Tigers Tighten As Riders Gain Momentum 61-60 (2-26-54)

In the photo above, Strasburg's Jerry Von Kaenel follows through on a hook shot attempt with Port Washington's Ken Huston (8) following him as Tom Jones (7) of the Riders and Elden Mullett (66) of the Tigers move in for a rebound. John Shetler of Strasburg watches the play develop at far left.
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Coach Don Martin's Tigers (23-0) tightened up in the stretch and the Riders (12-8) galloped headlong into the opening as they went all out in an effort to corral the upset and their very first chance at winning the county tourney title. The Port Washington firebrands shot the works in the closing stages of the tilt with most of the crowd, sensing an upset, roaring its approval. Early in the opening period the Riders had showed signs of an upset in the making as they raced into a 15-11 lead as the stanza closed. Paul Frank and Ken Huston set the pace for Port Washington with Jerry Haswell displaying some accurate shooting to keep the Tigers in the running with Jerry Von Kaenel and Eldon Mullett controlling the boards. Still the Riders came on with a pressing aggressiveness as Huston, displaying his leadership qualities at their best, kept Port in contention.
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STRASBURG'S balance appeared to cool off the Riders in the second stanza as the Tigers all contributed to the scoring while keeping the underdogs at bay and walking off the floor with a 30-22 lead at halftime. That's when some of the fans left, thinking it was all over. All through the third stanza Strasburg maintained a seven and eight point advantage until the closing minute when Paul Frank, Larry Combs and Ken Huston hacked four points off the deficit in rapid-fire order. Jim Landon's desperation heave just before the buzzer sounded was the spark that seemed to kindle the Riders for a stretch drive as the ball banked off the boards and swished through the nets to make the score 49-46 Strasburg at the close of the third canto. Strasburg again eased away to an eight-point lead at the outset of the fourth quarter with John Shetler setting the pace, but the Purple Riders marshalled their forces and delivered a frontal attack that brought the fans to their feet.
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PAUL FRANK came through with a foul shot and followed up a miss with a field goal to deadlock the count at 56-56 at the three-minute mark. Jim Kuecher made one of two foul attempts to give the Bengals temporary reprieve, but Ken Huston, the able floor general of the Riders, came through with a jump shot that gave Port the lead 58-57 at the one-minute, 30 second mark. Haswell came through with a clutch drive-in shot and Fred Peters followed with another seconds later and the Bengals were on top 61-58 and 45 seconds remaining. Little Fred Welsch stepped up to the foul line and canned two foul shots to chip the score to 61-60 where it remained. Port had two chances to move in for the clincher, but the struggling Bengals batted the ball out of bounds on one try and then grabbed the ball as the seconds ticked off on the throw in. Ken Huston tallied 21 points for the Riders while Von Kaenel had 17, Haswell 13 and Shetler scored 10 for Strasburg.
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STRASBURG 61
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Haswell 6-1-13
Eldon Mullett 4-2-10
Jim Kuecher 0-1-1
Jerry Von Kaenel 6-5-17
John Shetler 4-3-11
Fred Peters 4-1-9
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PORT WASHINGTON 60
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Paul Frank 5-4-14
Gary Dichler 0-0-0
Ken Huston 9-3-21
Larry Combs 4-4-12
Tom Jones 0-0-0
Fred Welsch 1-4-6
Jim Landon 3-1-7
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Friday, February 26, 1954
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio