Show Juab Wasps buzz to on Friday Two straight home league games await the Mantl Manti High School as the mIdpoint midpoint midpoint mid mId- point of region play nears This Friday January the Juab Wasps are scheduled at the Armory and on the the Spartans of or Emery invade These to back-to-back home games will give MRS a chance to consolidate their Region VII lead Its It's Just a chance because be because because be- be cause in high school basketball nothing seems to be sure Presently the order of standIngs standIngs standings stand- stand Ings read Mantl Manti High School Richfield Emery North Sanpete Sanpete Sanpete San San- pete and Juab But according to Coach Wllbur Wilbur Wilbur Wil Wll- bur T T. T Braithwaite Juab can be strong as evidenced by their surprise win recently over the Gunnison Bulldogs In 61 Scott ChrIstensen the Wasps have a year three-year veteran veteran veteran vet vet- eran forward who can shoot with the best players in the region Giving them additional speed and experience Is guard Craig Park who Is the region sprint champion Coach Dick Reid often em employs employs employs em- em ploys a full-court full press that can raise havoc with opponents Coupled with a up match-up zone the Wasp defense is usually their best weapon both offensively offensively offen otten- and defensively In a battle of league leaders leaders leaders lead lead- ers played at Richfield last Friday the ground out a 55 49 victory Coach Wilbur Wilbur Wllbur Wil Wll- bur Braithwaite noted that It was a hard-earned hard victory over overa a team rated by Region VII coaches early In the year as being the most likely champ The win came largely as a result of a concerted team de defensive defensive de- de ve effort that reduced the normally high scoring Wildcats to 49 points Quarter scores were 9 13 28 23 and 42 37 with holding holdIng holdIng hold- hold Ing the edge in each With four minutes remaining and a seven- seven point lead the went into a semi-freeze semi and were able to gain a point 10 advantage advantage advantage tage which reverted to spread a of six In the last seconds of the game A stout defensive effort by Todd Petersen and Brad McGarry McGarry McGarry Mc- Mc Garry prevented Rex Frandsen from tram scoring above his aver aver- age Even at that the 6 63 3 forward made seven of seven field goal attempts and two of four from the line for 16 tal tal- tal lies Bob Tuttle and Reid Cox gave valuable defensive assistance to the forwards in the keyhole area John Green played one of his strongest games limiting Randy Jackman 65 senior to but 12 points far below his game normal After a slow first half Jim Ericksen found the range and also captured a lot of errant rebounds In the second half halt to spearhead the attack His game total was 27 points The Richfield center Steve Larsen got six points another vital statistic This year the AA region winner winner winner win win- ner draws an automatic berth berthin in the annual state tournament They must play on Saturday Feb for tor the regional crown with the winner of or Thursday and Friday bracketing of the round robin at Richfield Teams are going to keep this fact In mind during the second half of ot play when competition usually hardens In other league play Emery travels to North Sanpete and Richfield draws a bye |