Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 55, Number 11, Decatur, Adams County, 14 January 1957 — Page 7

MONDAY. JANUARY 14, 1957

BERNE BEARS WIN NET [TITLE

Hand Hartford Gorillas First Defeat Os Season In Tourney Final, 49-40

• The Berne Bears won the Adams county high school basketball championship Saturday night by defeating the Hartford Gorillas, 49-40, in the final game of the annual tourney at the Adams Central gym, and in the process handed Hartford its first setback of the season after the Gorillas had registered 12 consecutive wins without a setback. The Bears advanced to the championship game by defeating the Geneva Cardinals, 39-36, in the first semi-final Saturday afternoon, and Hartford moved into, the title tilt by whipping the Decatur Commodores, 56-49, in the second serhi-final. Berne took the lead in the final game on a fielder by Fred Whitehurst, and the Bears never trailed. Dean Stahley knotted the score for Hartford at 2-2 after 1:10 had been played, but Lynn Lehman connected to give Berne a lead it never lost. ; The Bears were on top at the end of the first quarter, 12-7, principally on three two-pointers by Carl Liechty, apd slightly increased this margin to a 26-20 advantage at the end of the first half. An oddity of the first half play was that Hartford did not have a nqrsonal foul assessed until only minute and 25 seconds of the naif remained to be played. Pete Schug and Larry Gene Dubach traded fielders in the first minute of the third quarter and after a scoreless spell of more

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than two minutes, .the Bears made their move, building their advantage to 38-24 with 30 seconds remaining in the period, with a pair of free throws by Melvin Moeschberger cutting Berne’s third quarter lead to 38-26. The Bears Itetit the pressure on the Gorillas throughout the final period, with the final pine-point margin of 49-40 the closet approach Hartford made. Roger Moser, Hartford’s fine, hard-working center, led all scorers in the championship game with 18 points on five field goals and eight of 10 free throws, but had little help from his mates in the scoring department. Berne presented a wheel-balanced scoring attack. Carl Liechty led with 15, and Fred Whitehurst and Pete Schug each tallied 10. Bferne, with 19 personals, lost both Lynn Lehman and Bob Dflle on fouls, while 14 were called on Hartford, afi but two of them in the final quarter. The Gorillas lost Bixler on fouls late in the game. Bears Beit Geneva Berne ousted the Cardinals from the running in a low-scoring, but well-played battle in the first semifinal, 39-36. The quintets wen through two minutes of drought before Ivan Nevil hit a two-pointer. Two minutes later Dan Craig connected from the field for a 4-0 Geneva lead. With both teams having miserable luck in their shooting, the

Cardinals had a 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Berne took the lead tor the first time at 7-8 on baskets by Liechty and Whitehurst in the first minute of the second period. Whitehurst made it 9-6, but Geneva scored the next eight points on a pair of foul tosses by Steve Bauman, two fielders by Warren Yoder and one by Craig and the Cardinals had a 14-9 lead after six minutes elapsed. Berne then bounced back with the next six points for a 15-14 margin, but Nevil’s foul toss tied the score at 15-15 at the half. Berne regained the lead at 2019 after 1:40 of the third quarter, and was never headed. The Bears boosted their advantage to 30-25 at the end of the period. The Cardinals twice edged to within a single point, 32-31, and 36-35, but the Bears staved off a final Geneva attack-for the victory. . ♦ Schug topped all the scores in this contest with 15 points. Nevil tallied 14 and Craig five for the Cardinals. There were only 19 fouls called during the game, 10 on Geneva and nine on Berne. Commodores Onsted The Decatur Commodores, making their first tourney appearance in the second semi-final, made entirely too many mistakes and as a result could not cope with the Gorillas, who marked up their 12th triumph of the season, 56-49. — The Commodores held early leads of 2-0, 4-2, and 6-4, but Hartford took over the lead midway

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ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Player, , Team Position Pete Schug Berne Forward Larry G. Dubach Hartford Forward Fred Whitehurst Berne Forward Dan Craig ‘ Geneva Forward Ivan Nevil Geneva Center Roger Moser Hartford Center Can Liechty Berne Guard Dean Stahly Hartford Guard Jerry Williamson Pleasant Mills Guard Tom Stuber Geneva Guard

through the first period, and had a 12-9 margin at the colse of the first stanza. The Gorillas boosted their bulge to 11 points, 20-9, after three mintties of the second quarter, and the Commodores spent the rest of the afternoon in a vain effort to catch their opponents. Hartford took a 28-19 advantage to the dressing room at half-time, and after half the third quarter had gone by, the Gorillas had boosted their margin to 16 points at 39-23. The Commodores cut this margin to 10 points, 40-30, as the teams entered the final eight minutes of play. The Commodores, battling desperately. slowly whittled away at their deficit, cutting it to 43-37 with 5:30 to play. With the score at 48-40, Roger Moser, Hartford’s center, who had been riding the bench for several minutes-with four fouls, returned to the lineup and hit two quick fielders for a 52-40 advantaged The Commodores made their, last bid here, with a foul toss and a fielder by Dave Kable, two free throws by Phil Reed, and Ron Meyer’s three-point play bringing them to within four points at 52-48 but the Gorillas padded their margin in the final minute on free throws to salt away the victory. The rival centers, Moser and Ron Meyer, led their teams with 16’ points each, and Dubach and Kable each tallied 13. Thirty-three fouls were called, 17 on Hartford and 16 on the Commodores. Bernue FG FT TP Whitehurst-- 3 0-0 6 Schug 6 3-7 15 Dillie 0 1-2 1 Liechty — 3 0-0 6 Beaty 10-12 Lehman 2 5-6 9 TOTALS -15 9-16 39 Geneva ’ / FGFTTP Craig 5 0-2 10 Yoder 2 2-2 6 Nevil i r .—s 4-7 14 Bauman I'll?.'.. ‘i-t -‘2‘ Stuber „ 12-2 4 Biery ’- 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 13 10-15 36 Score by quarters: 12 3 4 Berne- 3 15 30 39 Geneva 6 15 25 36 Officials: Sanders, Duffield. Hartford Fa ir TP Bixler 6-6 10 L. G. Dubach -5 3-5 13 Moser 1..~. 5 6-7 16 Bibersteine n 2 2-3 6 Stahly 4 3-5 11 Pharr 0 08 0 Moeschberger — 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 18 20-26 56 Commodores FGFT TP Hake 2 2-6 6 Reed 2 2-2 6 R. Meyer 6 4-6 16 Kable „4 5-10 16 T. Meyer 2 0-0 4 Heimann 12-3 4 Beal — 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 17 15-27 49 Score by quarters: 1 2 3 4 Hartford ——l2 28 40 56 Commodores 9 19 30 49 Officials: Duffield, Sanders. FINAL Berne FG FT TP Whitehurst 5 0-1 10 Schug * 4 2-6 10 Lehman 1 0-0 2 Liechty .7 1-2 15 Beaty 2 3-6 7 Stahly - 0 0-1 0 Dille ...2 1-3 5 Yoder . 0 0-0 0 TOTALS ....—.21 7-19 49 Hartford FG FT TP Bixler ’ 0 2-8 2 L. G. Dubach 3 2-5 8 Moser 5 8-10 18 Biberstein ..—... 14-4 6 Stahly 2 0-0 4 Pharr 0 0-0 0 Grogg 0 0-0 0 Moeschberger 0 2-2 2 TOTALS 11 18-29 40 Score by quarters: 12 3 4 Berne 12 26 38 49. Hartford 7 20 26 40 Officials: Sanders, Duffield. Decatur Lions Club Meets This Evening The weekly dinner meeting of the Decatur Lions club will be held at 6:30 o'clock this evening at tlje Youth and Community Center. Harry Schwartz, club president, stated htat the meeting win be closed early in order that members may attend the concert by the Indianapolis symphony orchestra at the high school gym. if you aavo some torn* to sail or rooms for rant, try a Democrat Want Ad. it brings result*.

Week's Schedule For Adams County Basketball Teams Tuesday Huntington at Yellow Jackets. Commodores at Willshire. Hartford at Pennville. Friday Yellow Jackets at Auburn. Adams Central at Bryant. Geneva at Monmouth. Berne at Angola. Saturday Pleasant Mills at Ohio City. <• DnSKgMWL Team Standings W L Pct. Hartford —l2 1 .923 Commodores 8 3 .727 ‘ Yellow Jackets .... 8 3 .727 Berne 9 5 .64t> ' Geneva 7 4 .636 Adams Central 4 T ~ .364 Pleasant Mills 4 8 .333 , Monmouth 2 9 .182 —OOO-— Congratulations to Coach Bob Dille and his Berne Bears! —oOo—- — Bears came through with flying colors to win the Adams county high school tourney championship Saturday night, defeating the Hartford Gorillas in the final battle, 49-40. —oOo—— It also marked the first loss of the season for Hartford, after the Gorillas had won their first 10 regular season games, and first-round and semi-final tests in the county tourney. —oOo—- — varsity title gave the Bears a clean sweep of tourney honors, as the Berne resreve team won the county second team crown in the tourney finals Friday night. —-000— Victory brought three trophies to Berne. They gained permanent possession of the trophies awarded by the Decatur Daily Democrat annually to the champions of the first and second team tourneys, and the Bears also took custody of the Limberlost Bell, traveling trophy for the county teams. Only one county team will get a crack at taking the. bell away from Berne, as the only county team still on the Berne schedule is Monmouth, who will meet the Bears at Monmouth Friday, Jan. 25. All county teams will return to regular action this week, with eight games on the schedule, three , Tuesday night, four Friday night and one Saturday. —oOo— The Yellow Jackets will offer the only Decatur action tor fans this week, entertaining the Huntington Vikings at the Decatur gym Tuesday night. The Commodores will play their only game of the week, also on Tuesday night, traveling to Willshire. 0., to meet the > Bearcats. In Tuesday’s third tilt, the Hartford Gorills will be at Pennville. The Jackets face their second tough foe of the week Friday night, traveling to Auburn to meet the always rugged Red Devils, especially tough on their own court. Only one game will be played in the county Friday, the Geneva Cardinals playing the Eagles at Monmouth. The Adams Central Greyhounds will travel to Bryant to meet the Owls, and the champion Bears will journey to Angola. The Pleasant Mills Spartans will engage in the lone Saturday game, playing at Ohio City, O. Fete Schug. playing three games

U Z A H K i K • By EO 81 OOPS f ■■ - is«’iwdß» y — L' ' »« ~w — 1 X. TOURNAMENT RESK\A-nONS FOR. ST .war i I / r*~r — < * .. 1 \ \ HL? r. r I id ™ > //gm

BEARS WIN COUNTY TOURNEY -' view® v < T IML IC 4« MMmQi O- til ‘ w*?' f ajnO 7 ' J"" ' ( fiH« ' vjT .w/H ' : M^' ’ ' v Be ’ '••■•' 3^Mff?'''^wr <\y. :■/. wk ' : ' z '■•< I. jKxft * «£ X .■! <s® ’ &<v ■ 3WHMMttBHHME' 9 BjffmifclrH ■ ,The victorious Berne Bears, still puffing from their 49-40 victory over the previously undefeated Hartford Gorillas, accept the team trophy, presented yearly by the Decatur Daily Democrat, from county superintendent of schools Gail Grabill. Berne players visible, are, left to right: Lynn Lehman, accepting the trophy, Fred Whitehurst, Pete Brouer, Bob Dille, Pete Schug, and Carl Liechty.

Tourney Notes Congratulations to Coach Bob Dille and his Berne Bears in winning the Adams county basketball title for the first time since they entered the tournament several years ago. • * • Berne swept up all the honors in tournament play. They not only took the county championship but they t also won the second team tourney and took possession of the Limberlost bell, a traveling trophy held by Hartford until Saturday night. Berne will hold the trophy until defeated by another Adams county team. * • • Berne's second team lost the opening five games of the season before getting onto the victory side. They won their next four game, including the tourney games which gave them the title. • * * Ivan Nevil was the unanimous choice for the Everett Rice sportsmanship trophy which is awarded annually to a player in the county tourney. The Geneva center won all of the ballots of the voting officials. • • • A few Hartford fans may have developed superstitions over the weekend. Their team went down in defeat for the first time this season as they played their 13th game. * • • It's too bad they can’t all be winners. It does the heart good to see jubilation such as that exhibited by Berne’s followers at the end of the championship game but over in the Hartford section there were broken hearts. While Berne fans rushed excitedly onto the floor to congratulate their team, the Gorilla fans walked dejectedly off the floor and the Hartford students — 1 - - '- J ■' J lll ■ in the county tourney with Ahe champion Berne Bears, boosted his individual scoring total, best in the county, to 260 points for an ayerage .of 18.6 points per game. Ivan Nevil, of Geneva, however, has the top average, scoring 217 points in 11 games for a 1Y.7 average. The 10 top scorers, with games played, total points, and average points per game, are as follows: GP TP Ave. Schug, Berne 14 260 18.6 Nevil, Geneva 11 217 19.7 Frey, Pleasant Mills . 12 210 17.5 Steiner, Adams Central 11 203 18.5 Stahly. Hartford —— 13 202 15.5 Craig, Geneva 11 194 17.6 R. Meyer, Commodores 11 181 16.5 Corson. Adams Central 11 177 16.1 Moser, Hartford 13 174 13.4 Williamson, Pie. Mills 11 172 15.6 —oOo—- — one year ago this week: Huntington 80. Yellow Jackets 70. Willshire 61, Commodores 60. Hartford 59, Pennville 50. Auburn 61, Yellow Jackets 50, „ . Monmouth 57, Geneva 47. Adams Central 69, Bryant 50. Angola 60. Berne 56. Pleasant MOls 83, Ohio City 51. Jefferson 67, Gray 49.

The Berne second team members were so elated at their Friday night victory that they gave coach Dille a black eye throwing him into the shower. Dille faced another hazard Saturday night when his exhausted team .carried him to the center of the floor. It didn't look like a very comfortable ride but he probably wasn't thinking of comfort at such an exciting moment. • * * Little girls almost, stole the cheerleaders &how (luring the tourney. Saturday Berne, Geneva and Hartford all had the miniature cheerleaders, who lacked none of the enthusiasm of their older sisters. • ; Musical entertainment Saturday was presented by the Geneva, Hartford and Decatur Catholic high school bapds. * • * J ■ .No major.emergqneies confronted the Red Cross first aid personnel during the tourney. Either this one wasn’t as exciting or fans art becoming more hardy because not one person, fainted because of excitement. First aid treatment was limited to treatment for splinters and headaches and one bad bump *• * / The bad bump was to one 01 Saturday night’s emergency team Walter Lobenstein, who was stand ing by with the ambulance. He was standing close to the gym doo: watching through the glass when txie of the players bumped against the door. It pushed back into his face. He suffered only minor injuries and, fortunately, his glasses were not broken. • • • Among those who assisted in the Red Cross first aid group'throughout the tourney were Dr. C. P. Hinchman, Dr. John Terveer, Dr. Normaq Beaver, Miss Eloise Noll. R. N.,‘ ambulance drivers from Zwick, Gillig, Yager and Lobenstein funeral homes and the following first aid volunteers: Gerald Durkin, Marion Robison, Miss Grace Lichtensteiger, Mr. and Mrs. Roger . Singleton, Jack Stuckey, Iris Lehman and Roy Gilliom. ♦ • * Here are field goal statistics for the Saturday games. In the afternoon Geneva-Berne clash, Berne hit 15 out of 47 shots from the field and Geneva hit on 13 ot 57 attempts. In the second game that afterhoon, Hartford connected with 18 of 54 attempts while the Com modores could hit only 17 of 61. During the championship battle Berne threw 21 good ones on 62 attempts and Hartford shot 60 times, connecting on 11. * • * The Decatur Catholic high school band appeared at the tourney in new uniforms being worn for the first time. The jackets are bright green, the slacks are dark green and the trim is in gold, utilizing the school colors. * *' * , It is good to be able to comment on the fact that there was very

PAGE SEVEN

. little booing at the tourney. Only r two or three times did the fans i get carried away and then it wais » the adult fans and not the young- - sters who did the booing. .♦ * * . • Another mark of good sportsi manship was a repeat of cheert leaders joining just before the f game to wish their teams good . luck. Hartford and Decatur Catholic did it Saturday afternoon and Hartford and Berne began their s championship struggle with the 8 mutual cheer. n j? * * * e Saturday night's crowd was near f capacity in spite of the fact that r both teams were from the southern part of the county. * * • ' ", y Most unusual feature of the tii, tie game was the fact that not one c foul was called on Hartford until the last minute or so of the second quarter. Tourney-goers were Imt- preyed and . »- obvious good sportsmanship of the is players on all teams. < e* • * it Congratulations to C. J. Neuent- schwander, Berne principal and is tourney manager, for his fine work ■s in handling the ehdless details in- >. volved in arrangements for a tourney. >f • * * i' In the post-game ceremonies .„ 1- Neuenschwander expressed his ap,s predation to all the officials and ir the participating schools for their n cooperation in'assisting toward a it successful tourney. s j s Geneva Senior Wins Sportmanship Award e At County Tourney Ivan Nevil, Geneva senior, was awarded the highly coveted indivi- - dual sportsmanship trophy at the conclusion of the Adams county ’ high school tourney Saturday • night at the Adams Central gym. ; Nevil, one of the county's top ’ scorers and team leaders, was • awarded the trophy by a unani--1 mous secret vote of the judges, [ consisting of tourney referees, of- ■ finals, tourney management leaders and newspapermen. The individual award has been presented annually for several ’ year by Robert Monnier, former ! Decatur businessman, in honor of Everett Rice, prominent Monroe wwnship farmer. The trophy, as ' all others was presented by Gail 1 Grabill, county school superintendent. Holstein Breeders Select Officers officers of the ; Adams county Holstein breeders association include Harry Lehman, Monroe township, president; Ben Mazelin, Monroe township, vicei president; Norman Becher, Wabash township secretary-treasurer; Elmer C. Beer, Monroe township, Roiandes Liechty, Wabash town- : ship, and'Chplmer Smitley, Jefferson towrisihip, are directors.