Tuscarawas Valley Trojan Ron Wolfe tries to drive around Strasburg Tiger Rich Hall.
Strasburg Tiger's John Peters displays special face guard designed to protect his injured nose.
NEW PHILADELPHIA - The air was filled with tension as Strasburg (19-1) and Tuscarawas Valley (10-9), last season's finalists, opened the night's festivities. The fans were buzzing continuously. Strasburg, defending champion of this tournament, is blessed with plenty of basketall talent to be sure, but it was pure "guts" and a little extra determination which enabled them to oust Tuscarawas Valley. Tiger fans were apprehensive about this battle, as both All-Ohio candidate John Peters and teammate Vic Gessner nursed injuries. Peters, definitely possessing all-state credentials, played with a broken nose and Gessner, hero of last year's epic, hobbled on a pair of "football knees." But, "armed" with a nose guard and knee braces respectively, they were in the lineup.
Peters, after banging away for 9 points in the initial quarter, went scoreless in the 2nd stanza and ripped off the special guard during intermission since it hampered his vision, especially on defense. He sailed along without misfortune until 3:52 left in the final frame when he was bumped and advised by the team physician to again don the gear. He proved his worth with or without the facepiece, taking game scoring honors with 23 points and leading the Tigers in rebounds with 8. Gessner, bothered by sore knees throughout his athletic career, was given a rest in the second quarter, but came back to play a vital part in the victory. Don Wallick, an asset to any club, backed up Peters with 14 points, including several at crucial times and hauled down some key rebounds for the Tigers. Rock Van Fossen, although playing steady throughout, did most of his scoring in the 3rd canto, working loose underneath to take "feeds" from Peters. Rick Hall, saddled with foul trouble; nevertheless, contributed 6 points to the attack and hauled down 7 key rebounds. And Ron Lab filled in capably when called upon by Coach Bob Shahan.
Ken Gold's Trojans were game, but ran out of gas in the final frame after battling heroically from the start. They weren't able; however, to find the right combination at crucial times. To make matters worse, they lost 6-5 Gary Ferren with 5:50 left in the game at which time they trailed only 48-41. The lanky Senior, the spark in the 1st quarter when he got 10 of his 14 points, had 3 personals by 2:41 of the 3rd canto. The score was knotted 5 times between these 2 rivals and the lead changed hands on 13 occasions.
Peters, as he has done so often in the past, swished a 5-footer on the 1st shot of the game and the "fun began to fly." Paul Shipbaugh drove in for Tuscarawas Valley's initial attempt to tie the score 2-2 at 7:20 and after a 5-5 deadlock, the Trojans went into an 8-5 margin and led 18-14 at the 1st rest. Tuscarawas Valley tried to "sit on" its advantage at the outset of the 2nd stanza and Dave Widder hiked the margin to 19-14 when he was fouled as the Tigers came out in an effort to gain possession. Lab hit from the side after Widder's free toss and then Wallick put in both ends of a one-and-one situation when a Trojan was ruled guilty of charging. This made the score 19-17. The Tigers pulled even at 21-21 and then went in front 22-21 at 2:50 as Hall completed a successful one-and-one. An underhand layup by Lab made it 24-21, but Bob Burris drilled in a fielder and Widder 2 charities to give Tuscarawas Valley a 25-24 lead. Wallick put Strasburg on top with 23 seconds to go before intermission.
The lead changed hands 6 times during the 1st part of the 3rd canto and after a 34-34 deadlock, changed twice more before Strasburg took what proved to be the lead for keeps as Peters hit on a jumper at 3:17, following a Trojan turnover. Strasburg held a 43-39 margin at the last stop, pushed it to 46-39, 51-41 (5:32) and 55-46 (3:52) before the Trojans suddenly came to life to toss in 6 consecutive points to cut the deficit to 55-51 with 2:35 left. But fouls played havoc with the Trojan rally as, after a bucket by Tiger Tom Dreher, Strasburg sank 10 in a row from the free throw stripes to hike its advantage to 67-51. Ron Wolfe put in a 2-pointer for the Trojans with 5 seconds remaining and Gessner closed out the scoring by hitting twice from the charity line.
Strasburg hit on 24 of 55 action shots for 43 percent. Tuscarawas Valley, closing out their campaign, connected on 18 of 44 for 40 percent. Rebounds favored the Tigers, 31 to 24. Backing up Ferren in the point department for Tuscasrawas Valley were Widder with 13, Burris 12 and Shipbaugh 10. Burris was top rebounder, grabbing 11.
STRASBURG TIGERS - 69
John Peters 9-5-23
Rock Van Fossen 5-0-10
Don Wallick 3-8-14
Vic Gessner 1-5-7
Rick Hall 2-2-6
Ron Lab 3-0-6
John Thomas 0-0-0
Tom Dreher 1-1-3
Fred Scherer 0-0-0
TUSCARAWAS VALLEY TROJANS - 53
Gary Ferren 5-4-14
Paul Shipbaugh 5-0-10
Dave Widder 4-5-13
Bob Burris 2-8-12
Ron Wolfe 2-0-4
Bob Capillo 0-0-0
Gary Adams 0-0-0
Charles Fishley 0-0-0
Saturday, February 22, 1964
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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