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Show Sun Chronicle Thursday, March 18, 1976 Page 9 qwwnne Heartbreaking finale Orem pulls For 29 minutes the Roy Royals had grasped their first state tournament win in a duel with the Orem Golden Tigers. But somehow in those last costly final three minutes, Coach Ted Smith and his hustling-busthnRegion One third place performers lost out and headed toward the consolation bracket, while Orem pointed its way to the championship and a meeting with Highland High. g top-rank- Coach Smith was never more sincere e talk to his as he rendered players. Some of what he said went this way, Guys, we not only owe this game to ourselves but to the community of Roy, those thousands of students up there in the seats, and to everyone else that comes to see us play. Now for lets hustle and show a few people that you know how to play defense and rebound. Every other year that we have come down here, we have looked like a team that had no business even being here. Put everything else out of mind and play same as you would in a regular season game. These guys (Orem) are no better than what you are, but defense is going to be the key. The offense will take care of it self. Rick Stonehocker, Jim McMahon, Doug Porter, Greg Nichols, John Garner, Dan Smith and the others, seemed to pick this message up like they had e never done before in discussions. You could also feel a sense of determination and gusto. pre-gam- gosh-sake- pre-gam- Roy was playing an experienced Orem High squad, who with most of their players had been members of the state tournament team the year before. Steve Brown, the Golden Tigers tall and talented 3 forward made things happen the games length. He was a starter on last seasons squad and probably made the difference at times. The 2 triumph for Orem was no 6-- 67-5- were not. Prep team chosen soon 4-- . 'all-are- a' Clearfield Courier have been involved in selecting all-stteams in both football and wrestling over the past months. ar These two weekly paper are owned by Howard Stahle and both are operated in Roy. The Clearfield Courier covers just the Clearfield area and blankets any sports news in that city, mainly Clearfield High School. The Sun Chronicle finds both Roy and Bonneville within its area. Of the three schools, Bonneville, Clearfield and Roy, a first, second, and third team will be announced. On each of these teams, a center, two forwards, ' ' real indication of how close the tournament battle had been. Roy was so close to winning, but then again so were the Tigers. The score was knotted at 9 after two Greg Nichol freethrows. The Orem team then proceeded to score 9 straight unanswered points before Jim McMahon finally broke the ice. From then on it was a joke as the scored at Region Four second-plac- e will and Coach Smith just shuddered at the action in his chair. His Royals couldnt buy a basket on his end of the court and defensively, well, the Roy quintet was humiliating themselves for three minutes. It could have very well been the first upset of the day. Hillcrest and South had taken wins like expected 49-4- over Skyview respectively. and Clearfield, Orem had been so-sbut letting Bar South bad, beating River gain a good decision over them. The Golden Tiger split with the Class champions, American Fork, but lost to high touted Highland and Skyline. They recorded a 64 regular season mark, losing to the Provo Bulldogs twice, Brighton on other occasion and then finally to Hillcrest. One has to feel that if the game would have been played on the Royals home floor, the final outcome would have been so much different, but this is state championship play and everyone plays under almost the same conditions. The final three-minut- e collapse by the was Royals heartbreaking and unusual at that. In the past, the Royals had seemed to get stronger at some point in the second half. There were rare occasions when Roy fell apart in the final 16 minutes, but generally they were playing their best half of basketball in the second half. Box Elder found this out earlier, as the Royals gained their third straight decision over the Bees to advance into the state playoffs for the In the o, pre-seaso- 3-- third time in four years. After the contest with the Tigers, Coach Smith, along with his assistants, about half-waup in the stands and viewed the next game. Coach Smith didnt talk much as did his assistants. He was . sorely disappointed at not picking up his first tournament win. It had taken enough just to get here, and now he thought, Youd think theyd want to win one after paying the price to get here in the first place. Coach Smith later stated, How can you come so close and let it get away from you like that. The Roy head mentor had to take a minute to be by himself in the lockerroom at the conclusion of the game. y The confidence at the halftime break was overwhelming. The players echoed loud amounts of approval of the first half showing and Coach Smith was generally pleased with the showing, but didnt show it as he barked out second half instructions immediately. 'Assistant coach, Fred Thompson explained that the Tigers were using too much of a perimeter offense and Roys defense was best adaptable to this style of play. Coach Smith said, Just relax out there, you act like you are scared or something. You know now that they are no better than you. Before the Royals can advance to the consolation finals, they must first conquer two schools, those being Ben Lomond primarily, and eventually the Clearfield Falcons or the Skyview Bobcats. Coach Smith radiated a feeling of confidence that his squad would have a good chance against the Ben Lomond Region Two fourth-plac- e Scots. And he felt like Clearfield was at least 20 points better than Skyview. If this was the case, a Royal-Falco- n confrontation would take place on Friday at 1:30. Bees defeated in playoffs JUNIOR GUARD, John Gamer, drives to hoop against Steve Brown of Orem. Garner was outstanding but Royals as a whole Soon after the 1976 State basketball tournament is compjeted, an prep basketball Warn will be named along with a most valuable player. The Sun Chronicle and the win over Roy last-minu- te and two guards will be tabbed. Its never been attempted before but the fortune and success looks bright. The areas coaches, Lakers Gaylen Hansen, Royals Ted Smith, and the Falcons Roger Reid will be involved in making the selections. Two of these coaches hve been involved in state tournament play over the past week, while the other waded through a rebuilding year. Top candidates for positions on the three teams look to be Brad Dahl, Steve Gardner, Jay Welk, Ken Baker, and Max Livingston of Clearfield; John Garner, Rick Stonehocker, Dan Smith, Greg Nichols, Jim McMahon, Doug Porter and Conrad Hafen of Roy; Brian Castlemain, Kirk Childs, Jeff Kennedy, Jeff Blackburn, Jeff Demik, Mark Blancett, and Kenton Johns of Before Roy could enjoy their third trip in four years to the state basketball tournament, they first had to accomplish the task of getting by the Box Elder Bees for the third straight time in 1976. Beating a team in Region One once is difficult enough, let alone three times and two ot them on the road. Doug Porter, who seems to be the only Royal showing the way in the state tournament, was a ball of fire against the Bees, popping in 10 of Roys first 14 points. Box Elder held the widest margin in that opening period, leading once. But John Garner, who started the game, and Porter brought at the first Roy back to within two, 14-1- 0 16-1- 4 stop. Rick Stonehocker came alive in the second quarter, scoring six points and playing steady defense and picking up several key steals just when it looked like the Bees were going to pull away. Wade Hall and Alan Asay were the Bee performers who hurt Roy the most, both of them hitting baskets to give Box Elder the lead going into the second half. In the halftime talks, Coach Ted Smith made plans to install the zone the Royals secret weapon special, and device used in such clubs as Box Elder. Roy discontinued their full court pressing tactics in the second half, playing steady controlled defense under the basket. This change seemed to have a small affect on the Bees as the Royals gained a 3 lead heading into the final period of play. 46-4- Junior, Jim McMahon made the difference in the second half, hitting 14 points and hauling down eight rebounds. Roy's basketball squad found their way to the state basketball tournament this past week, for the third time in the past four years. Now sports fan, you can find the names of the Royal players, coaches, and managers in this word puzzle. It contains the names of each varsity members, the three coaches and the manager. GOOD LUCK! n ILdkeirs repecatf flrcack Victories? by Lynn Arave The obvious, but important question that Bonneville High sports fans will be asking this spring is what can the Lakers do for an encore this year in track and field? Bonneville Last year', High, rose from the unheralded by experts cinders to win both the region one and state track titles. Now, minus super talent the likes of Kim Coombs, Clay at a Blackwell and Cliff Peterson glance, the Laker Tracksters may not look like much. superficial But, according to Laker Coach Gary Van Velsom, this years Bonneville High track team is "A young team, the nd bulk of which are juniors However, hesitating to sophomores. call it a "rebuilding year, Coach Van who has taken over the helm Velsom for Coach Neville Peterman says the team has the leadership and talent to be champions. In fact, the teams burning goal is to repeat as the region track champs. DON SMITH has action taken from looks on for Roy. shot rejected by Golden Tiger opponent 4-- A play in in Special Events Center. Doug Porter Bonneville opens its track season today at 3 p.m. (weather permitting) in Laker Stadium by hosting Weber and meet. A girls Box Elder in a track meet is also scheduled to take place at the same time. tri-wa- y Coach Van Velsom says that the Laker Tracksters are already further along than they were last year at this time. He acknowledges Roy High as the Big Gun in Region One track, yet confidently says that his Lakers will be team this year, a a surprise darkhorse that cant be counted out of the title running. Seniors Scott Wheeler and Mike of the team Arave, the two will provide capable leadership to the squad, while Junior Jeff Swanger will track be the Lakers multi-tale- performer. Swanger placed sixth in the high jump in last years state track meet by According to Van clearing Velsom, Swanger is also an excellent technician in the shot and discs, though he may lack the size to do them extremely well. Thefeadership and enthusiasm on the team will flow from the middle and long distance events, says Coach Van Velsom. Senior Carl Anderson who recently ran a 4:50 mile indoors will lead the pack, with the "everpresent duo of Mike and Mark Arave not far behind. Other help will come from Bart Steckler, Kenny Vigil, Kevin Hurly and 64. three sophomores: Kevin George, Mark Pollard and Rick Lucas. The sprints will have a one-tw- o punch of speed with juniors Dee Cragun and Mike Matthew scorching the track. Backing them will be sophomores Brent Porter, Bret Park and Steve McBride. Baseballer Kirk Boyer, a senior will also provide some added important depth. Weight Events Bright The weight events will be the Lakers second or third strongest area according to Van Velsom with juniors Mike McCall and Kenton Johns providing the strong arms. Bart Lindsay has cleared 12 feet this year indoors in the pole vault to tie the schools indoor record and is capable of being the top performer in northern Utah. Backing him will be three excellent Laren Yoshinage, Riley sophomores Beckstead and Alan Campbell. Other Laker track performers will include: long jump - Jeff Reece, Bret Charlton and Bret Park and Kevin Kent; a strong senior who will help in the hurdles, 440 and relays. Junior Bryan Wheeler will be another track performer for the Lakers who will definitely compete in some decathalons this spring. |