Whit Parks of Newcomerstown struggles to get a hand on the basketball which is in the possession of Tusky's Brent Lehigh. Also in on the action is Tracy Knisely of the Broncos.
Bruce Widder (22) of Newcomerstown, after letting loose with a jump shot, is in the process of coming down on Butch Reed of Newcomerstown. The Trojans' Duke DeLong (44) stands by in hopes of grabbing a rebound.
NEW PHILADELPHIA - A 3-point play by Tuscarawas' Fred Rausch, the Broncos leading scorer of the night, proved to provide the victory margin in their game with Newcomerstown (3-16). It came with 17 seconds remaining in the game and with Tuscarawas (12-7) trailing the battling Trojans 53-52. Rausch, who snared game scoring laurels on 22 points, hit a jumper to push the Broncos on top 54-53 and was fouled by Trojan Bruce Widder.
The Bronco ace swished the free throw and despite several attempts Newcomerstown could neither tie nor win in the fading seconds. Prior to Rausch's effort it appeared that the backfiring of a Tuscarawas out-of-bounds maneuver was going to be the key play of the contest. With slightly more than a minute to play a Bronco guard, in dribbling toward midcourt, had the ball jostled from his hand by a Trojan. It rolled toward the Newcomerstown end of the floor before a retrieving attempt was made. The Tuscarawas player, in an effort to retain possession, bounced the ball off a defending Trojan at the restraining line. But, it bounded into the air and into the chest of the Bronco who came down with the ball out-of-bounds.
Newcomerstown made the miscue pay dividends as shortly afterward Ron Hurst swished a layup to put the Trojans on top 53-52 with 52 second left to play. At the 35 second mark Tuscarawas mentor Lyle Matlick called for a timeout to discuss strategy. The Broncos took the ball in bounds at mid-court to set the stage for Rausch's heroics. His bucket nullified a near-fantastic comeback for the Trojans, a team that comprises but one Senior, 5 Juniors and 5 Sophomores. In the 1st half Tuscarawas jumped to quarter leads of 18-8 and 27-14. But, in the 2nd half it was a completely different story.
Newcomerstown went into a press aslmost immediately after the long intermission, scoring 9 straight points to narrow the Bronco lead to 27-23. The Trojans, who hit 7 of their first 9 field goal attempts in the period and 7 of their first 8 in the final stanza, chipped away at Tuscarawas' lead and with 5:40 remaining in the game went on top for the 1st time at 45-44 on 2 consecutive baskets by Jeff Schmidt. Tuscarawas regained the upper hand, 47-46 on a goal by Brent Lehigh, but the Trojans came roaring back to take a 3-point lead as Whit Parks and Schmidt each counted fielders. With slightly more than 3-minutes to play, Tusky knotted the count at 50-50 on a 3-point play by Rausch and went ahead 52-50 at 2:39 on a goal by Jim McCauley.
Newcomerstown regained the lead, 53-52, on a foul shot by Widder and Hurst's layup. Backing up Rausch in the scoring column for Tuscarawas was Brent Lehigh, who hit 18 points. Schmidt had 12 and Parks 12 to pace Newcomerstown. The Trojans made 24 goals in 62 attempts for 88.7 percent, had 28 rebounds and made 5 of 7 from the foul line. Tuscarawas meshed 24 of 55 for 43.6 percent, snared 42 rebounds and made 7 of 16 charity tosses.
TUSCARAWAS BRONCOS - 55
John Bihari 1-1-3
Brent Lehigh 9-0-18
Butch Reed 1-1-3
Fred Rausch 9-4-22
Jim McCauley 2-0-4
Tracy Knisely 2-0-4
Bill Goshorn 0-1-1
NEWCOMERSTOWN TROJANS - 53
Jeff Schmidt 6-1-13
Ernie Triplett 4-0-8
Whit Parks 6-0-12
Ron Hurst 4-0-8
Bruce Widder 3-3-9
Dennis Delong 1-1-3
Ripley 0-0-0
Friday, February 17, 1967
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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