Gnadenhutten Stops Midvale's Reign 80-67 (2-28-58)

PHOTO: GLOOMY. The Midvale Blue Devils cheering section was shrouded in gloom last night when Ralph McKee, Daily Reporter Photographer, snapped this picture near the end of the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils were dropped from the tournament circuit on an 80-67 loss to Gnadenhutten.

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The first quarter appeared to be just another repetition of all other Gnadenhutten-Midvale games with the Indians looking strong in the opening minutes, but fading just enough near the end of the period for the Devils to grab a 17-12 margin. But somewhere, somehow, the Indians found the needed punch and began to creep up on the Blue Devils until the score stood 26-23 midway in the quarter. And with the fires burning high the Scottsmen poured on the steam and rumbled past the Blue Devils as they tallied eight straight points for a 31-26 lead with two minutes to go in the first half. Midvale found itself momentarily and narrowed the gap to 33-31 at the intermission. The Tribe continued on the warpath in the third quarter with the No. 1 warrior being Tom Roth, who led the uprising with 16 points. The period found the Devils battling gamely to keep pace with the torrid attack and then they went ahead 42-41 with four and one-half minutes to go in the quarter. But that was the last time they saw the lead because the Indians took over again at 3:45. The Tribe was in front 57-52 at the period's end. In the final stanza the Indians faltered momentarily and Midvale cut their lead to 57-55, but they regained stride and hit for seven more points to boost their margin to 64-55. They finished the period with 23 while holding the Devils to 15 to spring the upset. Percentage-wise Gnadenhutten had the edge with 34.7, accumulated when it clicked on 32 of 93 field shots. Midvale had a 34.4 mark, making 26 of 72 attempts. Gnadenhutten tallied 16 fouls and Midvale 15. A well-balanced scoring attack was the key to the Gnadenhutten triumph. Leading the Tribe was Tom Roth with 10 goals and three fouls for 23 points, Larry Clark was next with 20, while Larry Gooding and Ron Bradley had 15 and 14 respectively. Tom Krocker and Russ Hobart were the big guns for the Blue Devils with Krocker notching 20 points and Hobart 19. Ron Breniser added 14.
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GNADENHUTTEN INDIANS 80
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Ron Bradley 6-2-14
Larry Clark 7-6-20
Larry Gooding 5-5-15
Tom Roth 10-3-23
Ed Shull 2-0-4
Alvin Cappel 2-0-4
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MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS 67
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Tom Belknap 4-0-8
Russ Hobart 8-3-19
Bill Housel 1-1-3
Tom Krocker 7-6-20
Ron Breniser 5-4-14
Vince DeNoi 1-0-2
Jim Clark 0-1-1
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Friday, February 28, 1958
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio