday night in a 6:30 p.m. meet at Me Anally Pool. Greencastle will be trying to win its second straight home meet. OLIVER SET a record for the Fountain Central pool with a 1:01.51 time in the 100-yard backstroke, leading a Greencastle one-two finish. Ron Pitcock finished second, as he also did in the 200-yard IM.

Cards fall short; Irish prevail

By The Associated Press Even with an 81-79 loss, Coach A 1 Brown was pleased with Ball State’s comeback from 10 points down with two minutes to go. But he says a lack of consistency was responsible for the big deficit in the first place. “It was a heck of a comeback to get that close and tie it,” Brown said after the narrow loss to Central Michigan in the closing seconds of Wednesday night’s Mid American Conference game at Muncie. “We played good defense at the start of the second half, and when we pressed we really played well, but it’s not as consistent as we want it to be.” Central Michigan’s Derek Boldon scored the winning basket on a layup with seven seconds remaining, halting the furious Ball State rally. The Chippewas held a

dians’ matchup with Muncie North Saturday night is one of two games this weekend involving a pair of rated powers. On Friday night, N 0.5 Franklin, unbeaten in 10 games, visits N 0.13 Columbus North, 8-1. The only loss for Columbus was in its season opener to Indianapolis Perry Meridian. Besides Anderson and Franklin, 10 other teams went into this week’s games still unbeaten. They included N 0.2 Michigan City Rogers, N 0.3 Indianapolis Ben Davis, N 0.4 Hammond Noll, N 0.7 Noblesville and N 0.14 Plainfield. Also unbeaten were unranked Delphi, Whitko, Randolph Southern, L&M and Oregon-Davis. Rogers’ Delray Brooks had sub-average games of 26 and 33 points in last week’s victories over Highland and South Bend Washington and dropped behind Lewis to second in scoring with a 36.1 average. Rogers, 10-0, will take on Mishawaka Saturday night. Brooks’ teammate, 6-6 Robb Towery, announced last week he will attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Towery has averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds a game so far. “I realize my statistics would be better if I weren’t playing on the same team with Delray, but where would I be?” he said. “There are a lot of good people playing in Division II and at junior colleges because they didn’t get the exposure. “Delray got all of us the exposure,” he said. “The statistics don’t make any difference. I know what I can do.” Brooks already has signed a national letter with Indiana University. Another player getting a lot of points but not much recognition

Bob Nealon and Pat Condon each won two firsts for the Sharks, but Nealon’s meet opening performances held the spotlight. ZOO-medley reUy-no time, Greenca»tle <Q. Oliver, Gould, Opdahl, B. Nealon); Fountain Central; Greencastle. ZOO-freestyle-1:M.69, B. Nealon. Melhls. FC; R. Nealon, G. ZOO-IM-2:17.32, B. Nealon. G; R. Pltcock, G: Christiansen, G. 50-freestyle-25.84, M. Oliver, G; Gould, G; Daniels, B. Dlvlng-No score, Zachary, FC; McCabe, G; Keller, FC. 100-buUerfly-1:02.34, Opdahl. G; Q. Oliver, G; Hesser, FC. IGO-freestyle-55.12, Condon, G; M. Oliver, G; Daniels, FC. 500-freettyle--5:52.33, Melhls, FC; Christiansen, G; R. Nealon. G. 100-backstroke-l 01.51. Q. Oliver, G; Pltcock, G; Lawson, FC. 100-breaststroke-l : 14.30. Condon. G; Harvey, FC: Brown. G. tOO-freestyle relay-No time, Greencastle (Pearson, Dolilnger, R. Nealon, Pltcock); Fountain Central; Greencastle.

seemingly safe lead at 79-69 with under two minutes remaining before two free throws and a basket by Ball State’s Rick Rowray started a 10-point streak by the Cardinals. A layup by Larry Jones with 22 seconds to go tied the game at 79-79. After Boldon’s goahead basket and two time outs, a final shot by Ball State’s John James was off the mark. “We were looking for (Chris) Shelton and (Marcus) Lacey or Rowray on the last shot. Shelton was covered and we didn't see Lacey and Rowray open in the corners,” said Brown. The victory lifted Central Michigan to 2-1 in the conference and 7-5 overall. Ball State fell to 0-3 in the MAC and 3-9 for all games. The Chippewas were led by James Mitchell with 18 points.

January 12,1984, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

Illini just one of problems IU had to overcome

BLOOMINGTON, tad. (AP) Life for the Indiana Hoosiers has been unusual this week even the student managers have had to practice basketball. Injuries, illnesses and the decision by sophomore Tracy Foster to leave school left Indiana with only eight available players for Wednesday’s Big Ten battle with ninth-rated Illinois. Despite the manpower shortage, Indiana downed the Illini 73-68 in overtime for their seventh straight victory. The Hoosiers, 10-3, moved to 2-0 in defense of their Big Ten championship. The loss gave Illinois an 11-2 mark and put the Illini 2-1 in league play. “Hard work and hustle won the game. We’ve had a great week of practice even though we had a lot of injuries and in order to scrimmage we had to use two student managers,” said freshman guard Steve Alford, who hit 15 of 16 free throws in scoring a season-high 29 points to lead all scorers. Alford also had a game-high five steals to go with three assists, but a steal made again st him nearly ruined the night. With Indiana protecting a 5857 edge, Alford was dribbling the ball. Suddenly, Bruce Douglas knocked the ball away and broke into the clear for a layup that put Illinois ahead 5958 with 1:44 left in regulation. The situation got worse for Alford a few moments later when the Illini regained possession after a missed Indiana shot. But Marty Simmons and Alford combined to get a big steal, and Alford’s layup gave Indiana the lead once again. “I felt like the goat, but then when I came up with the steal things looked better,” said Alford, now Indiana’s leading scorer for the season with a 14.4 mark. Alford was six of six from the free throw line in the fiveminute overtime when Indiana

Boldon finished with 16 points. Ball State was topped by Shelton and Lacey with 23 points apiece. “We missed some key free throws that would have put it away where it wouldn’t have been so frantic at the end,” said Central Michigan Coach Dick Parfitt. “We didn’t want them to lob it in to Lacey at the end; he had a nice game. Every time he got the ball, the shot was his to make or miss because we didn’t have anyone to go up with him.” The game was tied 41-41 at halftime, and Ball State’s final lead was 45-43 early in the second half. In other Indiana college games Wednesday night, Indiana upset N 0.9 Illinois 73-68 in overtime, Notre Dame defeated Oregon 66-54, Bluffton dropped Earlham 85-71, and Wright

has been Whitko’s Jeff Peters, whose 26.5-point average has triggered the Wildcats’ 9-0 start. “He’s the complete player,” said Coach Bill Patrick. “I’ve had players that may have been better in a certain area, but for the overall complete game, I’d have to rate him at the top. He does it all.” Peters averaged 16.7 points for the 19-5 Wildcats last year and has been below 20 points only one time this season while shooting better than 60 percent from the floor. He also leads the team in assists and rebounds. Plainfield, 9-0, gets a first-round bye in this week’s Hendricks County tournament and will meet host Danville in Friday’s semifinals. The other semifinal will match the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between Cascade and Tri-West against the winner of the other first-round contest between Avon and Brownsburg. The championship ga me will be Saturday night. In other games this weekend, Ben Davis plays Indianapolis North Central and Southport, Noll is at Whiting, Franklin is at Columbus North and Lawrence North, N 0.6 Valparaiso plays LaPorte, Noblesville meets Greenfield and Hamilton Heights, No.B Michigan City Elston plays South Bend Adams and LaPorte, N 0.9 Fort Wayne Northrop entertains Fort Wayne Luers, and No. 10 Indianapolis Cathedral is at Bedford-North Lawrence and at New Castle.

never shot from the field. His first pair gave Indiana a 63-61 lead with 2:58 to play after the Hoosiers took the opening jump and controlled the ball until the foul. Chuck Franz, who along with Alford, played the entire 45 minutes in the Hoosier backcourt, also hit a career-high with 20 points in a near-perfect shooting performance. The senior topped his career high with 13 first half points. The only shot he missed all night was a free throw with 14 seconds left in regulation and Indiana leading 60-59. Franz then made his second shot, but Doug Altenberger, who had 23 points for the Illini, found the range on a long jumper as time ran out to force the overtime. “They were in the zone and were just falling off me,” said Franz, who hit all seven of his jumpers from long range. “So I just took the shots, and they seemed to fall.” The Illini overcome an 11point second half deficit to force the overtime. “We started playing better and running our offense better,” said Illinois Coach Lou Henson, who lost to Indiana for the seventh consecutive time. “In the first half we didn’t run well. You’ve got to shoot well to win. Forty-one percent (Illinois’ first half mark) won’t do it. I think that’s why Indiana won. They’re an outstanding shooting team.” Indiana, outrebounded 35-24, managed to connect on 20 of 39 shots from the field and was 10 of 18 after the first half. “Franz just killed us, as did Alford,” Henson said. “They really beat our guards, and they did a good job on Douglas and (Quinn) Richardson.” “Our guard play is to try and move three guards around,” said Indiana Coach Bob Knight. “With (Stew) Robinson out it put a burden on us. Alford and Franz did an excellent job offensively.”

State pounded Indiana-Purdue of Indianapolis 94-72. At Richmond, David Givand scored 23 points, leading Bluffton over the host Earlham Quakers. Earlham, led by Tim Lebo with 23 points, was ahead 36-33 at halftime before Bluffton’s second-half spurt carried the visitors to victory. At Dayton, Ohio, Fred Moore scored 22 points and Andy Warner 20 to lead Wright State past Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis. Mark Vest added 12 points for the defending NCAA Division II champions, who boosted their record to 7-4. lUPUI led 14-10 with 13:45 left in the first haif, but Wright State scored 20 of the next 22 points to take a 30-16 lead. The Metros had eight turnovers during the Wright State spurt.

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