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Mustangs sting Cardinals
d fought 37-36 contest
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Heppner and lone played it
down to the wire Friday with
the lead changing hands five
times in the final minutes
before the Mustangs pulled
out a 37-36 win.
The game was won under
the boards where the Mus
tangs collected 51 rebounds.
On most trips down the floor,
the Cards were limited to only
one shot while Heppner man- '
aged to keep the ball alive at
their offensive end. Dale
Holland pulled a game high 17
rebounds and both Mark '
Huddleston and Jerry Cuts
forth had nine.
Kevin McCabe grabbed eight
rebounds for the Cards fol
lowed by Robin LaRue and
Dennis Stefani with six.
Both teams struggled
through a cold shooting open
ing quarter and neither really
found the range for the rest of
the game as Heppner hit 30
per cent from the floor and
lone connected on 25 per cent
of its shots.
. Dennis Peck led the Mus
tangs with 12 points, Huddle
ston had seven and Ken Grieb
had six. Stefani was the top
scorer for lone with 11
followed by McCabe with nine
and Danny McElligott with
six.
Despite a season high 23
turnovers and the fact that
several Mustangs were in foul
trouble, Heppner coach Tom
Day said he liked the way his
team showed poise and control
in the final minutes.
"lone played a tough, sag
ging man-to-man defense and
they got hot in the fourth
quarter," Day said. "It was
good to see us stay together
after they went ahead."
Heppner held an eight point
lead going into the final period
but lone continued to chip
away at the gap and the
Mustang's attempt at a four
corner offense backfired when
McElligott stole the ball for a
layin.
Two buckets by Stefani
knotted the score at 30 and a
McCabe jumper put the
Cards on top for the first time
in the game. A free throw by
Holland and a Grieb basket off
a feed from Peck put Heppner
back in the lead to set the
stage for a furious final two
minutes.
Card coach Del LaRue said
his team played a good
defensive ballgame but added
that they missed too many
easy shots in the first half.
"Heppner and lone is al
ways a pressure game and
we're definitely playing better
ball than we were earlier in
the year," LaRue said
THE
SECTION B
ETTE-TIME
THURSDAY, DEC. 22, 1977
HEPPNER, OREGON
8 PAGES
Filly press breaks Cards 39-19
Back door
BRYAN MARLIN takes the back door route past Dennis Stefani as Dennis Peck moves into
position for a rebound. The lead changed hands five times in the Mustangs 37-36 win over the
Cards Friday.
Spray tops Cards 6 7-5 7
1 i V
Spray's Jodie Sutherland
poured in 31 points to head his
team past lone Saturday
despite a 21 point effort by the
Cards' Dennis Stefani.
The combination of Suther
land's 65 per cent shooting
display and Spray's 49-31
rebounding edge kept the
Cards off balance and out of
the win column for the year.
Kevin McCabe hit for 14
points and Robin LaRue added
10 in the game. McCabe again
led the Cards in rebounding
with nine while John Lind
strom pulled six.
"We're still getting hurt on
the boards," said Card coach
Del LaRue. "Anybody with
any height is giving us
trouble."
A bright spot for lone was an
exceptional performance at
the foul line where the Cards
sank 16 of 19 free throw
attempts.
"Free throws haven't been -one
of our better points and
we've been working pretty
hard on changing that,"
LaRue said.
LaRue said the Cards are
becoming a more balanced
team and added that he is
getting good play from his
bench. lone took on Condon
Tuesday in their game before
the Christmas break.
lone Jr. High
runs past Wheeler
and
John Murray's 16 points
Jeff Hams' 12 points
paced the lone Junior High
8th grade boys team to a 40-26
victory over Wheeler Monday.
Denny Starr added six
points as the Cards took a 23-8
lead in the first half.
Earlier in the afternoon, the
7th grade boys dropped a 20-11
decision to Wheeler. Roger
Morter was the top Card
scorer with nine points.
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From the corner
ALONE IN THE corner, Diane Holland launches a jump shot
over lone defender Natalie Tews. The Fillies have beaten the
Cards twice this year on their way to a 4-1 season mark.
A full court press in the third
quarter helped Heppner break
open a tight game with lone as
the Fillies cruised to a 39-19
win Friday in Heppner.
The Fillies held a 16-12 lead
at halftime before springing
their press on the Cards and
the result was a 23-7 second
half scoring edge for the hosts.
"When Heppner threw the
press on us we lost our
composure and couldn't
score," Card coach Martha
Doherty said.
Jackie Mollahan led the
Filly scorers with 10 points
while Julie Grieb added six
and Diane Holland, Lori Rea
and Maureen Healy each had
four.
Grace McElligott was the
top Card scorer with six points
followed by Carol McElligott
and Darcy Rea with four each.
Healy and Wendy Myers
collected 11 and 10 rebounds,
respectively, and Susan
Thompson, Rea and Grace
McElligott handled most of
the board work for lone.
Doherty noted it was the first
game her team had collected
fewer fouls than their oppo
nents as the Fillies were
whistled 23 times to Ione's 18.
Coach Sherri Brock said she
thought her Filly team turned
in a better overall perform
ance than in the season opener
between the two teams.
Fillies notch number 4
Wendy Myers scored 13
points and Maureen Healy
totaled 16 rebounds to send the
Heppner Fillies past Helix
49-25 Saturday at Helix.
It was the Fillies fourth win
of the year against a single
defeat. Heppner had de
stroyed Helix 71-18 earlier in
the season and although the
victory margin was not as
great this time, the game was
never in doubt.
Healy and Jackie Mollahan
added nine points to the
winning effort while Diane
Holland scored eight and both
Lori Rea and Geri Grieb had
four.
In the rebounding depart
ment, Myers contributed se
ven, Grieb and Mollahan had
six and Holland pulled five.
Heppner shot 24 per cent
from the floor while con
verting 47 per cent of the
attempts from the line. The
Fillies had doubled their
opponents point total by half
time as they took a 24-12 lead
into the intermission.
Filly coach Sherri Brock
said the game was a good
team performance by all her
players as Heppner was able
to dominate all facets of the
game. The Fillies did not have
to resort to their tenacious full
court press-which completely
frustrated Helix in the first
encounter.
"We were able to work on
some variations and try some
new things in the game,"
Brock said.
Thursday the Fillies will
have a chance to avenge their
lone defeat of the year as
Hermiston comes to Heppner
for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
Hermiston edged Heppner on
Dec. 5 by a 44-41 margin.
Upsets so far in pre-season
CMC race could be topsy -turvy to finish
The 1977-78 Columbia Basin Conference basketball
season should be a real humdinger.
Five of the conference's nine teams have new coaches
and it should be a topsy-turvy race to the finish, with
district spots not decided until the final buzzer of the
final game.
Two teams from the west and two teams from the
east will collide in the district tournament in late
February. The winner gets a state spot.
Like always, there are some favorite teams. Sherman
County is favored to rule the west and Weston-McEwen
md Pilot Rock have been getting all the nods in the
east.
But none of the teams can be written off. For
example, Umatilla and Heppner, two of the biggest
losers in the CBC last year, are two of the conference's
biggest winners so far in pre-season play.
This week the G-T takes a
look at three of the CBC teams
from the east. Next week a
look at some west- side teams.
UMATILLA
Last year Umatilla finished with a 3-9 conference
record and a 6-14 overall mark.
This year, under new head coach Kelly Bissinger, the
Viks are off to a 4-2 start.
It's hard to say who's leading the Viks offensively.
Ftandy Body, a 6-1 senior forward, has had 23 and 21
point nights but seniors Jeff Watson (5-11), Guy Journot
(13-8) and Jeff Carlson (6-1) and junior John Borchert
(i-8) have all had big nights along the way.
Rebounding strength lies in Carlson, who hauled
down 51 boards in two games at the recent Touchet
Holiday Tournament, and Body, who had 28 rebounds in
the same two tourney games.
Bissinger likes to talk about his team's rebounding
strength. He also mentions things like becoming the
CBC's best defensive team.
Offensively, Bissinger wants a lot of movement.
The Viks average 57 points on offense and give up 65
on defense. All, .of Umatilla's games have been
close two games have been won by one point except
for a 95-42 setback to Columbia-Burbank, Wash.
Umatilla has five seniors on its roster Body,
Watson, Carlson, Journot and Randy DeCan (6-1) who
was coming off a football injury.
As for the conference this year, Bissinger said "Both
Weston-McEwen and Pilot Rock looked awful tough.
"Another thing we have to contend with is that
Heppner is coming on."
Sherman County is the team to beat in the west, he
feels.
About Umatilla's chances in the east, Bissinger noted
that his squad has been working hard and that a district
berth is not entirely out of their grasp.
RIVERSIDE
Hopes are high at Riverside this season.
The Pirates, under third year coach Larry French,
want a spot in the district playoffs and later they want
to go to state.
That's a lot to shoot for, but the Pirates have
responded to French. His first team was 6-16 overall
and last year the Pirates went 12-8.
After three straight wins to open the season, a clog
were beaten badly at the Heppner Invitational by
Heppner and Condon.
The Pirates, however, bounced back in play last
week, beating Helix and giving Arlington all it could
handle before losing.
Riverside is now 4-3.
"We have a definite shot as long as we don't have any
more injuries and continue to play as well as we played
this weekend," said French.
The injury French is referring to belongs to senior
forward Chris Haberstich (6-3) who is out the rest of the
season with a knee injury. He was hurt in the first
quarter of the Condon game.
Leading scorers so far this season have been Luke
Maynard, a 6-3 junior center (13.0); Steve Wilkie, a 5 9
senior guard (8.21) and Steve Daulton, a 5-8 sophomore
guard (6.7).
Top re bounders have been Maynard and 6-1 leaper
Scott Witt, a senior.
Dan Gordanier (5-9), a transfer from Springfield, is
the other senior on the club.
With Haberstich out, French has three seniors, two
juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen on the
roster.
Haberstich was averaging around nine points and 10
rebounds per game before being sidelined.
One of the Pirates' sore spots this season has been
their shooting. Riverside's shooting percentage from
the floor in the last four games was 33, 30, 43 and 28.
OREGON TRAIL
Turnovers have plagued the 0-6 Blazers so far this
season. They committed 35 in an 86-51 loss to Columbia
Burbank last Friday night And a turnover in the final
minute of play against Touchet was the deciding factor
in the Blazers' 55-53 loss to the Indians last Tuesday
Coach Tom Wolsborn's troops were 5-7 in CBC play
last year and 8-12 overall.
Center Rich Snow and guard Don Sutton, the Blazers'
top players last year, have graduated.
Senior forward Marvin Seifer (6-0), a transfer
student, is leading the team in scoring this season with
an 11.1 average.
Seifer is one of seven seniors on the team. Others are
guard John Marcum (5-9), forward Duane Coombes
(5-10), guard Charlie Berry (5-10), forward Larry
Hunter (6-0), forward Kent Madison (6-3) and guard
Lyle Nichols (5-9).
Juniors Larry Holeman (6-3), a forward, and Brett
Rohde (6-0), a guard, and sophomore guard Todd Rohde
(5-7) have played well at times this season for the
Blazers.
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