Purple Riders' Accurate Shooting Grounds Eagles 83-80 (2-6-54)

Excellent marksmanship at the foul stripe where they connected on 27 of 34 tries, and sizzling floormanship exhibited by Paul Frank were two of the major contributing factors in Port Washington's upset over the Baltic Eagles. Coach Bray Toot's fired up Purple Riders (6-3)(10-7) pulled away after leading by only 20-19 at the first quarter to forge a 10-point 43-33 halftime edge over the favored Eagles (17-2). The Riders, sparked by Frank and Ken Huston and with Jim Landon and Larry Combs chiming in at important times with additional points, maintained an eight-to-ten point lead most of the remainder of the game, leading by 60-52 at the third quarter's end. The Eagles of Coach Tom Bellville crept to within five points of the Riders and, with five seconds remaining, dunked the final field goal to cut the margin to three points as they lost their second league fray in nine outings. Baltic's overall mark reads 17 victories and only the two loop defeats. Port Washington was paced by Frank and Huston with 22 points each while Landon and Combs each had 16. Tom Ott of Baltic took scoring honors for the battle with 31 points. Baltic won the Reserve game 60-51.
*
*
PORT WASHINGTON 83
*
Ken Huston 8-6-22
Jim Landon 5-6-16
Larry Combs 5-8-18
Paul Frank 8-6-22
Gary Dichler 1-1-3
Tom Jones 1-2-4
Fred Welsch 0-0-0
*
*
BALTIC 80
*
Tom Ott 13-5-31
Syler 6-2-14
Jacobs 3-3-9
Wallace 3-2-8
Stein 2-0-4
Hoffman 1-4-6
Everhart 3-0-6
Reidenbach 1-0-2
*
*
*
Saturday, February 6, 1954
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio