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Show DAVIS COUNTY CLIPPER, SOUTH DAVIS ADVERTISER, APRIL 1 , 1 Pag 981 3 High Flying Falcons Stall State in Next year, Hansen says it wont be any different. We'll be playing and starting five seniors who haven't had that much varsity experience and even though people will be picking the Royals and the Lakers to take it all, I like to think we'll be right in there with the best of them, said Hansen. One thing is for sure, Coach Craig Hansen and future Clearfield High basketball teams wont be setting goals to get first round state tournament byes, they learned that the hard way in 1981. THERE WASNT ANY superstar among the six seniors and when it came time for Hansen to comment to sport writers who was his most valuable, he couldn't give one. Cook, Nye and Pratt all ended up scoring 157 points a piece during the regular season. right on the numbers. And with Johnsons 10.3 average, Clearfield had a cohesive group that was tough to beat. Even the rebounding was close in numbers. Pratt finally won it on the last game of the season, edging Cook by one and Johnson by eight. THE THING THAT hurt us the most was the thing we hoped to accomplish all year long, said Hansen in a recent reflection on the past season. We set our goal on getting by the first round of tourney play so we could automatically play in the final eight. And we did just that, by winning the region championship. But it hurt us the most in the end, because Skyline had already had one nights play in the tournament. IT TOOK THE Clearfield team 16 minutes to lose some of their shakiness and some jitters before they were really ready to play the Eagles, the same team that had ousted them the year before. Though down by 17 points early in the game, Clearfield did begin to claim some respect that got them a region championship. The Falcons closed the gap to 8 points at halftime and in the end made a comeback Clearfield held their shooting percentage, a good indication of their sound deAS A WHOLE., a opponents to fense. Even though the team was smaller than almost every opponent they faced this their opponents, year, they during the season. Thats w hat does it for us, said Hansen. Defense and rebounding. In fact those are the two categories that we give our biggest trophies in. bid that could have went dow n in the tourney books, as one of the greatest com- ebacks ever. WHY WE CAN 56-a- ll Hansen. BUT THE ROYAL- - Falcon clash didnt come and instead another Bingham-Clearfielrematch was in the making. Hansen felt his troops played well the second night, but size began to take its toll as the much larger Miners scampered to a victory over Clearfield. d NYE MADE 22 of 23 during region play for a 95 percent dip. He also shot 82 percent through the entire year. Cook shot 73 percent and Pratt was at 76 percent. THE ENTIRE STATE tournament boiled down to that first day when we got behind against Skyline. But these kids didn't embarrass anyone in the end. They played with hustle and determination all the way through. We didn't have as good a shooting performance as we had in region, but still the kids showed what they are made of, admitted Hansen. But without question, Hansen doesn't want to see another tournament set up with first round byes. He thinks with four renext year, that 16 teams could gions in easily play in the first round. 4-- TEAMS ARE SO closely matched when it comes down to a state tournament game. A little thing like nervousness can throw the whole night off for a team who plays another who has just performed the day before, continued Hansen. taller opponents isnt any mystery. It s sheer hustle and determination. You can talk about positioning, foot work, boxing out and getting your hands here and there, but it all boils down to just getting the ball. Hansen continues to take pride in his teams foul shooting, where once again the Falcons sparkled in '80-8Von Gardiner received an award last week for having the best freethrow percentage throughout the year. He ended up making 28 of 32 tosses for an 88 percent showing. THE CONTEST WAS tied at with 1:30 left, but some missed freethrows and bad breaks sent Clearfield into the losers bracket. Winning that game would have put us up against Roy, who has a good team, but a team I think we could have beaten for a third straight time, said At the end of the season banquet, Nye was awarded the Wolfman award which is given to the player who can take the most number of offensive charges and plays heads-u- p defense. Hansen claims his senior forward took 21 charges, most number for a forward since he has been head coach. But oyera!!, Clearfield fans had to be tickled to death" to the kind of season the Falcons had. They finished 16-- 7 overall and 1 in league play and a region championship to boot. His philosophy of building the around seniors doesnt ever fade, tinues to carry on the basketball rich flavor that has always been Clearfield High School. HANSEN WASNT blessed with forces that could dunk the ball and score 25 points night in and night out, but he likes to think he had a special group of guys that no one else could match in certain wavs. THE SIX SENIORS this past season were a tight-kngroup that included Freddie Cook. Dewey Pratt, Troy Nye, Mike Johnson, Craig Suekawa and Von Gardiner. 9-- it program but con- tradition a part of PRATT WON THE award for the top rebounder, Mike Johnson was recognized as the most improved player. Cook was given the Mr. Clutch award, and finally Craig Suekawa was awarded the Mr. Hustle award. I have to think that a big, big key to our success was Johnson's improvement at I center. knew we had good guards and forwards, but at center there was a question mark. Mike came through with flying colors, said Hansen. |