Blue Jays Too Much For Riders
This is what ran in The Evening Leader 50 years ago today.
It was a typical Bob Arnzen Delphos St. John team, fast moving, good shooting, and hustling defense. Arnzen who has coached his teams in the past to 335 wins against 170 losses, got win number 336 against St. Marys last night in McBroom Gym, 86-65.
It was a case of St. Marys turning the ball over too much and Delphos hanging on to the ball too much. St. Marys was guilty of 30 turnovers while Delphos turned the ball over only 16 times.
The St. Johns press caused most of the turnovers, and it seemed the most came in the second quarter, which Ray Graves called the turning point of the game.
The Riders trailed by just two at the first quarter break, 16-14. After jumping to an early lead the St. Marys 5 then cooled off enough to allow the Blue Jays to catch up and then forge into a lead they never gave up.
It was the second quarter, as Graves said, that dealt the Riders out for the night. Delphos took advantage of St. Marys turnovers to build that lead to nine 23-14 with seven straight points to open the second period.
More turnovers and more points and Delphos lead 39-22 with two minutes yet to go in the period. St. Marys got “hot” again & narrowed the margin to 13 by half time, 43-30. Delphos hit well from the outside, but were aided in a great part by second and third shots at the buckets. John Gerdeman and Phil Markward kept the ball in play for the Blue Jays under their backboard.
One of the big first half dif- ferences was the shot figures. Delphos shot an even 50 times and hit on 20 for 40 per cent. St. Marys had a good percentage of an even 50, but could only take 26 shots, hitting on 13.
A few baskets early in the third quarter might have kept the Riders in it, but it was not in the cards for the night. Delphos high point man Dan J. Grothouse hit a 15 footer on a tip pass on the opening jump and the Blue Jays were off and running again. “DF” finished with 24. St. Marys was led by Steve Axe with 13 and Ken Smith and Kirk Anderson with 10 apiece.
The Riders never gave up, showing good poise and hustle, but they couldn’t muster enough offense to match the Delphos quintet who had the score to 69-44 at the end of the third period.
The fourth quarter was academic with both teams substituting freely. The Riders did outscore the Blue Jays that period 21-17 to bring the losing margin down to 21.
For the game Delphos shot 42 percent on 38 of 88 from the floor. St. Marys was good for an even 40 per cent on 26 of 65 attempts. From the line the Riders hit 13 of 24 and Delphos 9 of 13.
Coach Ray Graves felt the team did not shoot that bad, but could not get enough shots at the basket with turning the ball over so much. “The press got to our guards and we threw the ball away too much, we also didn’t do very well on the boards.”
Arnzen, in his 23rd season at the helm of the Jays said, “we felt our press was good, but we were pleased with our board work underneath which gave us those extra shots.”
The Riders must now work to get back to .500 in the league as the loss gave them a 3-4 WBL mark. Delphos remains tied for first with a 6-1 mark. Next weekend the Riders hit the road for the last time during the regular season as they travel to Kenton. The following week they’re home for a pair to close out the campaign.