Hide Article Text (OCR)
Loose ball scrambleV Kansas Wesleyan’s Charles Green (white jersey) is caught between ' Tabor’s David Elsberry (left) andtabor foils, 77-74Roger Penner as he tries to catch up wi,th loose basketball. (Journal Photo by Glenn Kearns)Wesleyan jumps into KCAC lead The. Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes, a scrambling band of opportunists, grabbed the undisputed Kansas conference. basketball lead Wednesday night with a 77-74 decision over the Tabor Blue Jays at Sacred Heart gymnasium.,^.The Coyotes pushed their KCAC record to 3?0 and will hold that lofty position through the holiday season.' Coach Randy St. Clair’s hustlers won’t be in action again until Jan. 5 at Sterling, r Wesleyan’s victory, its 4th in 7 games this year, represented more wins already than the Coyotes scored all last season. And, reflecting the turanabout by the Coyotes, the biggest crowd in several seasons turned out tb take a look.■ Down 7 points in the early stages of the■ 2nd half. 53-46, Wesleyan scrapped back into Contention only to drop behind by 6 again, 63-57, with half the 2nd stanza gone.1 I; Murrell sets pace,‘But Clyde Murrell, who came off the bench for 18 points and’game scoring honors, led a charge which gave Wesleyan the lead at 68-66 when he pitched in a pair of free tosses with 6:21 to play.;Don Brubacher and Lynn Plett netted buckets to send the Blue Jays in front For their last lead at 70-68 with 2:55 remaining. -Murrell edged the Coyotes to within a .point with a free throw before Kensington's Tracy Rietzke. who was to score 10 ‘points—-one of 5 KW players in double figures—pitched in a bucket with 2:04 remain-’ing to give Wesleyan the led for keeps, i iKirk Foster, with 12 points, got a charity ,ahd fielder to run it to 73-70 with 1:44 and 'the Coyotes went into a cautious delay game.■ It worked for a time but Tabor’s Bniba-.cher connected with 38 seconds left to narrow Wesli’s lead to 73-72 and—For the first time in a long time—a Wesleyan crowd was on its feet and roaring at the prospect of a wild windup.With 20 seconds left Murrell struck for his ,7th fielder to run it to 75-72 and. with 10 seconds left, it was sealed when Charles Green, who followed Murrell with 15 points, jumped in a free throw and fielder, Brubacher connected at the gun for Tabor.Although Roger Bartley or Sheldon Woole-.ry were not in the scoring in the closing moments, they played important roles in victory, Bartley with 13 points and Woolery with 6 and some valuable rebounding.The Coyotes attacked the Blue Jays with a nagging man-to-man defense the first 33 minutes of the contest, then switched to aAnd Coach St. Clair explained why. We wanted to see how they would adjust, and it took them a while to adjust. They started to hit again late in the game.“Those kids don’t give up,” beamed the young skipper who has instilled his enthusiasm into his ball club, “We were 7 down and came back. And give that Tabor, credit. That's a good basketball team.”Wesleyan won the battle of the boards 39-32 and netted 32 of 77 shots for 41 per cent from the Field. Tabor bit 30 of 63 shots for 47 per cent. Wesleyan had 13 turnovers and Tabor 19.Wesleyan’s junior varsity also continued to win. defeating Tabor 70-67. The Coyotes led 32-28 at the half. Richard Keltner had 18 and Kent Gant 16. Paul Schultz had 18 for Tabor.Tabor 36 38—74At Kansas Wesleyan 36 41—77Tabor: Harms 4-7-5, Brubacher 6-2-2, Ptett4-0-4, Regler 6-5-2, Roger Penner 4-0-4, Fast 1-0-1, Duane Penner 1-0-0, Elsberry 4-0-5, Schultz0-0-0. Totals: 30-14-23Kansas Wesleyan: Bartley 6-1-0, Rietzke5-0-2, Foster 5-2-3, Green 5-5-3, Woolery 3-0-3, Jessamy 1-1-2, Murrell 7-4-1, Hayford 0-0-2, Cryer 0-0-1. Totals: 32-13-17Junior varsity Tabor 28 39—67At Kansas Wesleyan 32 38—70Tabor: Fosnight 1-0-4, Weins 7-1-3, Adrian 4-0-2, Schultz 8-2-5, Jost 0*1-4, Bennet 2-0-1, KNewer 0-0-0, Schroeder 0-0-3, Hicks 3-1-2, Duerksen 3-2-2, Kroeker 2-0-2. Totals: 30-7-27 Wesleyan: Walsten 0-0-0, Stevens 0-1-3, Strohmeyer 3-2-2, Waymaster 1-0-0, Kellner 7-4-3, Laha 3-2-2, Johnson 4-0-4, Swager 3-3-4, Gant 8-0-0. Totals: 29-12-10
Newspaper Details
Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Thu, Dec 13, 1973
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Salina P.
KS, USA 25 Apr 2024
Other Publications Near Salina, Kansas
Saline County Journal
Salina Svenska Harolden
Salina Journal
