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Show by Jim Murray Mfaniriraty sm paPBit Page CI Miners Roger Burns (31) and Tom Flinders (25) battle a Mt. Vernon forward underneath the basket. Miners snap losing streak with win over Mt. Vernon in Tuesday game by John Sundquist What is it like to win? The feeling came rushing back to the Park City Miners Tuesday night as they broke their scoring slump and surged past the Mt. Vernon Patriots 90-74. ;; The Miners were ahead at the end of the first quarter, 20-14, and never looked back. Led by the revived scoring of Roger Burns and Steve Toly, the Miners shot their way out of a terrible slump and put "as many points on the board as I can remember", beamed Assistant Coach Gary Avise. Mt. Vernon, a private school in Salt Lake, had earlier beaten a strong Wen-dover Wen-dover team. But Tuesday night the Patriots' play was Basketball Miners dumped by South Summit by John Sundquist The Miners travelled to South Summit Friday, hoping hop-ing to end a four-game losing streak. But they were only able to score 13 points in the first half and eventually went down to a 56-39 defeat. Park City was out to a quick lead 4-0 in the first quarter, and then 6-2. But after that points became scarce so the Miners had to depend on defense to stay in the game. Earlier in the season the South Summit Wildcats had licked the Miners by 30 points, using a full-court press and man-to-man defense. de-fense. But Friday's game started out differently. The Miners were down by only a basket at the end of the first quarter, 11-9. Then the Wildcats seemed to come to life. They outscored the Miners 20-4 in the second quarter and left the floor at the half leading 31-13. From that point on, the outcome of the game was never in question. "We are in an unbelievable shooting slump," said Miner Coach Bruce Reid. "We were getting the shots but they wouldn't go in. The team took good percentage shots. We got the ball inside but the guys couldn't make the hoop. We were getting two and three shots sometimes." The Miners took 49 shots and made 14 of them for a 35 percent average. In foul shooting, the Miners converted con-verted 23 for 48 percent. For South Summit, the V'! - f - 'I fV r-:i '7 ''' v I ; H "iff " A " . v yf - .' , not indicative of that preious achievement. "They gave us every shot we wanted," said Coach Bruce Reid, "and we made them." The Mt. Vernon defense was not doing the job, and Park City was able to take advantage of it. "The lax defense made our shooting and passing look good," said Reid. "We were in a fullcourt press at first but they really tore it up so we got out of it fast. We started to catch them in a defensive transition. Our fast break and hustle made us look good." In the scoring, Roger Burns had the game high of 29 points and Steve Toly came through with 18. "I was glad charity line was less profitable. profit-able. The Wildcats made 4 of 11 attempts for 36 percent. "We did not make any stupid fouls," said Reid, "which means reaching in to grab the ball from a player who is already past you." Despite the problems, Reid is realistically optimistic. opti-mistic. "We walked out of the gym without hanging our heads. The team hustled the whole game. They showed a tremendous amount of competitiveness." com-petitiveness." Park City used a 2-3 defensive zone on South Summit to keep the outside scoring down. The Wildcats' two best outside shooters were kept in single scoring figures. "I think the defense was effective," added Reid. "The South Summit team is bigger than us and is a talented team. Leading the Miners in steals for the game was Roger Burns with 5. But the Miners also committed 24 turnovers. The leading scorer for Park City was Bill Simmons with 12 points. "He really picks us up," says Reid. "He can make things happen for us." How does the rest of the season look to Coach Reid? You might be surprised. "We have to set realistic goals for ourselves. We can be in the regionals. But we must improve each game 'til then." The Miners now host Manila in a league game Thursday, Jan. 28. to see Burns and Toly snap out of their slumps," added Reid. At the half, the score was 42-32 and Park City could perhaps have coasted to the victory. But for the Miners it was important to--continue with their game plan: get as far out of the scoring slump as possible. "We wanted to improve," exclaimed Reid. "We started star-ted to look good. We ran well, Recreation basketball It's open season on Wasatch Homes by John Sundquist It used to be that you could count on two things in Park City; rugby on the Fourth of July and losing to Wasatch Homes in the Men's Recreation Recrea-tion Basketball League. Well, right now there is a scheduled game against the Dead Goat Rugty Club for the Muckers on July 4, but Wasatch Homes has just lost two in a row and the season is still not half over. For the last four years, Wasatch Homes has won both the league standings and the post-season tournament. tourna-ment. In the 1980-81 season the team lost only once. With four new teams in the league, it now looks as if the picture is changing and the talent spread more evenly. On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Jeremy Ranch beat Wasatch Homes 54-53. In their two previous meetings, Wasatch Homes had come away the victor by one- and two-point margins. The first half of the Jan. 20 game was a seesaw battle pitting some fine outside shooting by Jeremy Ranch against the aggressive play of Wasatch Homes. Always the power team, Wasatch Homes is tough on the boards led by Tim Mutcher, Fred Grambau, and Kelly Mutcher. But Jeremy Ranch stayed hot while Wasatch Homes couldn't make a basket. "They never shot like that before," said team spokesman spokes-man Kelly Mutcher. "They made seven or eight baskets in a row." At the half Jeremy Ranch led 31-20. "Usually only one guy is off in a slump," added Mutcher, "but for us it was the whole team." With ten minutes left in the we even passed well intermittently." inter-mittently." After Toly, the next high scorer was center Darren Lawless, with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Lawless has ex-l perienced heartbreak with.... the basket rim too often lately, and so it was Tuesday night. However, he showed he can score under the hoop and be in position to take the inside pass. Other scorers for Park game, Rob Harrison and Harry Haslett of Wasatch started to hit on some outside shots and closed the gap to 37-32. Wasatch Homes was beginning to play better defense and gain momentum. momen-tum. With two minutes to go, the score was tied at 50. Then Rob Harrison fouled Jim Austin of Jeremy Ranch after he attempted to move toward the basket with seven seconds left in the game. Austin hit on one and the score was 54-53. Wasatch Homes called a timeout to decide on a play. At the whistle Rob Harrison passed the ball in to Kelly Mutcher who threw up a 15-foot shot. It was short. "It could have gone either way," said Mutcher. "We might have done something different but we didn't. Their outside shooting was exceptional. excep-tional. They are as good as anybody in the league." The leading scorer for Jeremy Ranch was Jim Anderson with 16 points. For Wasatch Homes it was Tim Mutcher with 20 and Kelly Mutcher with 18. In other scores on Jan. 20, Black Pearl beat Mineshaft 49-32, and the Claimjumper won over the Park City Nads by forfeit. The Irish Camel was the last team to beat Wasatch Homes back in the 1980-81 season by the score of 44-43. Still playing the spoiler role this season, the Irish Camel made it two defeats in a row for Wasatch Homes by topping them 39-36 on Monday, Mon-day, Jan. 25. The Irish Camel, led by Bill Hart, Ken Tedford, Chuck Faulkner, Craig Sanchez, San-chez, and Rich Newmark now holds a 4-n record. Thursday, January 28, 1982 City were Bill Simmons with 10, Bob Blackbourn with four points, Tom Flinders with four, Trent Leavitt with eight, and John Ott with two. The junior varsity was nlsjo victorious Tuesday night, winning 73-46. The Miners play again Thursday night in a league game with Manila, whom they beat 74-34 earlier in the season. At the half the score was 18-16 in favor of Irish Camel. The play was slow but deliberate. Each team seemed seem-ed to be feeling for the other's weakness. Again for Wasatch Homes it was their shooting. With ten minutes to go the score was 29-24 for the Irish Camel. But Wasatch Homes started to make a comeback with baskets by Grambau, Kelly Mutcher, Tim Mutcher, Mutch-er, Mark Stemler, and Haslett, Has-lett, to narrow the score to 33-32 with one minute to go in the game. Scott Marshall then made a nice layup after getting open under the basket to give Irish Camel a three point lead 35-32. Bill Hart was then fouled and made both free throws for a 37-32 lead. Tim Mutcher put in a soft two-footer to close the score and with 11 seconds left, and called timeout. "We had to go for the three point play," said Kelly Mutcher. "We had to get inside and make the basket while being fouled." Tim Mutcher did get the basket but he was fouled. Time was called by Bill Hart of the Irish Camel to discuss the throw-in play with four seconds on the game clock. The ball was passed in to Newmark and he was fouled by Fred Grambau. New-mark New-mark sank both the free throws and the game ended 39-36. Tim Mutcher and Newmark led their teams in scoring with 15 and 13 points respectively. In other action Monday night, Jeremy Ranch beat the Claimjumper 46-35 after leading by only one at the half. In the nightcap, the Black Pearl beat Park City Nads 59-34. Bowler Wayne Webb: he's the one with the moustache When a reporter came into the lanes looking for bowler Wayne Webb, the proprietor pointed him out. "That's him over there on Lane Two with the bowling ball in his hands." The reporter studied the scene. "I see," he said, "But which is which?" If he had holes in him, you'd be tempted to throw Wayne Webb at the 7-10 split. Fortunately, for purposes of positive identification, he's the one wearing a moustache. Bowlers usually come king-sized. They drive trucks when they're not bowling or lay track and their multi-colored bowling shirts have room enough on the back for "Eat At Al's Beef-Bar-B-Q, All Major Credit Cards Accepted." Webb looks as if he just got off a horse. He looks as if he couldn't lift a bowling ball, never mind throw it. Some bowlers look as if they're plucking a grape when they pick up the bowling ball. Wayne looks as if he needs a jack. Most bowlers lift the ball to chin level and cradle it like a loving cup. Wayne just kind of staggers back like a guy with his hands caught in a rear axle of a Volkswagen. Pound-for-pound, he's the best there is. Certainly inch-for-inch. He's 5-5, and 150 pounds, in his bowling shoes but, in 1980, at the age of only 23, he toppled 223,458 pins for a 211.8 average and was the pro bowlers' Player of the Year. He won three titles and $116,000 that year, and it was the first time in seven years somebody beside Earl .Anthony or Mark Roth was Bowler of the Year. His arms are so short he has trouble scratching his ears, and his fingers so stumpy he looks as if he has five thumbs, but he was No. 2 on the exempt list last year with two wins, three seconds, two thirds and $100,520 won. People keep asking him if it wouldn't be an advantage to be six inches taller and Webb answers truthfully, "I don't know. I've never been any taller." But he adds: "Look at it j Newspaper Classified Advertising. . . j It doesn't cost. . .IT PAYS! j Call us... 649-901 4 & (f(u I this way: Every bowler has been short at some time or another in his life. When they were 12, maybe." Once, when Webb was explaining that when he started out bowling, he used to have to push the ball down the alley with both hands, a rival inquired, "When was that, Wayne? When you were 21?" The other bowlers kid him that he has to be lifted up to the rack to select his ball, but there's nothing funny about his average, 212.1, which was fifth best in the nation last year. Like a pitcher who cannot overpower a hitter, Webb throws junk at the pins, but his friends say he's got more ways of letting go of the ball than Juan Marichal ever did. "He could start a ball at Cleveland and hit Chicago," they insist. Webb sort of sets up a lane the way Whitey Ford used to set up a hitter. The ball may do everything short of stopping for a sandwich on its way. His height, or lack of it, gives him a closer examination of the floor than his contemporaries contem-poraries and the grain thereof. He studies it the way Satchel Paige would study a batter's feet. Some nights, his toughest job is getting through security. They wonder if his father knows he's out, hanging around bowling alleys. His father does. His father owned a bowling alley in Taunton, Mass., which is where Wayne got his two-handed start. He could bowl before he could talk. But, sometimes, he still has to show guards his famous Ebonite "Green Monster" ball to prove he's bowling's notorious "Green Machine." If the pro bowlers' tour comes to your neighborhood lanes, and if you're back in the crowd, and you see what appears to be a bunch of runaway balls trickling down the lane, you'll know it's Wayne Webb throwing them. Particularly if they're strikes. (c) 1982, Los Angeles Times |