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Show crushing loss to South Summit ' (fa, r . " if, (' varsity. Tatum has been out of school with pneumonia, Willard said, and did not return to class until this week. "Scott is a very important part of the offense; and he plays very well against the press too," Willard said. South Summit's wide open, run-and-gun offense was led by Craig Rydalch who scored 25 points, the only player on either team to finish in double figures. The Wildcats took 64 shots from the field and hit 29, or 45 percent. , "You can't give them the ball that many times and expect to stay in the game," Willard said. , Matt Mapstone was the leading Park City scorer with eight points. Bruce Buckner added six points while Todd Mullen and Greg King each scored five. One of the encouraging signs for Willard was the rebounding of Buckner and Mullen. Buckner pulled down 12 and Mullen had 14. "When you've got . kids who rebound in double figures, you're doing well." Willard said he was encouraged by the attitude of the team in practice Monday following the loss. "I'm hoping it's something the kids will learn from," he said. "I still say we've got the makings of a goodballclub." Park City is now 0-1 in league play, 2-4 overall. The team's next game is Friday at home against Manila . The Park City Miners have had cold nights shooting the basketball before. But Friday night they came close to absolute zero. . i : Playing in front of the hometown , fans, the Park City High School, boys' basketball team shot 0 for 13 in the first quarter, 2 for 19 in the first half en route to a demoralizing 66-31 ' loss to the South Summit Wildcats. When a team shoots poorly,' the culprit is often shot selection. But Park City Coach Paul Willard said the Miners were chosing their shots 1 wisely-nine out of 13 in that disastrous first quarter came from inside the key. "We were shooting Jayups and we couldn't buy a basket," he said. . Although Park City trailed 10-5 after that quarter, Willard said he ' was still optimistic. The Miners' trapping defense appeared to be Working well, and the shots had to start falling sometime. .' ."They didn't. There was some improvement in the game's later stages,, but Park City still finished the game with a dismal 11 for 44 (25 percent) shooting performance. "We couldn't get the ball to go in the hole," Willard observed. "Then we started throwing the ball away." ' ; ;" Harried by the Wildcats' full-court press; the Miners committed 35 turnovers. "We either threw the ball away or travelled with it," Willard said. "We : didn't handle the press well at all. Todd Mullen was Park City's leading rebounder. And we work against it (in practice) every night, too ... I thought we 1 were prepared for it." As the shots continued to bounce ' off the rim and the turnover total grew, the Miners grew increasingly ; frustrated. That frustration, Willard said, just compounded the problem. The Miners were also hurt by the absence of junior center Scott Tatum, one of only three Miners with experience on last year's |