DENNISON - Dennison St. Mary's continued to blaze a path of glory across the tournament trail last night when it spilled the vaunted Garaway Pirates (21-5) for the Eastern District Class "A" Tournament toga and a berth in next week's Regional event at Canton. Poise in the clutch, an attribute which has pulled the Blue Waves through trial after trial along the rigorous grind, again played the leading role.The Waves broke a 51-51 deadlock with 2:47 remaining when Mike Dorsey sank a foul shot. In the next minute and one-half they outscored the Bucs 6-0 to gain a 58-51 lead. It put them out of reach of Garaway and into "sweet 16." St. Mary's which has been piling up the "firsts" in the school's basketball history through Sectional, and now District Tournament play, will be making its Regional debut. It's opposition for the Memorial Fieldhouse event, will be decided this afternoon when the 3 Canton District finalists emerge, and in the succeeding drawings, which are scheduled tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 in the Holiday Inn Motel. Scheduled to come out of the Canton field are the winners of games between: Liberty (32-1) and Rootstown (14-9) at 2PM, Northwest (20-2) and Rittman (18-2) at 3:30, and United Local (11-12) and Lowelville (14-9) at 5. It's been a long time since a Twin City combination has advanced to the regionals. Dennison High, coached by Glen O. Furbay, was the last to turn the trick, traveling all the way to the state semi-finals at Columbus in the 1938-1939 season, before being tripped 25-21 by Sandusky St. Mary's.
Garaway was stymied for the second straight year in its bid to gain the regionals. The Pirates fell to Hiland in last year's District final at Brilliant. Coach Glenn Bower's crew for the most part, did a standout job of defensing the strong outside shooting attack which St. Mary's has displayed. But the Blue Waves applying a full court press most of the game, Garaway never had the opportunity to get its fast break moving into high gear. Both teams worked with a high degree of skill to get the "good shot." Sandy Bonvechio and Joe Pangrazio were the big guns in the Blue Wave attack, scoring 21 and 20 points, respectively. Garaway had a better balanced offense with 4 gaining the double figure column. Bob Raber hit 17 points and was followed by Tom Andreas with 12, Roy Yoder 11 and Bud Yakley's 10. Most coaches would be satisfied with the District Championship but not Paul Drotovick of St. Mary's. He was already turning an eye toward the regionals, and while praising the victory, saw plenty of spots where the Waves could have done better. "This is the scrappiest bunch of kids I ever saw," he remarked. "They never quit." "But we could have done better, and we have played better games," Drotovick was quick to add. Bower, whose Bucs may have made him the winningest first-year coach in county history, said "The kids gave 100 percent effort. They gave it to us and we're satisfied." "We wish St. Mary's all the luck in the world in the Regional Tournament." St. Mary's which is the 22nd Tuscarawas County team to win the District Championship in the last 36 years, will enter the regionals with an 11-game streak.
The standing room only crowd which jammed the Dennison High gym last night saw a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, a match that was dueled between 2 teams of near-equal ability. During the game the score was tied 8 times before the Blue Waves soared into the lead for keeps. Vaulting to the front runner's spot by 11-6 midway through the first period the Blue Waves had to starve off a comeback by the Pirates to lead 15-13 at the end of the period. Garaway took the lead at 19-18 and shortly after 21-18 in the second period before the Waves tied the score at 23-23. The Pirates led 29-28 at halftime. In the third quarter Garaway rolled in front 35-29. But it could not retain the success as St. Mary's went on top 36-35 when Pangrazio connected on a set shot. Bob Hodkinson, the Waves' 6-4 Sophomore center, who was relegated to bench duty with 1:16 remaining in the first period when he absorbed his third personal foul, returned to action in the third period to give the Blue Waves a big helpling hand under the boards. But during the third stanza St. Mary's lost Dale Donohoe, one of their big firemen, with 1:08 to go via the 5-foul route. Garaway lost Bill Yakley with 5:35 remaining in the game. Mike Dorsey stepped in for a fine relief role and St. Mary's led 41-40 going into the final period. The 2 teams were never separated by more than one point down the stretch. After Dorsey's free throw put the Waves ahead 52-51 they went into a stall, and it was off of it that Bonvechio rolled in for an easy lay up shot with 1:58 remaining. It gave St. Mary's a 3-point lead and put the pressure on Garaway, which began pressing all over the court. But the maneuver was to no avail and during ensuing free throws to put St. Mary's very much on its way to Canton. Garaway made a valliant comeback in the fading moments, but the lead St. Mary's had was too much to overcome. The Pirates hit 21 of 54 field shots for 36.9 percent and meshed 15 of 23 foul shots. St. Mary's connected 20 times in 53 tries for 37.5 percent, and accounted for its victory margin at the free throw line where it made 22 of 31. Twenty personals were called against Garaway, 16 against St. Mary's.
DENNISON ST. MARY'S BLUE WAVES - 62
Sandy Bonvechio 5-9-21
Joe Bradley 2-0-4
Bob Hodkinson 1-2-4
Dale Donohoe 3-0-6
Joe Pangrazio 7-6-20
Mike Dorsey 1-5-7
GARAWAY PIRATES - 57
Bob Raber 6-5-17
Tom Andreas 4-4-12
Bill Yakley 1-0-2
Bud Yakley 5-0-10
Roy Yoder 5-1-11
Dan Bleininger 0-5-5
Nick Smith 0-0-0
Saturday, March 11, 1961
Norm Singleton, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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