Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 11

Wednesday, March 7, 1984 Ma (toon H. Journal Gazette B-l Olney ends MHS' season with 46-29 region al win 7 By JIM KIMBALL JO Sports Editor attorn Nam PLWUMTlkU GuoM Cas, StnaalBLI RntMfM BiitkrJ Humm me 1WH Otaqr () Hum CurtiM Btttar HarttagJ WetaM S.HougM t)W, QoayW TiamaM Ttuis GS FG-FGA FT-PTA TP 1-1 1J t-i I MM I Ml Ol -MI I I M-IT FG-PGA PTPTA TP I 4-11 1-1 II t-1 M. I 1-17 14 I MM I 1-4 1 1-4 I I I U-S 11-17 4 Score by quarttfi 4 I 7- II I 11-41 I i ii in. ii i OLNEY Mattoon'8 1983-84 boys' varsity basketball season came to an end with a here Tuesday. Olney Tigers chewed up the Green Wave 46-29 in the opening round game of the Olney class AA Regional Tournament.

The four-team affair resumes tonight with Charleston's Trojans (18-7) taking on Paris' 10-14 Tigers at 7:30. The winner meets Olney on Friday for the title and a berth in next week's Benton Sectional where the Salem Regional champ will provide the opening round opposition on Wednesday. Taylorville defeated Salem 36-19 in the opening game of that affair last night. Effingham meets Highland tonight to complete first round play. Mattoon, finishing with a 7-17 won-loss record, closed- out the campaign on a somewhat disappointing note.

The Wave nursed hopes of pulling an upset surprise after winning five of their last eight regular season games, but struggled throughout the four quarters. Still, they managed to stay within striking distance for three periods despite some dismal shooting and numerous turnovers. The two clubs were dead even at halftime, 16-16. Then, coach Ron Herrin ordered his North Egypt Conference champs into a full-court press in the early going of the third quarter and it paid quick dividends. They turned a 20-16 deficit with 6:18 left in the third quarter into a 28-22 lead at the buzzer and then to 36-22 lead 2 minutes and 28 seconds into the fourth period.

There was no doubt about the final outcome after that blitz. "We Just weren't able to break the press," Mattoon coach Bob Avery moaned. "We let it get us completely down instead of rising up and doing something about it. "We lost our poise completely," he added. Tony Gunn scored Mattoon's only basket during that fruitless 11 minutes and 50 seconds of play for the Wave.

Bryan Smith scored for Mattoon with 4:01 left to play to snap Olney's string of 20 straight points. Darrin Wbeat-and Brian Ginder, Olney's two first-team all-conference performers led the way with six points apiece. Doug Curtis and Jerry Lyon chipped in with four apiece as they forced Mattoon into 13 second half turnovers. Mattoon's Guy Taylor and Tony Gunn (SS) battle for rebound position against Olney's Brandon Weems (40) and I'at Murray (12). 'March Madness7 versus 'Hoosier Hysteria' turnovers, was more than enough to olisct the cool offense.

"The mental part of the-press was really devastating to our kids," Avery remarked. "We Just haven't learned how to handle adversity. We crumbled and the sad part Is that much of it was our own doing," he said in looking at the 22 turnover total. Brian. Ginder wound up as Olney's leading scorer with 14 points while Wheat added ten.

Tony Gunn paced Mattoon's skimpy offense with 10 points. Brydn Smith was next with nine. school game I've ever seen taking into account not only the quality of play, but the crowd participation, etc. The sectionals (the same as Regionals in Illinois) started this past week and Hoosier Hysteria was again at its heighth. When played and defeated Eastern last night in the semifinal game, my ears were hurting by the time the game was over from all the noise.

They had set up press tables, but right in front of the cheering section. I'm going to take cotton to the championship game tonight least I suffer a permanent hearing loss from these crazed fans. I think I can easily say the Indiana fans are more into high school basketball than the Illinois fans (I almost omitted this part). They even televised LIVE for an hour on Sunday the drawing of the pairings for the sectional tournament. When they say basketball is a religion over here they mean it.

I'm glad I was able to be a part of it for a year. Craig Sanders. Sports shorts: Sanders also Included in his letter the fact that former Mattoon High School wrestling coach John "Bo" Henry will be MATTOON The boys' high school basketball playoffs in Illinois are called "March Madness." In the neighboring state of Indiana, they are labeled "Hoosier Hysteria." There's always been hot debate between basketball buffs from the two great states as to which one plays the best high school basketball. Good friend Steve Simmonds, of Mattoon, a transplanted Indiana native and big, big Hoosier basketball fan who professes to ranking the Fighting Illini "right behind Indiana and Purdue," has always claimed that ho state Is into high school basketball like Indiana. I've always tried to take his comments lightly refusing to admit that better basketball players might be bred in Indiana.

Or that the sport carries more meaning. Or that it is more exciting. Or that their state champion could beat the Illinois state champion. I'll admit to being pretty hard-headed in my beliefs when It comes to Illinois prep sports and basketbalKln particular. I'd like to think that if the U.

of I. had its pick of Illinois all-staters every year that the Fighting Illini would be perennial visitors to the NCAA's Final Four. And, their football teams would be an annual bowl participant on New Year's Day Mattm Otoey SHOOTING PERCENTAGES: kfattooe Otoe? REBOUNDS: Mittooa St (Paul Wuuenkt, Guy Taylor. I Mh); Otaqr (Weemi 10). PERSONAL FOULS: MtttoM II; Otoey II.

TURNOVERS: HtttMMZliOtaeyl The Wave committed 22 turnovers for the game while Olney was charged with only five in improving its season won-loss record to an impressive 21-7. "There's not a lot of good things you can say about our play after that (when Olney opened up its uncatchabie 36-22 lead)," Avery said. "It was a matter of our inexperience really showing up against an experienced team," he added. Avery liked his club's upset chances in the first half. "They missed a lot of shots early which we had to have happen if we were going to try and surprise them," he admitted.

Olney connected on only' 7 of 25 first half shots for an icy .280 percentage. Meanwhile, the Wave was threading 8 of 20 However, the shooting made a complete reversal in the second half. It had to have Avery wondering, "Where's the offense?" Jim Kimball A if the Illini could have their choice of all-staters. I almost cry when I think of the loss over the years of prep cage stars the likes of Cazzie Russell (Michigan), Isiah Thomas (Indiana), Clyde Turner (Minneosta), Quinn Buckner (Indiana), Rich Yunkus (Georgia Tech), and Russell Cross (Purdue), to name just a few, to other schools. Okay, now that I've set the stage, let me get into the heart of this column.

I received a letter earlier this week from former JG sports reporter and Mattoon native Craig Sanders, who is employed as a part-time sports writer with the Bloomlngton, Ind Herald-Telephone while working towards a master's degree in journalism at Bobby Knight University I of the half and went into the lockerroom with a 34-32 lead. Oklahoma beats Missouri NORMAN, Okla. Wayman Tisdale scored 31 points Tuesday, leading the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners to a record-setting 72-66 victory over Missouri and Into the second round of the Big Eight Conference basketball tournament. With the lbssMisourl had Its string of four straight league championships snapped. Tisdale set a Big" Elgin single season scoring record of 830 points, breaking the record of 810 he set a year ago as a freshman.

Sooner guard Jan Pannell had seven assists to set an Oklahoma and Big Eight conference season assist record of 223. The old record of 216 was set last year by Oklahoma's Bo Overton. Oklahoma, 28-3, faces the winner of Wednesday's Colorado-Iowa State game In the semifinals Friday at Kansas City, Mo. The Sooners finished first In the regular season standings with a 13-1 record. DePaul wins easily ROSEMONT, III.

Tyrone Corbln scored 12 points to lead the fourth-ranked DePaul to a 62-29 romp over Pan American Tuesday the Blue Demons' 25th straight win at the Horizon. victory gives DePaul a 25-2 record with one regular-season game remaining against Marquette Saturday before the NCAA tournament. Pan American Of Photo by Jay Kimball Avery didn't walk away from the losing 1983-84 season with his head down. "I certainly wasn't disappointed in the season," he said. "I'm basing that feeling on the fact that these kids had a very fine attitude all season long they never quit.

"I think it shows in our record. Afterall, "Hhese kids went into Christmas time ten or games without a victory and then bounced back down the stretch to win fqur of six at one stretch. "We've been almost 'a .500 club since Christmas time. These kids never did quit even though they never did learn to respond to adversity," he closed. inducted into the Indiana Wrestling Hull of Fame as a coach.

The induction follows by one year the induction of his father into the Hall of Fame, Sanders noted. Henry, 44, has been a wrestling coach 19 years. He was also a head football coach and played both sports. Henry has been Bloomlngton North's only head wrestling coach. In his 13 years the Cougars have a 134-25-3 record that includes the 1977 state championship.

Henry has had seven individual state champions and 30 state qualifiers. His overall wrestling record is 209-53-5. Channel 16, WUSI, Olney video-taped last night's Mattoon-Olney Regional Tourney game and will show it at 9 p.m., Thursday. The 22 victories by the Ulini basketball team ties the school record for most wins in a season, set by the 1095, 1952 and 1980 squads. The 22 Is the most ever in a regular season, though, according to a release from the Illini PR office.

Coach Lou Henson's club is expected to top the record with two more regularly-scheduled games remaining and the NCAA playoffs. and Christine Masse tossed in 10 each. Box Scores Mattoon 3 10 8 2 23 T-Town 7 10 8 3- 28 MATTOON SCORING: Lori Miller 1-0-2; Rebecca Masse 1-0 Kristin Shcehan '1-0-2; Tammy Barnd 3-0-6; Nina Colbert 2-0-4; Stacy Zigler 1-0-2; Doreen Jordan 2-1-5. Totals: 11-1-23. Second game Mattoon 14 16 16 14-60 T-Town 8 15 6 14 43 MATTOON SCORING: Kelly Swlck 4-2-10; Jana Martens 5-3-13; Christine Masse 5-0-10; Angle Duey 5-1-11; Paula Atteberry 4-0-8; Susie Weaver 4-0-8.

Totals 27-6-60. Olney pairings Tonight's gam 7:10 p.m.-CbarlestonN18-7) vs. Paris (10-M). Tuesday's result Olney 46 Mattoon Friday's game' 7 p.m.-Olniy vs, wlnnar ef Charleston-Paris for title. While Mattoon was netting just 6 of 17 shots and scoring Six" points in the third period and seven in the fourth, Olney was sinking 11 of 28 shots and scoring 12 and 18 points to win going away.

"We had an opportunity to make things interesting," Avery said. "If they had come out and hit six or seven of their first 12 shots we would have been in trouble, but they didn't." Olney. finished with a mild .339 shooting mark for the game. But, its defense, and the third quarte press in particular which forced the Wave Into 13 seconds, half mean Indiana U. I found the contents to be interesting and decided they would be worth passing on to the readers.

But, before I reveal the contents of his letter, I want Mr. Simmonds, Neoga varsity basketball coach Lyle Casper (another big advocate of Hoosier basketball) and any other Indiana buffs out there to know that I haven't changed my mind about basketball possibly being a hotter item over there. Anyway, following Is Sanders' letter dealing with "Hoosier Hysteria." Dear Jim, I can report that Hoosier Hysteria is everything It is cracked up to be. I've never seen anything like the enthusiasm and outright madness these people over here have over high school basketball. One of my teams is undefeated at 22-0 and ranked 12th in the state.

Their final regular season home game was against Washington Catholic, then just once beaten. The game was played In a gymnasium which was sold out. The crowd was counted at about 4,500. The gym In which the game was played Is circular and depressed Into the ground. People were standing six and seven deep along the upper rim (there is no balcony).

won the game by about five points. It was easily the most overall1 exciting high drops to 13-13. DePaul rolled out to a 8-0 lead, and kept the Broncos off the scoreboard until 6:07. The 8-2 mark was the Bronco's closest margin of the game. Duane Thornton led Pan American with 10, followed by Tom Fiepke with eight.

Kevin Holmes added 11 points for the Blue Demons. Pan American's 29 points marked the smallest total against DePaul since 1954-55, when the Blue Demons beat Qulncy 72-22. Illinois State advances NORMAL Mark Zwart scored 21 points to lead No. 16 Illinois State to a 91-62 win over Drake Tuesday In the first -round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. i Illinois State, 22-6, hosts Creighton In the semifinals Thursday.

Drake finished 8-20. ZwarV, scoring 20 or more for just the second time in his four-year career, led a balanced ISU offense while while holding Drake's leading scorer, Melvin Mathis, scoreless as the Redblrds built a 42-23 halftime lead. Mathis came back to score 16 In the second half, tying Michael Weathers for Drake scoring honors. The Redblrds broke the game open In the first half. With ISU leading 8-6, the Redblrds outscored the Bulldogs 22 6 during a nine-minute stretch, Illinois State hit Its first 13 foul shots and 29 of 32 for, the game.

Purdue regains Big Ten lead Wavettes split games with Teutopolis By United Press International MADISON, Wis. Steve Reid scored 23 points Thursday night to lead lHh-. ranked Purdue back Into sole possession of first place In the Big Ten with a 61-48 victory over Wisconsin. The Boilermakers, now 14-3 in the conference and 21-6 overall, moved a half-game ahead of 7th-ranked Illinois, which plays at Minnesota Thursday night. Mark Atkinson scored 12 points for Purdue and Jim Rowinski, the Boilermakers' leading scorer, was held to points.

Wisconsin, 4-13 and 8-19, was led by Cory Blackwell's 18 points and Scott Roth added 14. A jumper by Atkinson with 15:57 remaining In the game gave Purdue its biggest lead of the game to that point at 42-34. But with Blackwell and Roth leading the way the Badgers, scored nine unanswered points to take a 43-42 lead. A tip-In by Greg Eifert with 11:02 left gave Purdue the lead for good at 44-43. With the score 48-44 Purdue held the ball (or almost five minutes before Reld's Jump shot increased Its lead to six points.

That was as close as the Badgers got as Purdue hit a number of free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach. Blackwell scord 13 of his points in the first half to help Wisconsin build six-point leads on four different occasions. But the Boilermakers scored the last five points MATTOON Mattoon's freshmen-sophomore girls basketball teams split two games with Teutopolis Tuesday night. T-Town won the freshmen game 28-23 before the Wavettes sophomores registered a 60-43 win in the second contest. The Wavettes trailed 17-10 at halftime in the first game and were never able to regain the lead.

Tammy Barnd led Mattoon with six points. Mattoon assumed a 14-8 lead after one quarter In the second game. The Wavettes held a 30-23 lead at halftime and then surged to a 46-29 advantage after three quarters. Jana Martens was one of four Mattoon players to score In double figures with 13 points. Angle Duey had 11 and Kelly Swlck MJHS loses EFFINGHAM Mattoon Junior High's girls volleyball team played "its best game of the season," Tuesday night, but fell to Shelbyvllle 17-15, 15-9 In the semifinals of the District tournament; The Lady Wildcats, who were seeded third In the tournament behind Slewardson-Strasburg and Shelbyvllle, finish the season 10-4.

Sara Reynolds led Mattoon scorers with six points In the match Tuesday..