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Show T Page 4B Lakeside Review Thursday, March 19, 1981 IFialllfi IFnirs"? SUOS1 All Considered, Region-- 1 Teams Dim Post BannerYear FomKaill By PHIL KIRKWOOD Sports Editor SALT LAKE CITY All in all, it was a pretty good season for Region-- 1 teams. Clearfield, Roy and Bonneville were ranked in the top five for much of the year and along with Weber, each team played some tough hoop in the state tournament last week - Roy, of course, made it to the final game for the first time and finished second behind - By BLISS FULLMER Staff Writer two, you try harder. That Roy High School. In November the Royals battled to a second place, finish in the Utah State 4A football finals, losing only to Bonneville High School, a team they had previously beaten in Region One competition. Saturday night, When you are number will be a battle cry, next year at East. history repeated itself, when the Royals battled through wins over Olympus, Bingham and Skyline, but then lost the big one to East High School of Salt Lake City. The Royals had gone into the tournament, tied with Bonneville for second place. The seedings were determined by a flip of the coin. Roy won the coin-tos- s and elected to play in the same bracket with Clearfield and number number Bingham, in lieu of playing against number d d East and number Brighton, d Bonneville. not to mention number .The Royals didnt pi -- The Royals didnt play well in their first game against Olympus, but won on a last second trip at the foul line by Bart Hadley. Hadley hit on the front end of a and missed the second and the clock ran out on the Titans. Final score: Roy 63 - Olympus three-ranke- dpe-ranke- five-ranke- ls e, 62. Roy Beats Bingham 64 -- 57 The Miners and Royals went after each other for 32 minutes of hard-nose- d basketball, but it all boiled down to what happened in the last two minutes of . play. ; Bingham had the lead in the first quarter and was nursing a slim one point lead at intermission. The 5 at the third quarter Miners were still ahead, back and forth until rest, but then the lead the score was tied at 52, with just 2:45 left to be pjayed. At the 2: 15 mark, Robert Kirkwood hit a 12 foot jumper, under heavy pressure, and Roy got the ball back on a missed shot by Bingham. With 2:08 left to be played, Jed Porter hit on both ends of a crucial situation, but Bingham countered with layin by Troy Fullmer to stay within two points. Kirkwood, then went to the line and scored two shots, with 55 seconds showing on the clock, and Steve Scholtec made a big block and steal to get the ball back for the Royals. Kirkwood was at the line again with 47 seconds, and suddenly the Royals had themselves a six point lead, with the clock winding down. The Miners scored an 18 footer at the 38 second mark, but fouled Brad McCaulley, seven seconds later on the inbounds pass, and he hit both shots. Bingham scored from the line, with 21 seconds left in the game, but Rob Thomas went to the stripe at the 10 second mark td score the final two points of the game. The final score favored Roy, but the game was much Closer. The Miners had led by as many as six points, but in the last two minutes, the Royals scored ten joints on eleven trips to the foul line to win the game. Robert Kirkwood led all scoring with 20 points, and 19. Brad Rob' Thomas was next in line with McCaulley had ten points, and Steve Scholtec had eight, Jed Porter had only six points, but two of his joints tied the ball game, with less than three minutes to play, and two of them came from the line, with 2:08 showing on the clock. The Royals upset Bingham, and did it from the foul line, where they converted 24 of 32 attempts. the Royals 22 to 20 from the field, Bingham and them, 26 to 15. '' Bingham was awesome on the boards, with men like 64 Wayne Tuttle, 65 Steve Cosgrove, 66 Wes Hymas and 69 Alan Pollard, and if that wasnt enough, Alan Pollard has a little brother to back him up, who stands 71. I. They were big and intimidating, said Bard Hadley, who did not score a single point, but played Excellent defense. Im not used to all that height, he said. It was tough, added Rob Thomas. I couldnt shoot over the top. All I could do was fake and drive. Z" Jed Porter was all aglow for the part he played in the Royal victory. All I thought about was concentration, when I was at the line, said Porter. Coach Ted Smith was pleased with all his players', for the game they played. Robert (Kirkwood) Brad (McCaulley) and Rob (Thomas) all played super, said the coach. Rob did a great job on the boards, even when he was in there battling their big men, with four fouls to his credit. (Thomas spent part of the second and third quarters, on the bench, in foul trouble, and played the last six and a half minutes, just one whistle away from ejection from the game). &;Ted Smith cited patience and poise as the key to Seating Bingham. We took the shots they gave us, and did what we had to do, summarized the coach. Roy 70 -- Skyline 65 Z: Foul shots played another major role in Roys Victory over Skyline. The Royals, who converted 32 of 44 from the line, made their last 14 points from the line. Skyline Roy 25 to 19 from the field, but converted only 15 of 26 from the line. The Eagles started out fast, and had a 0 advantage in the first quarter, but the Royals caught up, midway through the second quarter, and took a 7 lead to the locker room at halftime. Roy extended its d shot by Bart Hadley in the lead to 11 on a (hird quarter and then coasted to victory. The agressive Eagles sent Roy to the line 24 times in the last ten minutes and the Royals obliged them by converting 19. Z Four Roy players scored a dozen points each. Brad McCaulley was tops from the field with five goals, followed by Steve Scholtec with four. Bart Hadley had three from the field and 6 of 11 from the stripe. Robert i Kirkwood had only one field goal, but went to the line eleven times and came away with ten counters. Rob 'Thomas also scored in double figures, with 11 points. tMike Reske collected five points all from the line. e interview, Coach Paul Jeppesen of , In a that he had seen Roy play at ; Skyline mentioned Clearfield, again against Olympus and against Bingham for half of the game. We match up pretty fotwith ftoy, except for Thomas, said the coach. .Our jhan Drecksel is probably the best player in the state, said jeppesen, and we go to him a lot. To from stop Roy, weve got to stop Kirkwood 61-5- Some might say it was a banner year their outside shooting, were cold in that most picked Region-- 1 teams as coming out of the blocks in the second the patsies in 4A and didnt give them round game and found themselves much of a chance in the tournament. down by as many as 13 points early on. Salt Lake City schools like East, Rebounding also suffered and the taller Brighton, Bingham and Skyline were Region-- 3 team took advantage' by the powers and the rest were simply turning defensive rebounds into fast . there to fill up the tournament chart. As breaks and easy baskets. it turned out, East finished first while , The Falcons tried their luclf inside, fourth but more times than not Brighton took third, Skyline they were and Bingham fifth. Oddsmakers had a foiled. Also, a zone defense by tough pretty good year too. Skyline forced Clearfield to work the But the amazing thing was that no ball more than usual which caused one picked a Region-1 team to get turnovers and more fast break hoops. semi-finalet alone anywhere near the In the second half, the Falcons the final game. So when Roy knocked started hitting their outside shots and off Olympus and then Bingham and to close the gap. Troy Nye and began then Skyline, a few eyebrows were Freddie Cook hit clutch baskets in the raised. It was like watching BYU or third to bring the Falcons to Utah make it to the final four in the withinquarter five going into the final period. A NCAAs the home folks always knew tough full court press by Clearfield they had the talent, but no one else began to take its toll against Skyline by could believe it.. turnovers and missed shots. Even though the Royals bowed easily causing The Falcons took advantage by storto East on Saturday, the season ming back to take the lead for the first remained a bright one and since they time at 7 on two free throws by Nye only lose two starters in Brad with just 1:30 left in the game. McCaulley and Robert Kirkwood, (both However, Skyline answered back guards), next year could lfe even when Paul Drexel (the leading scorer in brighter. the tournament) converted a three-poiTo Easts credit, they made good play and the Falcons could not their number one ranking and deserved recover. claiming their first state crown in ten years. Starting five seniors, who have Although the Falcons lost, they played together since seventh grade, it played well enough to prove their was the final glory to outstanding prep number two ranking was valid in that careers. they were able to mount the comeback Another tournament team also a trait that became their trademark featured five starting seniors, only they during the Region-- 1 season. Next year, didnt get quite as much glory. Clear- the Falcons are again faced with fields season could be described as a grooming a brand new starting five, rags to riches to rags affair, but in the but you can bet coach Craig Hansen will end, a success. You see the Falcons make the very most of it. were picked to finish a weak fourth in . Another Region-- 1 team similar to the the weakest region behind Roy Falcons in everything but winning Bonneville and Weber. They had lost all success was Layton. They too were but one starter from a year before and small, but quick and used the outside this year featured no starter taller than shot as their major weapon. Although not exactly championship the Lancers could only manage a fifth-plac- e 62 credentials. But them, thats just the finish with three region wins and rags part. The rich era began on just four wins overall, they were never January 9 and ended March 5. In that an easy game. In fact, the Lancers gave time, the Falcons shocked everybody Clearfield its only region loss. four-rank- two-rank- ' by winning nine of ten region games -- 4 including both home and away victories over Roy Bonneville and Weber. The Falcons not only wound up as the Region-- 1 champion, but found themselves ranked number two in the state going into the tournament. But thats where it stopped as Clearfield fell to Skyline, the same school that knocked them out a year 9 in the second round. before, The Falcons, who rely heavily on 79-6- 5 36-3- 59-5- see-saw- ed nt 57-6- out-duel- . out-scor- 16-1- 31-2- last-secon- ; pre-gam- S ROYAL FORWARD Steve Scholtec flies to the hoop for two points in a tournament semi-fingame, The bucket helped beat Skyline and put Roy in its first ever championship game. penetrating, and keep Thomas off the boards, continued the coach. Skyline did stop Kirkwood from penetrating, but it cost them dearly at the foul line. Thomas did a good job on the boards, but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Mike Reske came off the bench to replace Thomas, and did an outstandings job. I just do what I can, said Reske, following his super role in relief. They are hard workers, said Robert Kirkwood, who had been assigned to defense Paul Drecksel. Hes good. Bart Hadley summed up the Skyline attack as being Tough and very agressive. We are going to keep doing the same things, said Coach Ted Smith, as his charges warmed up on the floor before the game, We will try to contain Drecksel, but there are four others out there to watch. After the big victory. Coach Smith was jubilant. Ive reached my big goal in nine years of coaching at Roy High School, he said. Now we will be Those kids playing for the state championship. wanted to be right where we are tonight, he continued. We could have folded, tonight but didnt. And now we will play for the state championship. al 65 East their league schedule, tied for second place with Bonneville, and ranked behind East, Clearfield, Brighton, Bingham and Bonneville in the coaches poll. They werent expected to advance 79-R- The Royals finished into the eight team finals, let alone play for the state championship. But on Saturday night, Roy High J School took on the Leopards of East for all the marbles and lost. . Roy played determined ball against East, but fell 1 behind early and could never recover. The Leopards blasted out to an 1 lead, and then 1 scored ten unanswered points, early in the second jm, quarter. At intermission East was still ahead by sixteen. in the locker room at The Royals halftime, and tried to get back into the game, but on this night, it was the Royal opposition who paraded to the foul line, and converted an unazing 31 of 36 foul shots. Roy did pull to within eleven points with 2:42 left to play, but then the Leopards went into their stall game, and continued to hit from the stripe. The final margin was 14 points in favor of East. George Fergus led the East onslaught with 29 points Eight field goals and 13 of 15 from the line. Troy Powell scored 15, and Mike Matheson and Shane Moncur each chipped in 13 for the Leopards. For Roy, Brad McCaulley scored 19 on layins and 18 footers, and 5 of 8 from the line. Robert Kirkwood made 12 points, Bart Hadley, 11 and Steve Scholtec put in ll. As a team, Roy made 23 field goals and 19 of 26 from the line. East had 24 goals and 31 of 36 from the stripe. East edged the Royals 2 on the boards. The big difference was in shooting. East shots were dropping in, and Roys (especially in the first half) were coming out. Credit a lot of those misses to the Leopard defense, but Skyline, and . especially ROYAL GUARD Robert Kirkwood had more than Bingham, were both tough on defense, but the shots he could handle against East. were going in, and so were the foul shots. 'V Jh 18-1- first-quart- 35-3- A CLEARFIELDS TROY NYE leaps high to make a jump pass against Skyline in a second round state tournament game last week. Nyea performance was stellar, but the Falcons lost the game. 4 Y I |