OCR Text |
Show 14 i 1984 29, rpaDEP Team Basketball unity A. T. Roberts Sports Editor C Jr 1983-8The Transcript-Bulletin- s basketball team is unique in two ways: One - There is no repeater from last years team and Tony Spillman of Wendover is the only junior named to the dream team. Dugway, Utahs 1A state championship quintet places three cagers on this years team with Grantsville and Wendover each earning a berth. From the Dugway team are Jeff Brothers, the Mustangs magnifig cent guard, big and talented Kary Gardner and John DeWitt. Grantsvilles contribution is Jeff Mason, a fine player whose special talent is defense. Tony Spillman had all kinds of physical problems at the beginning of the year, but once he began perkin "on all cylinders he was the lead- 4 -- high-scorin- 'W er for the Wildcats, and came on strong enough during the latter part of team. the season to earn himself a spot on this years John DeWitt is picked as the Most Valuable Player, making it the third year in a row the MVP award goes to a Dugway player. Other MVPs have been Rick Harrison, Grantsville, 1979; Bret Applegate, Tooele, 1980; Greg Brown, Grantsville, 1981; John Witkowski, Dugway, 1982 and Steve Bruce, Dugway, 1983. Both DeWitt and Brothers were named to last years second allcounty team. team will receive a Members of the Transcript-Bulleticertificate and windbreaker and DeWitt will also receive an engraved silver tray. n i. I John DeWitt ? I i r. I & FZ i T Tony Spillman Wendover High School Dugway High School Most Valuable Player Wendovers Tony Spillman earns his spot on the team in spite of obstacles that would have turned back most basketball players. Tony suffered a broken hand early in the season and only played in two games. And even when he came back he ran into difficulty. It took several practices to get back into the flow' of things, then key players for Wendover were lost for the season and Tony was forced to blend his talents in with several different lineups. It got so that you could not tell the Wendover players without a scorecard. Still Spillman became a guiding force for the Cats as they battled their way to a second place finish in division play and earned the right to participate in the Region 1 1 round robin. During league play Tony scored at a 41 percent clip, and came up with 60 rebounds in eight games. His scoring average was 10.6 which is astounding considering the various combinations Spillman played with. The only junior on this years team, Tony Spillman will be back next year and if some of the obstacles that were thrown in his path this year are eliminated, his full potential should be a huge plus mark for coach Dean Stringham and the Wildcats. Kary Gardner Dugway High School . ty Dugway forward John DeWitt gains the distinction of being selected as the Most Valuable Player on the Transcript-Bulletin'- s basketball team, capping a brilliant high school career including leading the Mustangs to the State 1 A championship. DeWitts statistics are about as staggering as the national debt. In Dugways 25 games this year, DeWitt scored 653 points, for a per game average of 26.12 points despite the fact that in most of the Dugway league encounters John played less than half a game. He was the teams second leading rebounder with 232 grabs or better than nine rebounds per contest. DeWitt was a tireless player that seemed to gain momentum as the game wore on, and the tougher the action, the better he performed. John hit the high point of efficiency in the state tournament where he stood out in all four games as Dugway raced to the title. DeWitt had previously been selected as the MVP and first team by the team and Deseret News and now the Transcript-Bulleti- n MVP. It is expected that the Salt Lake Tribune will heap additional post season honors on this outstanding basketball player. all-sta- pre-seaso- n ty Kary Gardners 68 all-tim- ) f THE BEST BASKETBALL IN THE WORLD frame provides the heighth for this years dream team, but narys mere heighth is probably the least of his contributions. One of the hardest working kids ever seen on the basketball court, Kary used this determination and desire to the maximum in order to achieve the peak of his ability. Gardner was Dugways most accurate field goal shooter, hitting the e hoop at a 66 percent pace, which is a Dugway high record, in scoring 387 points in 25 games. The big guy blocked 80 shots, and pulled down 264 rebounds, both marks being highs for the Dugway team. His play during the championship tourney was absolutely awesome he shot 84 percent from the field, hitting 32 of 38 shots, he grabbed 55 rebounds and averaged 17.5 points per game. Kary Gardner was "big in more ways than one as the Mustangs captured the state v Ij v f "'I IV COMES TO UTAH 30 TIMES A YEAR u ',M' Vieir - t (Mate f ! X i j XET3 ) Jeff Brothers fV Hpxt game MONDAY APRIL 2 HOUSTON Dugway High School CALL: 355-619- 4 to order tickets . ROCKETS VUTAH DIGGER BETTER lie wasnt the teams leading scorer, in fact he wasnt even close, that Dugway played, guard Jeff Brothers soon became the center of attraction because of his scintillating play. Brothers main job was to control the tempo of the game and direct the team offense for the Mustangs. No player ever did it better. An extremely confident player, Brothers was the picture of a true leader on the floor. In every game, it only took a couple of minutes for the fans to realize that here was a player that not only knew what he was doing, but he also knew of each and every movement his teammates would but in every game make. In 25 games, Brothers handed off or passed for 217 assists resul434 points for the high-flyinin Mustangs. He scored just 151 ting points, fourth on the team, but he hit the hoop at better than 62 percent accuracy Indicating that when he did take a shot it had a good chance to split the strings. Ills dribbling and ball handling were almost flawless and without Jeff Brothers it is doubtful that Dugway would have earned the state championship. g I Jeff Mason Grantsville High School r On every aggregation there has to be the player that does everything and does it well. Perhaps he doesnt stand out on the court as vividly as some of his team mates, but he is the player that is always in the right place at the right time, contributing his talents where they will do the most good. Such a player is Jeff Mason, Grantsvilles Mr. Do Everything. Because the fire at Grantsville destroyed all the records, specific statistics on Mason's brilliant play are not available, but his overall accomplishments have been firmly engraved on the mind of his coach Bob Williams. "Jeff was one of the fastest players on the court and he was able to control this speed and use it to the best advantage of the team. Jeff was also one of my finest defensive players throughout the year, Williams said. "Mason was also a dependable scorer, averaging better than 11 points per game. "Our season wasnt a rousing success but it wasnt the fault of Jeff Mason, one of the hardest working and most dedicated players I have ever coached." High praise indeed for a player who earned every word of It. all-sta- |