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Show Vi Newspaper a Page Bl Thursday, March 4, 1982 "Okay, I gotcha covered." Park City's Bill Simmons seems to have his hands full, covering Summit Wildcats. three South eniors bow out with a win by John Sundquist "Hallelujah." Park City Coach Bruce Reid had the victory he wanted. The lowly Park City Miners beat second-place South Summit 52 - 49 last Friday night to end regular league play on a winning note. The Miners now face Wendover to start the Region II Tournament Thursday at 2 p.m. at the North Summit gymnasium. The 3 - 7 Miners, playing at home last Friday, finally put Roger Burns and Steve Toly in the driver's seat together, and they provided 36 of the team's 52 points. Roger Burns had 17 points and a team-high of 10 rebounds, while Toly led the Miners in scoring with six baskets and seven of 14 at the freethrow line for 19 points and five assists. "Toly and Burns showed a lot of confidence during the game," said Reid. "They have been dominating practice prac-tice recentlv. Tolv had a phenomenal week of prac tice. I knew he would have a good game. He has been averaging 16 points a game for most of the season." The Miners started the contest with five seniors who were playing their last regular season game at home: Bob Blackburn, Steve Toly, Trent Leavitt, Roger Burns, and Darren Lawless. In the first quarter, Burns took control of the scoring, getting eight of the Miners 14 points. Playing against a man-to-man defense, the Miners were able to penetrate pene-trate inside to get high percentage shots off the backboard and from underneath under-neath the basket. At the other end of the court, the Miners kept the South Summit Wildcats away from the boards, forcing them to shoot from outside and allowing them only one shot. The Park City rebounding in the first quarter quar-ter made South Summit's turnovers look even more damaging. Here is where Darren Lawless counted the most. "A lot of what he does doesn't show up in the game stats," said Reid. "He does a good job of boxing out the other team 's big man ; in this case it was Travis Hatch." The first quarter ended 14 -8 for Park City after Lawless put a shot up and Burns was right there to tip it in at the buzzer. The second quarter saw the Wildcats befuddled by the good defensive positioning position-ing of the Park City team. With the Miners gaining possession of the rebounds, the Wildcats went over their backs reaching for the ball and committing fouls. "South Summit was especially es-pecially flat in the first half. There was a tremendous amount of difference, in each team's play, from past performances. "I knew South Summit would come out and put the pressure on. We couldn't afford to slack off in our play one bit. In the first half everything went our way. The referee's whistle was not blowing against us." Another aspect of the first half was the man-to-man offense of the Miners. They ' started the game against a South Summit man-to-man defense. Midway into the second quarter, South Summit Sum-mit changed to a zone defense. "We forced them out of their man-to-man defense," said Coach Reid. "It was a good psychological accomplishment accom-plishment for us. I wanted us to play a man-to-man offense so well they would change to a zone defense." Against the South Summit zone defense, the Miners were able to set up for some longer shots. Toly hit on a 15-footer, and Burns put two jump shots in from ten feet out. The third quarter ended 41 - 29 with South Summit picking up some momentum for the final period. In the fourth quarter, the Wildcat full-court press be came a serious threat to the Miners' hopes. The Wildcats put a trap play on the Miners, doubling up on the guards to force turnovers. South Summit was also forced to commit fouls in the fourth quarter to regain possession. "South Summit is a good fouling team," said Reid. "They put a lot of pressure on us." With a minute left in the game, South Summit had closed the gap to five at 49 -44. Then two Wildcat free throws made it 49 - 46. With 38 seconds left, Travis Hatch, South Summit's Sum-mit's big man, was fouled by Burns and hit the first of a one-and-one to pull within two points of the Miners. Fortunately for Park City fans, the Wildcats got no closer. Steve Toly hit a free throw with 22 seconds left and Blackbourn followed with two more to make the score 52 - 47. A last-gasp South Summit basket was too late to change the outcome. ' Recreation League champs: Back row: Dan Fullerton, Scott Marshall, Kenny Tedford and Craig Sanchez. Middle row: Paul Kerwin, Chuck Folkerth, Rich Newmark and Bill Hart. Front: Bill Dwyer. Recreation basketball Irish Camel wins league title by Jim Murray Mmiirirsay nim pqpiiits The old coffee can can't stop him now by John Sundquist For the new teams in the Recreation Basketball League, 1982 has been a good year. The Irish Camel, taking first place, posted a 11-1 season record. The second-place team, Jeremy Ranch, finished with a 9-3 record, but denied Irish Camel a perfect season by beating them in the regular season finale, 53-46, Monday evening. The Irish Camel replaces Wasatch Homes, who has been dominating the league for the past three years. This year, Wasatch Homes finished third in the league with a 8-4 record. According to Recreation Department Director Bruce Henderson, this has been a refreshingly good season for a number of reasons. "This year the Recreation League was much more balanced then in the past. There were not so many onesided games this year." Even though the Irish Camel is a new team in the league, the players have been living in Park City for some time. On the other hand, Jeremy Ranch began as a pickup team. Every year there are some players who are either new to Park City or just not on any team but want to play. The league provides for these players by forming a pickup team to include all unattacnea piayers. "Usually this team does poorly," said Henderson, "but this year, the pickup team evolved into Jeremy Ranch and they were in contention the whole season." sea-son." The winning season for the Irish Camel was due to "nine good people," according to Player-Coach, Craig San chez. They included: Scott Marshall, Chuck Folkerth, Bill Hart, Bill Dwyer, Rich Newmark, Ken Tedford, Paul Kerwin, and Dan Fullerton. Ful-lerton. According to Sanchez, the running game is the type of play his team enjoys. "We like to run with the ball, quick outlet passes and speed. We have a much stronger bench than anyone else. We can play harder and longer." There will be a post-season tournament for the Recreation Recrea-tion League starting in about three weeks. It will be a When he comes down court with the ball, his smile lights up the building. It's the first thing you notice about him. It's wide, ear-to-ear, and infectious. It warms the crowd, relaxes the team, reassures the coach. His skills are electrifying. He can steal, jump, block, shoot and pass. He's had more dunks than a roadhouse coffee mug. But it's the smile that sells. You all know whom I'm talking about. I'll give you a hint : he plays for Los Angeles. His name begins with an "M." Magic?! No, not Magic. This guy doesn't even have a nickname. He couldn't get a coach fired if he wanted to, which he doesn't. He's got a multi-year contract, but it's not in the national-debt range. No one ever called him "Dr. Dunk," or "The Pearl," or "All World." He doesn't make the cover of too many magazines unless it's in a crowd-under-the-basketshot, but he specializes in holding the magazine covers to 10 points a night. He blocks more shots than a steel vest. No wonder he smiles a lot. He's only 6-6. But, that's with his arms at his side. With his arms overhead, he's 11-2. When he jumps, clouds form around him. He can hang in the air like a vulture. His speciality on offense is leaping up over the basket and waiting up there till the ball comes. That pass Dwight Clark caught in the football playoff this year, this guy would have caught at the belt buckle. You look at Michael Cooper and it's hard to believe that it was not so long ago he couldn't walk. He was in braces till he was nearly 10 years old. He had caught his foot in an old coffee can as an infant, and nearly sliced it off. It took so many stitches to sew it back on, his knee looked like a wall motto. As a kid, Michael Cooper himself looked like a March of Dimes poster. His mother and grandmother grand-mother were so fearful of the wound reopening, Cooper recalls, that, "to this day, whenever I start to run, I can hear my mother's voice warning me 'Be careful!'" Adds Cooper: "When they finally took that brace off me, I ran everywhere. I ran to the bathroom, I ran to school, I ran to the dinner table. I was trying to make up for all that lost time I had to sit looking out the window at other kids running. I never walked anywhere. I ran in my sleep." Cooper was a good enough high school basketball player for Seattle Pacific to offer him a scholarship, but his high school coach cautioned him he would have to perfect his single elimination tournament tourna-ment for any team who wishes to enter. The year was a success in part due to the change of venue for the league. Last year and in other years past, the games were played in the Memorial Building. This year the entire schedule was played at the larger gym in the Carl Winters Middle School. "We would like to thank Brian Schiller, the principal at the middle school and the Park City school system for all their cooperation," said Henderson. defensive skills to make basketball a career and he recommended Pasadena City College Most high school hotshots would rathe: learn Latin than defense. But Michael Cooper was hooked. "Sometimes, I can ' wait for our team to score a basket so I ca i get back on defense. That's where I felt I make MY points." Even though he conies off the bench, no guard in the league has m unblocked un-blocked shots than Cooper. Only two piayers on his own team have more steals. He has :!v fewer points than Magic Johnson, but he -. played 500 fewer minutes. His years of looking out the window with a blanket over his legs had left their mark-initially. mark-initially. "I wasn't very aggressive oa defense. A guy would post up on me and ! would stay behind him and rely on my jumping ability to get the ball. I was kind fishy fi-shy about contact. I think, sub-conscion.-ly. was still favoring that left leg. I didn't van' to expose it to combat." His coach at V,. Mexico urged him to play up in people faces. "That's not a dance out there, it's a war!", he told Cooper. He couldn't tell Cooper to throw his weight around Cooper didn't have any to throw. But he could ihruv, his speed around. "I began to fight gus in the post, to dive for loose balls u'h seven-footers on top of me. As soon as I fou'K my left knee could take the punishment, I knew that the rest of me could." Cooper may be the best "sixth man" in the league since Boston's John Haviicek The beauty of the sixth man is that he is never tired. He comes in the game to give scoring guards or forwards a rest. Ordinarily he gets plenty himself. But, they feed Cooper to the lions in this league. He gets the best offensive players on the other team to guard, the Larry Birds, the Julius Irvings, the George Gervins. Not that Cooper is strictly a counter puncher, a fancy boxer out there. In the Boston Garden this year, playing for the injured Magic Johnson, Cooper threw in ;il points. He held his man, Larry Bird, to 11 One hub sportswriter wrote that Bird "went into his 'shell defense.'" That, he said, was where Larry "played six feet off his man, Cooper, and yelled 'look out!' when he went in for the basket "Which one of his legs was hurt?" the same sportswriter asked Cooper. "Why? Can you notice?" he was asked. "No," he shook his head, "but I know a couple of coaches who might want to get that coffee can tor their own players." (c) 1982, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Come to the Mine Shaft and play a full 18 holes of golf at either Pebble Beach or Spy Glass Hill Located in the Elks Building 550 Main Street Call us at 649-8955 for more Open 11:00 a.m. information or to set up a tee time. 11:00p.m. T1 s I M If 1 1 , .in ?m sssy. $;f" 0? k&'iJ' f',. ' " v Si SKI TEAM CONDOMINIUMS $10,000 below appraisal 1435 Park Avenue Open house daily ,10-4 $169,000 Custom improvements Extra large whirlpool tubs Tiled steam showers TllefU.r 0,ik i. .ibiiH'ts Qu.iiity evcrvuhere Di$count for ca$h "That real estate company on Park Avt-nw. 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