By DAVID KONOPKI Special to The Dallas Post Four years ago the Dallas High School basketball program was ‘having its share of problems and there was little doubt that the pro- gram had hit rock bottom. With the firing and subsequent rehiring of then head coach Clint Brobst, the famous ‘Jobson Saga’, ‘and the general lack of student interest in the program, it looked as though it would be some time before Dallas basketball could get the sour taste out of its mouth. But the 1982-83 basketball season brought with it a rebirth of enthusi- asm in Dallas. New life in the form of Clarence 0zgo. 0zgo, now in his third year of coaching at Dallas, has turned the program around, guiding the Moun- taineers to their first-ever District Championship last year. But 0zgo is quick to point out that he has only ‘played a small role in Dallas’ suc- cess on the hardwoods. “It’s definitely the kids,” said 0zgo, when asked for the reason of the turn-around. ‘‘In the three years that I have been here, we’ve had kids that are willing to make a commitment. That's all we ask of the kids. We wanted to get them to work hard and they responded well. The kids have turned this program around.” The student interest is back. The days when Dallas dresses five or six players for a junior varsity game are over. This year’s team boosts 11 players on the junior varsity and no less than 12 players suit up for varsity action. “I have to give credit to our Junior High people,” said 0zgo. Contest held people involved down there. We've been fortunate, at least since I've been here, to have enough people who want to play basketball. We also get help from the community in running a DBO (Dallas Basketball Organization) league for -elemen- tary students on Wednesday nights.” It’s funny sometimes how some- body else’s loss could turn out to be the hiring of Ozgo. Just how did the ‘‘Ozgo-Dallas’’ courtship begin? Why would Ozgo, of Plains, and a coach at Dallas in the first place. “Oh, that’s an easy answer,” explained Ozgo. “I think they were the only team that would hire me.” has been holding its own, thus far, in the Wyoming Valley Conference as the Mountaineers finished in a tie for second place in the first half. But their two losses in the first half could turn out to be “blessings in disguise’’ as they lost both games in overtime to two powerful GAR and Northwest teams. The losses, however, gave the Mountaineers first hand experience in pressure situations and that will come in handy when, and if, they should gain a berth in this year’s playoffs. The backecourt is the Mountai- neers’ strong point as this year’s quintet features two of the premier guards in the Wyoming Valley in seniors Steve Wilson and Mark ‘Pearl Washington has nothing on me’’ Farrell. Farrell is one of the top scorers in Dallas cagers. per contest. He is also the third top rebounder on the squad, hauling in four rebounds per game, On the other side of the court is Dallas Post/Joan Kingsbury Hl THERE! Are you informed of all the local news and upcoming events of your community? Zz “WE'VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU.” All you need do is subscribe to THE DALLAS POST. Rod Club sets Shoot The Nuangola Rod and Gun Club announces that its annual Ham Shoot will be held on Sunday, March 24. This shoot will start at noon on the club grounds in Nuangola. Trap shooting events will be held and prizes will be awarded. Food and refreshments and shot gun shells will be available. An Open Shoot will also be held on Sunday, Feb. 17. The public is invited to attend. Subscribe To The Post Wilson, better known around the Dallas circles as Mr. Goodwrench. Mr. Goodwrench? Nothing could be more. appropri- Dallas Post/Ed Campbell ate because this season Wilson has been good in the clutch. Wilson (11 points per game) has made the tying and winning baskets with less than five seconds remain- ing in the game against Northwest and Crestwood respectively. Going inside the Mounts feature 6’6”’ senior center Joe Darling (30 blocked shots per game - 237 intimi- dations) who has proven. that his 165-pound frame can mix it up with the bigger centers in the league. Darling is also, top rebounder on the team averages eight points per game for rebounds and also tosses in an average of 10 points per game. The Mounts have a set of “Tims” at the forward positions in juniors Tim Lyons (seven points per game and five rebounds) and Tim Moyer (six points per game and 6 rebounds.) Let’s not forget Dallas’ answer to the Philadelphia 76’ers Bobby Jones, senior Tim Cotter. The 6’5” sixth man is averaging seven points per game while seeing very. limited playing time. Gone this season are the Dave Thomas’, the Ed Goreys’, and the Greg Manuskys’ of last year’s team. But with the way things are going for the Dallas basketball program these days, you can bet that the days when the rest of the Wyoming Valley laughed at Dallas basketball are over. So what was all the laughing going on at the high school back in November? Well in November, while the Mounts were preparing for the upcoming season, President Ronald Reagan was asking America if they were better off today than when they were four years ago. The noise you heard was just Ozgo and the rest of the Dallas Basketball Program enjoying a good laugh. By CHARLOT M. DENMON Staff Correspondent Dallas Mountaineers added three wins to their record last week by downing Wyoming Seminary 57-40, Tuesday defeating Lake-Lehman 79- 55 Thursday and taking a 56-48 win from Hanover Area, Saturday night. FARRELL LEADS In Saturday’s game against the Hawkeyes, Mark Farrell led the Mountaineers with 25 points for the second consecutive time during the week. Combined with Steve Wilson's 14, the Mountaineers moved into a second place tie with Northwest, who were upset on Saturday by Crestwood. Dallas was in front 26-23 at half- time and outscored hanover 11-9 in the third period. Hanover rallied trying to close the lead but Farrell took over control of the board to keep Dallas in the lead and give them the 56-48 win. “Farrell came off a poor scoring game the week previous,’ said Dallas Coach Clarence Ozgo, ‘“‘But during the past week he gave us a lot of points averaging about 24 points per game. Wilson also gave us points hitting in the double fig- ures each game. “We've also been getting some great inside play from Joe Darling and Tim Moyer and Tim Lyons have started giving us points. We have some tough games ahead and we have to have a solid game out of everybody,’’ Ozgo continued. 0zgo said his team can’t look any farther ahead than Tuesday’s game with Crestwood, who played them tough the first half. BEARDE CONTAINED In Thursday’s game with Lake- Lehman on the Mountaineers court, the Knights high scorer Bill Bearde was held to only nine points follow- ing the ace scorer’s 43 points earlier in the week against Crestwood. Farrell hit 25 points and Wilson added 18 for the Mountaineers to lead them to the 79-55 win. Dallas outscored Lake-Lehman 19-9 in the first period and18-6 in the second period to take a 37-15 lead at the half. In the third period the Moun- taineers outscored the Knights 23-19 but in the final period the Knights turned the scoring around 21-19. The key in the Dallas win was holding down Bearde’s scoring and closing out Earl Weidner, who hit only three shots‘ from the playing field. Ozgo emptied his bench with 11 of the 12 players hitting the scoring column. Darling, Moyer and Long scored six points each, Lyons scored seven, Cotter four and the other players scored from one to three points. T. Willy Cadwalader led the Knights with 10 points and Boyle joined Bearde with nine. BEAT SEMINARY In the Mountaineers 57-40 win over Wyoming Seminary on Tues- day, Farrell put nine goals through the nets and hit two-for-two from the free line to lead Dallas with 20 points. Wilson keyed in three shots from the field and dumped in six- for-eight from the charity stripe for 12 points. Lyons added nine and Darling gave eight. The Blue Knights were led by Chris Saul and Mark Antinnes with 13 and 10 points respectively. Semi- nary’s top scorer Chris Berry was unable to play due to illness. Seminary did some fine shooting from the foul line hitting 14 of 18 but were held from top shooting from the field by the Mountaineers defense. The Mountaineers are scheduled to play Crestwood away on Tuesday and West Side Tech at home Friday. Their makeup game with Northwest is set for Saturday afternoon at home. LEHMAN FALLS Lake-Lehman’s record fell to 2-4 for the second half, Saturday, when they were edged 55-51 by Seton Catholic. The Knights were leading until the fourth period when Seton’s Joe Lavelle tossed in eight of his total points to pace the Eagles to their four point win. Lavelle ‘had a total of 12 points for the Eagles whose top scorer was Ed Farrell with 15 points. Bill Bearde was high scorer for Lake-Lehman with 19 points and T. Willy Cadwalader hit for 12 points. The Knights were unable to over- come the Mountainers throughout the entire game, Thursday night, as they were overpowered 79-55 at the Dallas gym. SEASON-HIGH Bill Bearde hit a season high Tuesday night at Crestwood when he scored 43 points for the Knights but Lake-Lehman still went down 77-66 to the Comets, whose Rich Loomis scored 25 points to hit 1,000 career points. Bearde hit 16 shots from the field and dumped in 11-for- 17 from the foul line. The Lake-Lehman senior scored two points in the first period and eight points in the second then tossed in 11 in the third period and 22 points in the final period in chalking up his total. He scored. 33 of the Knights total of 47 points in the second half. He also accounted for 16 of the Knights 23 goals from the field and 11 of their 20-for-28 shots from the charity stripe. Cadwalader added eight points for the Knights, Weidner five, Janiczek and Andes each four and James two. The Knights are scheduled to play Meyers at home, Tuesday, and Northwest, away, Friday. Friday, Feb. 15 West Side Tech scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.) Wednesday, Feb. 13 Coughlin Saturday, Feb. 16 Pittston Area at 7:30 p.m.) Bridy.T Feb. 15 at Northwest at 8 p.m.) Friday, Feb. 15 Northwest immediately following) at 7:30 p.m.) A cs A] & é@ 5 bee. /
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