Sports
Season summary
A look at Condor basketball
By Donna Rose Roberts
The Hazleton PSU Condors
sporting a 5-2 league record have
clinched first place in 'the
Northeastern Division. In doing
so,the men's basketball team has
earned a berth in the Eastern
Regional Playoffs, the first time
since 1949.
Coach Tom Caccese, who is not
having one of his best seasons in
his nine years of coaching at Penn
State, proudly proclaimed,"The
team is having a fine season ! To
date they have a 12-5 record
overall and have accomplished
two of their preseason goals".
At the first team meeting, the
men said they wanted to win the
Highacres Holiday Classic (see
related article) and they wanted
to be in the playoffs. Their thirds
goal was to win more than
seventeen games; seventeen
games are the most won by the
Highacres team.
The accomplishmnent of the
third goal will not be an easy one.
The conclusion of the season
promises to be an exciting one as
the Condors will be squaring off
against some of the better teams
on their schedule. Of ther
remaining six games, four will be
on the road against such schools
as Keystone Junior College and
Scranton P.S.U. All of the .
remaining teams are perenilly
strong and could give our
Condors a rough time.
The Condors have participated
in some extremely exciting
games already. On Wednesday,
January 20, the team traveled- to
Delaware and won by a score of
100-97. With only four minutes
remaining in the game, the
Condors were down by seven,
but were able to rally behind the
outside shooting of Freshman Jim
Donlan. Donlan and Captain
Lenny Kott both turned in one of
their better offensive
performances finishing the game
with 41 and 27 points. The
100 points scored was the team's
top offensive performance, while
the 97 points yeilded to Delaware
were the most given up by the
Condors. Two reasons
explaining the high scores were
the run and gun style played by
both teams and the fact that both
shot over 50% from the field.
Another exciting win took
place at the Highacres Omni on
Monday, January 25, against
Williamsport Area Community
College. The Condors were
declared the victors, when the
game was called with four
seconds remaining. Williamsport
behind the superb shooting of
Northwest graduate, Chris Gleco,
who canned 22 of his game high
' 31 points in the first half was able
to take a comfortable lead to the
locker room. When the second
hilf started, the Condors
changed defenses and
sandwiched Gleco.
Williamsport's head coach began
fall apart as not only did his
team's lead dwindle, but it totally
disappeared. As he fell apart so '
did his team and a coupli of
technicals were called before the
referees walked off the court.
On Wednesday, January 27, the
Condors traveled to
Northampton County
Community College and it
appeared to be a rematch
between David and Goliath, with
Goliath's hight just too much to
overcome this time .
Northampton was led by 6'9" All-
American Dominic Snowden,
who had seven dunks in the
game. Behind him were 6'B"
Emmanual Davis and 6'7" Jim
Ross. "We were down by twenty
at the half and managed to cl;ose
the gap to fourteen with seven
minutes to go by applying full
court man pressure.
Unfortunately we got into foul
trouble and that's what made the
difference."
Another big loss came at the
hands of York P.S.U., who
Hazleton will probably see again
on February 15 in the first game of
the playoffs. Coach Caccese
explained, "They played their
best game of the season and we
played our worst. We -can beat
them if we have to play them
again."
"I've got to hand it to Tom
Caccese. Last year Tom had
great talent. This 'year he has
less talent and is just as suc
cessful."
Glen Begley
Lions' head coach
In comparison with last year's
team, this year's Condors are
averaging ten points per game on
offense and are giving up nine
more points per game on
defense. "Because of the
quickness of our players, we are
able to play a run and gun style,
and thus we are able to score
more points. If we are scoring
more, the opposition also has a
chance to score more. Even
though we are giving up more
points per game, our defense is
just as good as last year."
"This year our tallest player is
6'2.5" and yet we are rebounding
as well as last year. Last year we
sported three big men, 6'7" Bryan
Brassington, 6'4" Bob Stoff a, and
6'2" Ron Cann, who holds the
record for the most rebounds in
one season at Hazleton. All our
men this year are great jumpers."
"We don't have to worry
about our players tiring out our
bench is so strong. We can put
anyone in and never lose any of
our strength".
— Coach - c. - accese would like to
thank everyone who has come to
the games. "So far we have had in
excess of 2500 people at our
home games and Monday,
January 25, when it was bitter
cold out, over 300 people
attended the game."
Roberts Writes
Donna Rose Roberts
"The students claimed this
year would be different, but the
amount of students who use it on
weekends never changes," com
mented Bruce Young.
What Young is referring to is
the physical education building
and its use, or rather its lack of
use on weekends. The building, a
three million dollar investment,
was completed six years ago, and
every year the students have
petitioned to have it opened. "At
least four of those years the
building has been opened during
the winter term and the results
have been the same every time,"
criticized Young.
"Last Saturday, (January 23),
approximately 25 students used
the building, the most this term."
Added Young, "The only people
who consciously and consistently
use the facilities are the
weightlifters, who are on a three
day per week lifting schedule."
The hours on a weekend this
year are from 1 to 4 P.M. on
Saturdays, but other combina
tions have been tried. In fact,
every conceivable combination of
hours have been tried. The
physical education department
even allowed the students to
choose the hours one year, and
still no one used the building.
The petition this year was sign
ed by approximately 200 of the
students who live in the dor-
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mitory and was presented to Dr.
William David midway through
the fall term. Being a self
proclaimed "eternal optimist"
Dr. David decided to once again
"open the building for recrea
tional purposes."
"We had experimented with
opening it in the past and
discovered that with the com
bination of the Penn State foot
ball season and the usually plea
sant weather no one was in
terested In staying indoors. But
once the weather• turned cold, the
students pursued the indoor ac
tivities."
"If the amount of students who
use the facilities does not in
crease, we cannot afford to open
the building. We want to make
the best use of the money in our
budget. If we don't open the
building, we could divide the
money between some clubs or
buy new books for the library,"
commented Dr. David.
One example of the money ex
penses incurred when the
building is opened is the two
lifeguards. Explains Bruce
Young, "We'are required to have
two lifeguards on duty any time
the pool is open. The wages of the
two for a Saturday amount to
$20.10. On the average, about five
to seven students have been using
the pool on a Saturday. That is
five to seven students over a
Pal-Joey
Sporting Goods
Laurel Mall
Hazleton
Sale table --athletic shoes
and markdowns on all winter
outerwear ' ice skates and
athletic shirts.
Excluding sale merchandise .
1 0 % Off to All Students on purchases.
Must show I.D.
three hour period." .
What this means is that maybe
four students will decide to go
swimming at one time and stay in
the pool for half an hour. The next
half hour no one is in the water
and the lifeguards are being paid.
Will the building be opened in
the spring? According to Dr.
David, "This decision will be bas
ed on Bruce Young's report of its
use this term."
"I don't think the building
should be open iv. the spring,"
said Young. "If no one uses it
now when it's too cold to be out
side, who is going to use it when
the weather is nice?"
Dr. David feels the bad
weather might very well be the
reason for the students not using
the facilities. "The students
might not be too anxious about
braving the bitter cold and
snow."
I personally do not think this is
the reason. I feel the students will
always cry for something they
don't have. Even if they don't in
tend to use it, they will kick up a
storm until they are given their
own way. Six years is a long trial
period .. . the building should
not be open on weekends.
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