PHOTO: Midvale Blue Devils Senior - Dave Belknap
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The Blue Devils literally took over the Memorial Hall hardwoods here last night when two varieties - Midvale (21-1) and Brilliant (15-9) clashed in the opening game of the Class "A" District Tournament before a sell-out crowd. For three periods no one - not even the most accurate guessers - knew "who in the Devil would win." As it turned out, the Tuscarawas County version won out in the home stretch by a wide margin to capture their 15th straight victory and 21st in 22 games. During the first three periods, the lead changed hands five times and was tied on six other occasions. But with 5:15 remaining to be played, Midvale began to cash in on its charity tosses, meshing 11 of 16 to split the rugged Brilliant defense right down the line, making for additional easy baskets. It accounted for the 19-point victory margin. Midvale must now sit back and wait for the outcome of tonight's game between Hiland and Conotton Valley, slated for 8 in Memorial Hall, to see who they meet in the Friday night finale. Hiland of Holmes County, carries a 20-2 mark into the fray, while Conotton Valley, of Harrison County, and winner in the Brilliant Sectional meet last week, has compiled a 16-8 record. Doors for tonight's contest open at 7. Basketball victories weigh heavily on team balance. Midvale has just that. The Blue Devils showed it time after time during the regular season and in recent County and Sectional Tournament play. Last night was no exception. All of the Midvale starters, who incidentally carry an average in double figures for the overall season, did it again last night as they went the distance for the second straight game. Tom Belknap led the way with 22 points and Ron Breniser was right behind with 17. Hanes Hairston, who dropped in a free throw to send his team to victory over Killbuck last Saturday night, meshed 14 and Tom Krocker and Bill Housel finished with 12 apiece. Jim Presley and Matt Kessler were the high men for Brilliant with 19 each. Their team went down to its 9th defeat in 24 contests. Brilliant parlayed a fast-moving offense, highlighted by smooth and accurate passing, into a top-notch game to give Midvale more than it bargained for. Allthough never holding the top hand in the first stanza, Brilliant battled to within two points of Midvale at the end of the first period when the score ended 19-17. In the second, Brilliant moved out front momentarily before the score was tied at 21-21. It was deadlocked three more times before it moved to a 31-27 margin and later a 33-31 halftime lead. The two squads resumed battle in the same manner in the third stanza with Midvale meshing two buckets to break a 46-46 tie to move in front at the end of the period. The Blue Devils were on top by as much as 55-48 early in the final period before Brilliant came back to move in front 56-55. At 5:15, Midvale's Krocker connected once from the free throw line to tie the game and 40 seconds later Belknap hit on a jump shot. From that time on, the River City invaders were never in the game as they committed costly personal fouls. Dale Degenhardt fouled out at 3:45 and he was followed by Presley at 2:50 to dim Brilliant's chances still further. Midvale, which made 21 of 32 free throw attempts, ended the night with 40 percent of its 70 shots going in from the field, as it made 28. Brilliant ended with a 31.4 mark, meshing 22 of 70. It added 14 points in 18 charity tries.
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MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS 77
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Dave Belknap 8-6-22
Tom Krocker 5-2-12
Bill Housel 6-0-12
Hanes Hairston 5-4-14
Ron Breniser 4-9-17
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BRILLIANT BLUE DEVILS 58
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Degenhardt 3-3-9
Hoover 4-0-8
Jim Presley 6-7-19
Matt Kessler 9-1-19
McCutchson 0-0-0
Tarr 0-0-0
Cook 0-0-0
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Tuesday, March 3, 1959
Norm Singleton, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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