OCR Text |
Show i Sun Times. December 26. 1979. Page 1 Ben Lomond Beacon, 3 becember 27. 1979, Pago Clearfield Courier, December 26. 1979. Page 13 13 wm By Keith Duncan Some may prefer to call it a miracle while others will call it the greatest game every played', but winner or loser, the championship game of the first annual Davis County Basketball Tournament will never be forgotten in the hearts of those who witnessed it. There has without question, been innumerable incidents in this Beehive basketball-minde- d state, experiences involving finesse, brawn and brain that will chill anyones spine. Last Friday night's quadruple overtime championship game at dear-fiel- d High will always rank with the best of them. The Cinderella Falcons, who hosted the majority of the 1979 Davis County Holiday Basketball Tour- nament in their brand, spanking new gymnasium, werent given the least chance to make it to the finals of the three-daevent, let alone become y champions. After nearly two hours of tense and heartstopping prep basketball at its length of the court to layin the final alone points. But a wouldnt quite do it and finally the longest game in Oearfield basketball history had come to a happy close for a group that were underdogs in every game they played. The victory was the Falcons sixth straight win at home and fourth overall victory in a row. Only a season opening loss to Kearns at home prevents the Falcons from having a perfect slate in their new gym. Clearfield now hits the road for one n more contest at American Fork on December 28, then will prepare for league action which starts January 4 at Bonneville. Clearfields next home game is Jan. 11 against Dick Conollys Weber High crew. Key Steals Heros were galore in the franticovertime periods for both teams. But a Jeff Gorringe freethrow, a Hicks a Scott steal, a Troy Nye Wallace steal and two more freethrows by Hicks made the right kinds of combination for Clearfields best, Clearfields Brook Hicks stepped ' o lie charily line, sighed what relief he could and and sank a 5 freethrow to give Gearfield a lead with five seconds left in an unprecedented fourth overtime. One freethrow meant another chance in this bonus situation so Hicks, with the two-point- er 57-5- 58-5- 7 confidence of stallion racehorse showing from his face, stepped to the line again and'hit nother but yet, the clincher The Braves were layed a red carpet to their basket as Jim Hill raced the -- pre-seaso- win. one-poi- The championship game might be classified a miracle when considering the Falcons were down 4 with only 53 seconds left in regulation time. Hicks wasted no time in throwing up a that clicked two points on the scoreboard The Braves missed their ensueing shot and only seconds la or Gorringe ihrew up a sho! exaclly where Hicks had taken his and it counted for two. Was it for real? The Falcons applied pressure on the inbounds play and the Clearfield fans went wild as the ball rolled off a Brave player. With just 1 1 seconds left, Hicks took a dribble or two from 21 feet out and leter go. The crowd won approval as the ball cracked the nets tying the game at 50 apiece. The Braves quickly called time out for the final shot but Clark 50-4- er CHAMPIONS of the first annual Davis county Holiday Basketball Tournament are the host Clearfield High Falcons. Here they pose just minutes after taking the first place trophy in a quadruple overtime victory over Bountiful. Top row (I. to r.) Greg Boarden, Dan Perkins, Brook Hicks, Vaughn Gardner and Kelly Fish-burMiddle row 1. to r.) Coach Ray Meibos, Fred Cook, Dewey Pratt, Scott Wallace, Cory n. Schofield, Coach Craig Hansen and Coach John Flint. Bottom row, (I. to r.) Mike Masero, Mike Johnson, Troy Nye and Jeff Gorringe. , off the rim support Mabeys to send the into overtime. game First Overtime The Falcons controlled the tip in the first overtime and Hicks found an opening and drove down the middle to layin wo nin's. With. only 20 seconds left in the overtime period and the scored tied at 52 a piece, the Braves were called with a three-secon- d violation. Clearfield took the ball downcourt and called time out with 5 seconds left. Gorringe s shot at the buzzer was no good. No. 2 Overtime The second overtime stanza was promptly started with an offensive loul called on both sides. Clearfield gained possession and began to stall Clearfield gained possession and began to stall for the final shot. Nye got alone on the baseline and popped in a to give his team a 2 lead. The Braves missed their shot with the smallest man on the court, Dan Perkins of Clearfield nabbing the rebound. Again the Falcons attempted to stall for the final shot but Dan's cousin, Jim Perkins, stole the ball from an unaware Falcon and sped downcourt to tie the game at 54-5- er 54-5- 4. Craig Hansen, the second-yea- r coach who played on Clearfields first team in 1963, signaled for a time out Clearfield's senior-graduatin- g with nine seconds left. The rlav he ,iin'(l iu (IkJii ye: iin'rac'ocl ;is Perkins missed a shot at the buzzer And were in another overtime,' said Dave Steele over the PA system Third Overtime The third overtime featured Bountiful's Jeff Bradford missing the front end of a and Clearfield stalling nearly two minutes for the ii : Imal sli: lu' missing 'he game winning shot again. There were no points scored in the third overtime. Falcons Harddy Trailed 'Coach Hansen's Clearfield crew dominated the championship as far as the game tempo went. In fact they never trailed until late in the third period when the Braves scored 10 unanswered points to take a 5 lead into the final quarter. Clearfield missed several key situations but their defense managed to keep them in the game. Their widest margin was before the Braves finally got hot and made a game out of it. The two teams are different contrast. The Braves under second-yea- r coach, Mike Hall prefer to run and run while the Falcons stay with the slowdown and patient offense. There's no question we won the game with the way we controlled the tempo right from thestart," said 38-3- 29-2- 0 Davis takes comoiation crown Of I he four irophies presented in the first annual Davis County Basketball Holiday Tournament, all four were awarded Davis County schools, needless lo say a surprise. power, Olympus and Dick Conolly's Weber High team were knocked out of position to receive a irophy for first, second, third or fourth placejn, Ffiday? consolation' games at Clearfield High. These two teams were invited to the basketball event, though not members of the county. Taking second place and a slim loser to Clearfield in the finals was Bountiful High. The Braves lost a contest to Clearfield in thrilling four overtimes in the championship 4-- 58-5- 7 bout. A lot of Brave fans and the players themselves, will wonder for a long time how the Falcons took this one away from them. The Braves without little doubt had to be considered one of the tournament favorites with a few starters back from a year ago and a host of state champ football players that aren't too bad on the basketball court. Bountiful defeated Layton and Viewmont to gain the finals of the tournament. Bountiful seemed to have the championship game in the bag with a six point lead and only 53 seconds remaining. But the Cinderella Falcons, as they did so many times in the tournament, made, a miraculous comeback to tie the game. Finishing third in the tournament was the Viewmont Vikings led by another second-yea- r coach, Ron Johansen. The Vikings got rid of Weber in the first game, lost to Bountiful the second night and soundly defeated a good Olympus team for third place. Viewmont has got a problem to solve according to their coach. Johansen isn't pleased with the way his team wins the first night and loses the next, night in tournament play. Wove gt to remedy that before we said get into the state tournament, Johansen. Bountiful is a good team, Im not taking anything away from them, but we can shoot better than 35- V" ' I. per cent. The Vikings wanted revenge over the Olympus team after suffering a loss earlier heartbreaking two-poiin "A ournamen: during the holidays prevents us from having more people attend," said Gardner. pre-seaso- Johansen welcomes the Christmas vacation which will give his tired Vikings a rest after playing sever, games in eleven days. Paul .Hansen;. Richard Downs (26 points against Olympus), Norm Parrish and Brad Gibson had excellent games for Viewmont in the tourney. Darts Take Consolation You never know what may happen after losing the first game of a tournament, said Davis coach Mike Gardner. Im just extremely proud of these kids the way they played against Woods Cross and Weber in the final two games. After dropping a disappointing game to Olympus in the opening game for both teams, Davis rushed back to win their final two and take consolation honors in the Davis County cagge event. Gardner has said before that when his Darts are shooting well, theyll be eligible for a win. That was the case cdnesday against Woods Cross and Friday with Weber. The Darts shot cent in the first half against cent in the final Weber and quarter. Gardner was very elated to see all four trophies go to Davis County that the schools but commented coaches would get together to chose a better week for tournament play next year. 64-p- er 71-p- Ii ,f ; Oly Finished Fifth The Titans were considered by most to be the tournament favorite but they werent counting on meeting a fired-- 1 up Clearfield High team. The Titans bumped off Davis in the openintg game but lost to Clearfield and Viewmont to finish fifth in the event. The Titans were led by Willie Wright and Mike Brown on the guardline. Both are excellent shooters and good ball handlers. 0 On the front line, Olympus boasted a lot of strength in center Brent Stephenson. War. iors Take Sixth Place Davis had the pleasure of playing Weber, who were without Drew Skeen. Skeen usually averages 20 points, which could have been a big difference in the consolation championship game. We were happy to be invited to the tournament, said Coach Dick Conolly, I feel very strongly that this tournament is probably the strongest fielded tournament in the state. Weber was defeated by Viewmont in the first game, then demolished in the second game and Layton lost to Davis in their final. 71-4- 6 The Warriors got off to a slow start against Davis and with a better start could have probably made a better game of it. S CLEARFIELDS Brook Hicks puts in the first of two crucial and game winning freethrows that gave Clearfield a victory over Bountiful in four overtimes last Friday in Clear58-5- 7 field. o Hansen has his Falcons more ready than ever By Keith Duncan 7 Clearfield High's quadruple overtimme victory over Bountiful High last Friday in Clearfield became a memorable sports experience 58-5- SCOTT WALLACE Fans not only witnessed one of the finest sporting events in the history of the school, if not the entire state, but they also were privileged to see one of the finest prep basketball tournaments in one of the state's finest gyms. The first annual Davis County Holiday Basketball Tournament will become a long remembered event if championship games get any more exciting than last Friday's. Two new gyms were built within the Davis County School District and a tournament seemed to logical idea to remember, these two new facilities starts'. Clearfield High received a new gym as did Bountiful, the two teams the finally battled it out for the county championship. Coach John Flint, a Clearfield assistant, remarked after tin game. This tournament and this game m particular (the four overtime game' will be rememliercd for a long, long time." ) iCOTT WALLACE fights for position against Bountlfnls Clark man with Hicks In Clearfield's Hahey. Wallace was high-poi- I nt Me lory, TROY NYE BROOK HICKS i DAN PERKINS What could lie more sentimental than to have Clearfield's own Falcons Uittlmg it out the final night tor the championship'. CONTINUED ON PAGE M |