Highacres Collegian, Feb. 17, 1977 - Page Nine
A major improvement in
defense has been the key to
the success that Highacres
Basketball team has experi
enced in the last four conf
tests. .Defense, or the lack
of'consistent play on defense,
has been the deterrent that
has held the squad back from
having success earlier in the
year, according to Coach Tom
Caccese.
"The turning point in
the season came, Caccese said,
in the Jamuary 22 game with
Penn State-Wilkes Barre,
which Hazleton won, 86-68.
Forward Greg Slusser was
high scorer for Hazleton with
26 points, and Center Craig
Rebold also was credited with
]4 rehounds. The team played
a good overall defense which
was to be the case through
the rest of the games.
The next game was a
loss to Keystone Junior
College, but had its high
points for the Highacres
five. Hazleton was only down
by seven points at the half,
while Greg Slusser set the
single game scoring record .
with an outstanding 38-point
performance. The loss, by a
92—79 score, was a disappoin
ting one, but Keystone is
ranked number six in small
colleges on the East Coast.
The next game versus
York campus was an exciting
one, with Hazleton coming out
on top, 72-7 J., on a foul shot
by forward Rex Wirick with
two seconds leit on the clock.
The lead changed hands through
out the contest, with the
score finally being tied at
67-67. York then went ahead
71-67. && this point Jerry
Cann stole the ball and put „
in the shot, only to be
fouled in the process. He
made good on the three-point
play and tied the score once
Highacres Basketball Turnaround
SPORTS
by James Dino
again at 71. Wirick was then
fouled and put in the winning
shot. Before the game York
was in third place in the
Commonwealth Campus Confer
ence with a 6-win, 4-loss
record. Greg Slusser was
again high scorer with 25 .
points, and the good defense
continied to show itself in
this game.
The best game of the
year came against Capitol
Campus, a four-year branch .
campus of Penn State. The
Highacres cagers came away
with an impressive 74—66
victory. Greg Slusser was
high scorer in this game
also, scoring 25 points.
Craig Rebold played his best
game of the year, scoring 14
points and pulling down 12
rebounds. Hazleton was down
at the half, 35-28, but what
Caccese terms "tenacious"
defensive play on the part of
Hazleton caused Capitol to
turn the ball over 21 times,
while only turning it over
six times themselves. Soph
omore guard Jerry Cann stole
the ball eight times, and
played what Caccese calls,
"the best defensive game I
have ever seen anyone play."
Hazleton outrebounded Capitol
3]-29, another impressive
statistic, considering the
fact that Capitol had two
players at 6'7" and one at
6*6", the three bieng taller
than anyone on the Highactes
squad. The largest home crowd
of the season, approximately
500 people, turned out for
the game.
As of February 8, High
acres has three games left on
their schedule; one each
against Deleware and Mont
Alto in the Commonwealth
Campus Conference and one
against Wilkes College, a
four-year institution. If
the squad continues to show
the consistent play on de
fense to go along with the
potent offense, a good out*
look for the rest of this
season and next season is in
order for basketball at High
acres.
MEW GYM : GETTINC
A WORKOUT
by John Sengle
Throughout the winter term
the new Physical Education
Building has been used for a
variety of intramural activit
ies. Men's and women's intramu
ral basketball and three bowl
ing leagues have used the
building. The intramural sports
will all come to “.an end at the
end of the winter term, and
give way to outdoor oriented
activities.
The men's basketball intra
murals are broken ’into two
leagues; the Red league and
the Blue league, each of
which consists of six teams.
Each team plays the other teams
in the league once. The regular
season has ended in both leagues
and the number one and two teams
from each league will enter the
single elimination playoffs.
In the Red league the champ
ions were the who fin
ished with an unbeaten record
of 5 wins,, and no losses.
They were the only team in
both leagues to go unbeaten
in the regular season. The
second place team in the
Red league was Wayne's
Raiders with a record of 4
wins and J loss. In the
Blue league the number one
andtwo teams finished with
conti'nuecL on" page 10