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Allderdice Finds Home Away From Kerne in KittanningBV BUD SHAW Y\q iVin 4-irinrf Viitr^L'niBy BUD SHAWL-T Sports ReporterBasketball coaches have this funny superstitition that the referees they run into on the road are, for the most part.\home-grown products lookingId 3rto help the old alma mater to a victory against the outsiders. , It’s hard to get a break, they ] say, especially in a pressure *, situation, because most of the* pressure is coming from the* home crowd. Referees like that } are known as homers, but have ■ been called thousands of other } names by visiting coaches.So no one could ol ame Taylor-Allderdice coach Tarry Neiberg for being a littU surprised when a traveling call went against Kittanning with only seconds left in last night’s pressure-cooker game at the Kittanning High School gym. . Jim Emminger had just brought the Wildcats to within i^two points of the Dragons with a g picture-perfect baseline thrive j* when Kittanning's Larry* Cousins stole a cross-court 5 pass, dribbled down and hit a ; spinning layup for what appeared to be the tying bucket with :35 to go in the game.But referee Red Mihalie said Cousins had traveled before the hoop. Allderdice took advantage. of the break, holding ;on to a 72-68 victory.“You just don't expect to get that kind of call on the road, Neiberg said. But whether or not we got that call, I still feel that the officiating was especially good.“That very well might have been toe game right there,’1Kittanning coach.Dave Sysyn said. “Looking back on it, I think it was a good call. It was dose, that’s for sure, It's not toe type of call you want to see at that point in the game. But I think he did drag his foot down the lane.”It was Kittanning’s first loss in five games, while Allderdice ran its record to 5-2 on toe year.More impressive than the Dragons record is the fact that those seven games have all been played on the road. And last night’s four-point win over the talented Wildcats was the largest point spread in anyBILL HENRYAllderdice win or loss so far thisyear.“Our home court is extremely small,” Neiberg said. “We don’t like to play there during the exhibition season. Because when we go out on bigger courts during the regular season we might get lost. We have our first home game December 21 and I don’tknow if the kids will be able to handle playing in front of a home crowd.”Allderdice had won four games by a total of six or seven points and lost two. by a total of three. The Dragons, who compete in Section 1 of the CityLeague along with Sehenley ............. ’ifthand Brashear, (the old FifL. Avenue club), dropped games to Upper St. Clair and Burgetts-town.As far as Neiberg is concerned, the Wildcats rank right up there with USC in many ways.“Kittanning would compare very favorably with Upper St.Gaxr,” Neiberg said. “But I Liktdon’t really like to - compare teams, I just know that we get teams upset with our different zone defenses .and presses but they handled everything we threw against them tonight. We were using six different zones out there.The Wildcats were rattled a bit by a 1-2-2 zone press thrown by Allderdice at the end of the first quarter,of play whichJIM HANULIKended with the Dragons holding a slim 14-12 lead.Sysyn went with his ’second five’ in the beginning of the second quarter and watched Allderdice run up a 32-19 lead with 4:15 left to play in the half.It was Ralph Cheathem, a 6-5 senior, who provided most of the scoring punch duringAUderdlce’s second quarter spree. But most of his basketsand those of 6-6 senior Joe Kosteriitz, who led Allderdice with 20, were compliments from the smallest player on the floor — Buddy Valinsky, Valinsky had a personal high 13 assists for the night and was the key to the Allderdice attack. Valinsky didn’t really get his act together until Kittanning switched to a man-to-man. Then there was no stopping him.re were a little hesitant to go man because of him,” Sysyn said. “I was really impressed with his play. Overall, I think we might have learned more out there tonight than we did in any of the previous games.”If so, Valinsky’s was a lesson in finesse. The 5-7, 130-pound guard scored 12 points on both outside shots and drives and had six assists at the half.For his own part, Kittanning's Bill Henry was equally impressive. Along with trying to dog Valinsky au over the court, Henry scored 20 points second high to Jim Hanulik (21).Hanulik played a tough inside game, leading the Wildcats with ll rebounds and scoring most of bis points over 6-5 Cheathem and 6-8 Kosteriitz.Kittanning dosed the gapduring the third quarter and trailed by just five points with eight minutes to go. With 3:57 left in the game, Hanulik hit theTl#Score by quarters:Kittanning 12 19 18 IS—68Ailderdice i4 26 14 18—72Ailerdlce (72)tg fi tValinsky 6 0-0 12Dunn ’ 5 0-0 10Stanton 5 0-0 10Kosteriitz 10 CM) 20Visco 3 0-0 6'Cheathem 7 0-0 4Totals 36 (M) 72, Kittanning (68)fg ft tHenry 9 2-2 20Hanulik 8 5-8 21Cornman 2 0-0 4Hooks 2 0-0 4Emminger 5 1*1 llLatini 0 0-0 0Kunst 2 ' 0-0 4Cohsins 2 04) 4Stivason 0 0-0 0Totals 30 8-9 68first part of aone-and-one to bring Kittanning to within six at 62-56.Then with 1:45, remaining, Henry hit a jumper from the key area to make it 66-84, but Alfderdice’s Nate Stanton hit a clutch basket ■to) push the margin back to four.The baseline by-Emminger, who finished the game with 11 points, and another shot by Henry followed:. But the Wildcats came up,short.It was the ffrfct time all season that Sysyn stayed with a designated five for . any periodof time during the^game.id ’f.The second hall’ saw John Hooks, Jim Hanulik, Jim Emminger, Bill Henry and Jim Kunst take the floor, and with few exceptions, those same guys“We’re getting closer to the section now and 'I'm a little concerned with our conditioning,” Sysymsaid. “I wanted to see those guys stay out there for awhile. Plus, we were losing the game, That made a difference.”, The Kittanning Wildcats’ JV team dropped its fifth game in a row, losing to Allderdice, 61-28.
Newspaper Details
Kittanning Simpson Leader Times
Kittanning, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Dec 15, 1976
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Joseph R.
USA 14 Dec 2022
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