60 - Stone Creek Loses 56-39, Gnaden Wins 66-61 In Tourney (12-30-59)

DENNISON - Gnadenhutten's rampaging Indians (5-4) and the host Dennison Railroaders (2-6) are pitted tonight in the finals of the Dennison Holiday basketball tournament following victories here last night. The two losers, Jewett and Stone Creek, will tangle in the consolation events starting at 7PM. Dennison won its berth by staving off a Stone Creek (0-10) rally for a 56-39 triumph, while Gnadenhutten came from behind several times and finally nipped the Jewett Wildcats (5-1). Gnaden racked up its fourth straight decision, while Jewett its first loss.

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Gnaden's mild upset of the Harrison County foe was a close battle from start to finish with the game actually decided in the final 59 seconds. The Tribe had broken in front and were leading 56-53 with 2:49 left in the contest. But, the clever Wildcats rallied to go into the lead at 59-56 with 1:09 remaining. Ray Rank hit from the corner to put Gnadenhutten back into the front seat and then followed it up with 2 charity tosses for a 62-59 advantage. Missing its shot, Jewett lost the ball and a fine feed in by Ron Clark to Rank added two more to the Tribe cause. Jim Gross led the Cats with 20 points, while Ray Patterson hit 17 and Willie Noble had 13.

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Dennison had little trouble with winless Stone Creek in the first and fourth periods, but in the middle stanzas the Panthers were not playing dead. Dennison boomed to a 21-12 advantage in the first period. Stone Creek rallied to make it 27-19 at the half. Both teams hit 13 markers in the third as Dennison took a 40-32 lead into the finale. Paced by the fine play of center Melvin Peters in the final quarter, Dennison outscored the Panthers 16 to 7 for the decision. Peter took the night's laurels with 25 points. Merle Dagen and Gail Sauser both hit 11 points to lead the cagers of Coach Ernie Lukens, while Don Galbraith also hit 13 for Coach Tom Connor's victors. There were no Reserve games.

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DENNISON RAILROADERS 56

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Smith 4-0-8

Seizer 2-0-4

Melvin Peters 10-5-25

Dick Kilpatrick 0-1-1

Don Galbraith 6-1-13

McCoy 2-1-5

Henry 0-0-0

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STONE CREEK PANTHERS 39

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Jim Dagen 5-1-11

Larry Lorenz 3-1-7

Gale Sauser 4-3-11

Larry Stephon 0-2-2

Dale Mizer 1-0-2

R. West 3-0-6

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GNADENHUTTEN INDIANS 66

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Ron Clark 7-1-15

Ray Rank 6-3-15

John Hall 6-3-15

Carl Dichler 4-1-9

Bill Blickensderfer 5-2-12

Ed Crites 0-0-0

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JEWETT WILDCATS 61

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Ray Patterson 6-5-17

Torchik 0-0-0

Weiser 1-0-2

Jim Gross 8-4-20

Welsch 1-2-4

Willie Noble 5-1-11

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Wednesday, December 30, 1959

The Daily Reporter

Dover, Ohio