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Show Miners hold back Cowboy charge to win first 2-A basketball game by JIM SMEDLEV Record staff writer ' It is easy to understand why Miner head basketball Paul Willard has gray hair. in Not content to be cruising by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, the Miner varsity' teamtet Grantsville scratch and claw its way back into the game before finally prevailing 48-44 in Park City's first 2-A game of the season. The win on Dec. 6 at Grantsville pushed Park City High School's overall record to 2-0. And this win, as the first, can be attributed to the team play of the Miners with individuals contributing in key spots. Park City's defense contested every shot in the first quarter and then allowed only one try at the hoop as it boxed the Cowboys out well in It '";K"V I !K' I I,."'-, . , ii - -.,-. , Jim Smedley Grantsville's Scott Harrison is all arms as he tries to keep Miner Todd Mullen from the ball. keeping them off the boards. Grantsville Grant-sville also did not shoot well and Park City ran to a 7-0 lead and led 11-6 at quarter's end. "(Bruce) Buckner did a good job on the boards and played excellent defense in the first quarter," said Coach Willard. "He would either turn their play into a turnover or make them take a pressure shot." Grantsville did not score until Jared Hunsaker found the range on a 12-footer with 3:10 left in the period. Jeff Keye had 4 points in the quarter and Greg King, Scott Tatum and Buckner also hit field goals. Tatum got into foul trouble immediately im-mediately as he drew his third with 25 seconds left in the first frame. The Miners were able to maintain their 5-point margin throughout the second quarter from good defense Buckner made his second steal and Keye again pitched in 4 points. . Park City went wild early in the . third quarter, outscoring the Cowboys 13-3 as their lead bulged to 15 with less than 4 minutes to play. i Buckner led the scoring spree, hitting hit-ting 6 of his 8 third-quarter points in the first four minutes. At the 3:20 mark, Grantsville slapped a full-court full-court press on the Miners, caused a couple of turnovers and ran off 6 points to pull to 34-25. The Miners closed out the period on top 38-27. "I thought Park City played extremely ex-tremely well for the most part and did the things they had to do to win," said Cowboy head Coach Bill Mikelson. "We got the shots we wanted, but they just didn't fall and . we shot our free throws poorly." And as many times as the Cowboys went to the foul line, it was j Jucky for the Miners that the home team did not shoot that well. Going into the fourth quarter, Grantsville shot 20 free throws, while the Miners shot five. Overall, Grantsville made 16 of 28, while Park City made 10 of 18. Was there an imbalance in the calls? "I don't think our kids were playing play-ing more physically than theirs and I don't think that as a general situation situa-tion they're prone to foul," said Willard. And while points from the foul line kept the Cowboys in the game, it was the fourth-quarter free throws iced by seniors Tatum and King that provided pro-vided the margin of victory for Park City. King also did a good job in breaking break-ing the press when the chips were down. The Miners' 34-19 lead in the third quarter evaporated to 41-39 in the fourth period. Grantsville was hot. Their full-court press was giving the Miners fits. With 2:53 left in the game the Cowboys could have tied it at 41, but Mike Anderson missed a 12-footer. On their next possession, Park City Ci-ty went up 43-39 when Buckner missed miss-ed the front end of a one-and-one shot and Keye grabbed the rebound and laid it in. At the. 1:37 mark, Clint Weaver fouled out, but Scott Harrison could only make one of two for the Cowboys. Now, down by three points with time running out, the Cowboys continued con-tinued the full-court press looking for a turnover. When the Miners ' 1 beat the press they were fouled. All the Cowboys could do was stop the clock with a foul and hope the Miners missed the free throws. Park " City does not enjoy the reputation of being a good free-throw shooting team, as they hit 56 percent last year. But that was last year. With the clock showing 1:31, I y Kf: y u. ' r ' l .V - ' 1 ... - - i, ; I r' ' '-4 ' . s.imiio! tl' "'' " . ; ' . V - fs I f ' f rr ' " ' "" Jim Smedley Park City's Clint Weaver and Grantsville's Scott Harrison size up shot and prepare to battle for possible rebound. - t, Tatum stepped to the line and sank the front end of a one-and-one, putting put-ting the Miners ahead 44-40. Grantsville missed their next shot and then immediately fouled King, who made his two foul shots with 57 seconds left in the game. Anderson scored for Grantsville and then Warren Painter made a mistake. He fouled Tatum, It could have been a time to choke, but the senior sank both ends of the one-and-one to lock up the win for the Miners. "The kids did a good job of keeping keep-ing their composure and in the end, it was a case of a senior coming in and doing well," said Coach Willard. "We were able to protect Tatum long enough to get him in there in the fourth quarter where he made a difference. dif-ference. "We let the press take us out of the pattern which had given us a 15-point lead. Their press made us go individual, forced bad passes and we got trapped in the corners when we saw it coming," he added. "We weren't reacting. We knew what we wanted to do, but just didn't execute. "Beating the press will come to the kids. This was not a very good press. We just made it look good." Willard credited Grantsville for its comeback, saying that the team could have easily folded when it was down by 15 points late in the third quarter. "We had them on the ropes and let the go. We've got to learn how to deliver the knockout punch," Willard said. ''But in fairness to the kids, we really haven't been in that position over the past four years. "However, it is nice to be able to fall short in some areas and still win the game." Park City will take on Lehi in a 7:30 p.m. game Dec. 13, at Lehi, then host South Summit Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. |
