Park City Miners play one half, crap out in other, lose to Wendover Wildcats, 53-47 VV " rs j i l) Iff 1 Could this be Michael Jordan (notice extended tongue)? No, it's just Miner Greg King dribblin' that ball. by Randy Hanskat Watching the basketball game between Park City and Wendover Friday night in Miner Gym, one was tempted to wonder if the Park City kids didn't have something else on their minds for half of the game. Could the opponents from the Nevada border town have started a game of craps on the sideline? Did they plant slot machines in the Miner locker room? Had they convinced the Park City Miners to not break the point spread in the game? Whatever it was, the Miners played two good quarters of basketball Friday night, and did something else the other two, resulting in a 53-47 loss to Wendover. Park City Coach Paul Willard was even more blunt. "We played well g for about a half," he said, "and we i kinda stunk up the place for the g other." s For the Miner faithful in the stands it looked like a return to the exploits of last year's team. That crew could play with anyone, at times. The rest of the time it looked as if a middle school team could beat them. Turnovers were the nemesis of that squad, and that was the same demon which haunted this year's team Friday night. Willard said the 3 Miners turned the ball over 21 times in the game. Many of those came against what Willard called a c "marginal" press. "We made it (the Wendover f press) look good," he laughed. He 1 said his team should have no more a than about 14 turnovers in a game. Willard attributed, the large number of turnovers to the lack of practice time over the holiday break and the team's lack of varsity experience. Willard said the Miners need to learn how to play with the pressure of the varsity games. The pressure took its toll on the shooting for Park City. The Miners were 18 of 43 from the field, not a bad percentage on the surface. However, 29 of those were taken from inside the key and only 12 went m the hoop. Willard said 75 percent of the shots from inside the key should go in. Many times it was as if the Miner players were simply throwing the ball up, hopin' and a-prayin' for it to fall. No" confidence., Willard said such a low percentage from inside the key will keep a team from being close in most games. , The funny thing was that the Miners were close for much of this one. Wendover had as much as a 15-point lead at times, but the Miners didn't give up. They kept digging, and closed the gap to within six late in the fourth quarter. It could've been four if Scott Tatum had sunk a couple of crucial free Dave Vida puts one up over the Wildcat defenders. Vida is the Miners' sixth man, providing a spark off the bench. throws. The game was far from decided right up until the final minute. Willard said he is pleased by the way the kids don't give up. Although the Miners could have been out of each of their past three games, Willard said they have the guts to keep fighting. "That is the makings of a good ball club," he said. Again, guard Matt Mapstone was the high scorer for Park City with 17. Eight of those came in the fourth quarter as Mapstone began bombing from the outside. Dave Vida was second high man with 11. Vida is one of those players who seems to perform better coming off the bench. After good performances perfor-mances off the bench in the first two games of the season, Vida was given a starting position. However, as a starter against Morgan and Wasatch, Vida didn't have good games, Willard said, so he put him back to his former role as the sixth man. Center Scott Tatum was the third highest scorer for Park City with seven. Tatum seems to be the spiritual leader of the Miner team. Whenever he goes out, be it for foul trouble, or for a breather, the Miners let down. i- Willard said much of that letdown could be the lack of confidence in the Miner forwards. Bruce Buckner and Todd Mullen are both sophomores who have never played varsity before this season. He said Tatum gives them confidence when he is in there. The evening began in an exciting way for the Park City fans, with a fantastic finish to the junior varsity game. W ith less than half a minute left to play tne score was knotted at 42-42. Park City inbounded the ball but then took two forced shots which were blocked out of bounds by Wendover. Finally, with time running run-ning out, the ball was inbounded to Fouse who threw up a desperation shot at the buzzer. The crowd watched in silence as the ball banked off the glass, rolled around the rim, and fell out. But the referee had called a foul on the Wendover defender who had tried to block Fouse's shot. That gave the senior two chances to win the game for Park City. Fouse stepped to the line and you could feel the tension. Although in his second year of playing basketball, basket-ball, Fouse has seen only limited playing time, and has never been in such a situation. He threw up the first free throw like a lead balloon, missing everything backboard, rim, net, everything by about a foot. The crowd moaned, sure that Fouse had choke fever. But Fouse calmly stepped back to the line, and swished the second shot to win the game 43-42. After that excitement, the varsity game was a dull one. At the end of the first quarter the Miners were playing well, and led by the score of 13-12 over the Wildcats. But Wendover came back in the second quarter, and the Miners faltered, playing wildly with a lack of confidence or patience. Wendover took the lead 16-15 with 5:30 left in the second quarter, never to relinquish it. Wendover dumped in nine unanswered un-answered points by dominating of the boards to swell the score to 23-15. At the half it was 29-21. In the third quarter the Miners played poorly again, and the Wildcat lead grew to 40-27 at the quarter's end. Late in that quarter the Miners' best player was Dave Vida, who had come in off the bench and was one of the few putting the ball in the hoop for Park City. In the fourth the Wildcats spread their offense to the four corners, forcing the Miner defenders to come out and play man to man, rather than zone. At first the new strategy confounded the Miners, but then adjustments were made, and Park City perked up. Much of that was due to the mad bombing of Matt Mapstone. He hit four 25-footers to bring the charging Miners back to within six points with less than two minutes left. The Wildcats were getting scared. Shortly thereafter, Scott Tatum was fouled and the Miner center went to the line shooting two with the chance to narrow the Wildcat lead to four points. He missed both shots, however, and the opportunity for Park City to win the game slipped away. It ended 53-47. Even though the third straight loss dropped the Miners' record to 2-3 on the season, Willard wasn't ready to panic. "We're operating on a good timetable," he said. "I don't think the kids are doing anything I didn't expect at this point in the year." He said the key is experience, and that will only come with playing time. This Friday night in Miner Gym, Park City opens its region season against South Summit. South Summit, Sum-mit, led by returning all-state performer Craig Rydalch, is the favorite to take the region, and possibly state. The junior varsity . plays at 5:45, followed by the varsity at 7:30.