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Page20-PLAINDEAMCR.HKKALII. FR1IM1 .JANUARY 18,19H5 Sports On the Sideline Dick Rabbitt Strike lea ves MCHS a thletes in the lurch The teacher's strike finds McHenry High School athletic teams in various stages of success and disappointment. Ken Ludwig's basketball squad finds itself in the midst of a four- game losing streak. The string began in the Wheeling tourney when the Warriors lost the consolation championship to the host school. Defeats at the hands of Fremd, Woodstock and Deerfield followed, and Coach Ludwig would like nothing better than to get back on the winning track. In last week's losses to Woodstock and Deerfield the Warriors played good basketball for three quarters, but then fell apart in the final eight minutes. In the Streak loss, McHenry ljpd 43-40 going into the fourth period, only to see Woodstock score nine unanswered points at the quarter's outset, and the Warriors couldn't catch up. Saturday night at Deerfield was more of the same. The Warriors had a seven-point lead, but then Paul Morenz' Deerfield club scored 10 unanswered points to take the lead going into the final stanza. ^ PAT WIETZ AND his Lady Warrior cagers are still winless. However, the future is looking a little brighter for the girls' basketball program, as Jeff Varda's sophomores and Don Seaton's freshmen are winning some games and looking good in the process. The addition of a freshman team this year has been a big help to the girls' program. Mike Shanahan's swimming crew won a triangular last week defeating Crystal Lake Central and Zion-Benton, 117-92-67. The Water Warriors captured another double win Tuesday over CL South and Waukegan East. Brian Hoffman set another record in the 100 breastroke, with a time of 1:07.7, a new frosh-soph McHenry mark. Jerry Rankin's "Rassling Warriors" are having a solid season. All that hard pre-season work he dished out to his squad is paying off. The Warriors are scheduled to host a regional meet later in the season. MONDAY NIGHT IS the big night in Johnsburg. The Annual Old Timers Baseball Dinner will be held, and as usual, a sold-out Johnsburg Community Club will be packed. Tickets to this affair are non-existent. This is quite a dinner, and the entertainment by baseball noteables is always interesting. This year, the guests will be Seattle Mariners' second baseman Jack Perconte, White Sox outfielder Jerry Hairston, former Sox great Minnie Minoso, and Keith Moreland of the Cubs. Vince Lloyd again will be the emcee. It seems to get better every year, and the committee does an excellent job. It's a time to greet old friends and meet new ones. We hope that our good friend Jerry Wakitsch will be able to attend. We'll have a full report for you here next week. DOWN MEMORY LANE this week, we go back to the McHenry County championship game in 1943. The Warriors lost to Crystal Lake in a low-scoring affair, 29-27. Bonslett led the Warrior attack with 14 points. Some old familiar names are in the Warrior lineup. McHENRY (27): McCracken 3 4 10; Schaefer 0 0 0; Bonslett 5 4 14; Miller 0 0 0; Michelsl02; Jackson000; NeissOl 1. Totals: 99-27. CRYSTAL LAKE (29): Hayden 5 5 15; Reddersdorf 12 4; Tipps 0 0 0; Schroeder 4 19; LegelOl 1; TimmOOO. Totals: 109-29. Total fouls: McHenry 12; Crystal Lake 15. Fouled out: none. McHenry: 12 6 4 5 -- 27. Crystal Lake: 31110 5 -- 29. MCC explodes in time to edge Waubonsee By Steve Peterson Plaindealer-Herald Newt Service CRYSTAL LAKE - McHenry County College's men's basketball team found its of­ fense at the right time Tuesday night. The Scots, after shooting less than 40 percent from the field in the first half, exploded for 52 points during the second 20 minutesio tip Waubonsee, 81-73, at the MCC gym. MCC's Pete Dawson and Derrick Bruce led the* way, scoring 13 of the Scots' 15 points in a game-winning 15-7 run. Dawson, despite playing the entire second half with three fouls and last four minutes of the contest with four, contributed 12 of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes. The 6-foot-8 center tallied five critical field goals to keep MCC ahead. Included in that spurt was a slam dunk. "Pete played well down the stretch," Coach Mike Capaccio said. Bruce had probably his best overall game of the season as he paced the MCC attack with 29 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots as the Scots improved to 9-7 overall anb 2-1 in Skyway Conference play. "DERRICK played a real nice game," Capaccio said of Bruce's performance. Jamie Eriksen, a Woodstock High School grad, also tallied in double figures, contributing 16. MCC trailed Waubonsee, 67- 66, with just more than tour minutes to play. But the Scot offense turned into high gear, outscoring the visiting Chiefs, 15-7, for the win. Two baskets by Bruce, one off Pow! Marian whipped by Harvard By Sam Natrop HARVARD-- It was a case of extremes - everything went Harvard's way and nothing went in Marian Central's favor - as the Hornets exploded out of the blocks and whitewashed the Hurricanes, 85-37, in a non- conference battle Tuesday night. Harvard proved worthy of its No. 14 ranking by Associated Press as the Hornets literally swarmed over the undermanned Hurricanes right off the bat. From fr-foot-5 pi votman Jamie Martin to 6-foot-3 point guard Tom King to 5-foot-ll guard Jay Jones, the Hornets' pressure defense and high powered of­ fense flustered the Hurricanes in the early going. Harvard raced to an 11-2 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest and never looked back. The hosts increased that lead to 17-4 on Tom King's rebound of a missed free throw with 3:10 to play. Marian's Tom Will popped in two 15-footers in the segment, the second coming with 2:15 on the clock to make it a 19-8 score, but Harvard scored the last eight markers of the segment to grab a healthy 27-8 lead after one quarter. "THEY'RE A very good ballclub, there's no denying that," Hurricane coach Hans Rokus said. "We just got down too early because of poor defense and a few of our shots didn't fall. After that, it started snowballing." Actually, things avalanched on the 'Canes in the second quarter. Harvard upped the lead to 33-8 in the first 1% minutes of the period. Jamie Martin scored nine points in the second quarter after scoring six in the opening eight minutes. Andy Hartlieb, still suffering from an ankle injury received during the football season, was forced out of the contest early in the second quarter. "It was hurting too much," Rokus said. "We had to get him out of there and when he's gone, that takes away from some of our offense." Will picked up some of the tilack, but by the time he fired in a 17-footer with 5:25 left in the half, Harvard held a 33-12 lead. "TOM WILL is just coming Into his own as a shooter," Havard Coach Bruce Firchau said. "We felt to be successful against Marian we had to neutralize Will and Hartlieb. They move the ball against our zone better than any team we've played." Harvard, which held a commanding 51-18 halftime lead, parlayed five successive Marian turnovers into 11 a layup and another from a smooth turn-around jumper, started the Scots off to the races. A layup from Dawson made it 71-66, MCC. Dawson's next basket gave the Scots some breathing room at 73-68. His final two points of the night came on a slam dunk that sealed the victory for MCC, a 75-70 margin with 1:03 remaining. WHILE DAWSON'S saved his heriocs for the dramatic con­ clusion, Bruce's play guidedgfche Scots' offense throughout -the game. The 6-foot-l sophomore had five field goals in the first half and nine in the second. The Scots could have put this one away much earlier. Shooting in the 60-percent range in the opening minutes of the second half, they had leads of as many as eight points but lacked the killer instinct to put Waubonsee away. MCC's high-water mark came on an outside jumber by Bruce that gave the Scots a 46-38 lead five minutes into the half. The Scots had made seven of their first 11 second-half shots. "We lost our concentration. We got a lead but turnovers killed us. We let them back in the game," Capaccio said. Waubonsee rallied to outscore MCC, 9-2, to pull within one. The Chiefs tied the game at 54-all with 9:38 left. AN OUTSIDE jumper by Waubonsee's Don Weber gave the Chiefs a 62-61 lead with 6:16 left. Weber, who scored 27 points, scored 19 in the second naif as he was consisently open from the 15- to 20-foot range. But Bruce put home a key basket off an offensive rebound to regain the lead for the Scots. straight points to open the third period for a 62-18 lead. Will's 15- footer broke the string for a moment, but Hansard answered with a Jay Jones bucket and eight more points from Martin for a 75*28 lead after three quarters. Unofficially, the Hurricanes were guilty of 25 turnovers. Will finished with 12 points to lead Marian's scoring effort. Martin, one of the state's top scorers, tallied 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. King, who had four assists ahd five steals, tossed in 17 while Jay Jones added 16. Rokus said his team would do its best to forge on. "We're looking forward to making it three (wins) in a row in con­ ference play," Rokus said. "We beat Round Lake (Friday's opponent) at Christmastime and we want to keep that streak Plaindealer-Herald News Service photo by Sam Natrop Harvard's Jay Jones goes up for a layup despite the presence of Marian Central's Bill Hartmann during Harvard's huge win Tuesday night. Jones had 16 for the powerhouse Hornets. Skyhawk cagers seek halt to five-gamp losing skein MCC's Pete Dawson goes up for two during the Scots' 81-73 win over Waubonsee Tuesday night. The teams seemed to avoid offense in the first half. MCC, unofficially, made just 12-of-32 field-goal tries (37.5 percent) while Waubonsee was ll-of-28 (39.2 percent). The Scots outscored Waubonsee 10-7 to lead 27-23 with leis than two minutes remaining. The Chiefs scored the last four points of the first half to trim MCC's lead to 29-27 at halftime. Hie Scots host Kishwaukee Saturday in a non-conference battle at 3 p.m. By Chrjs Juzwlk Plaindealer-Herald aporta editor JOHNSBURG - Losing isn't any futf And losing a few games in a row can really get you down. To find out exactly what it feels like, let's ask some one who knows. Not that he wants to be known as such, but Johnsburg High School boys' basketball coach Ben Beck is becoming an expert on how to deal with losses and losing streaks. His Skyhawks are in the throes of a five-game losing streak, including a 54-50 decision at Lake Zurich last Friday, and matters look dimmer at Nor­ thwest Suburban Conference power Grayslake prepares to come to Johnsburg Friday night. "I'm sure none of our kids are real excited about this," Beck jok­ ed. "Losing five in a row is no fun. But they're still working basically pretty hard." BECK SAID he and his coaching staff have tried to alter the Skyhawks' practice sessions this week, to give the team a new look. "We've tried to mix things up a little bit. A'couple of our practices were shortened," he said, "and we've been trying to bring the en­ thusiasm back to practice. The kids have been attentive." Grayslake totes a sporty 4-1 con­ ference record into the Friday night match-up, while the Skyhawks are mired in last place in the NWSC at 1-4. The Rams are 8-6 overall, JHS is 5-8. The last Skyhawk win was in the Northern Illinois Classic in Hampshire Dec. 22 over the host school. "What we need to break out of {his is for five guys to play real hard. Not just one or two, but all five," explained Beck. "They all have to do their jobs and fulfill their roles. We need them all to do that." THE SKYHAWKS will face a Grayslake team which boasts a strong frontline, including 6-7 center Gary Link. i"Grayslake is real tough," said Beck. "They're big, strong. Link's been a starter for three years, and he's given us problems before. But anybody with size usually does. , "Link's been scoring around 17 or 18 points a game. They've got good quickness at the guards, and they've got two forwards who played last year. A lot of size and a lot of strength." The latter two are commodities which the Skyhawks have lacked this season. Junior Tim Shine, who's listed at 6^4, is the tallest Skyhawk. "WE'LL NEED A lot of guys to play well if we're to beat Grayslake. Rick Easterling has really been playing well. He's done a great job over the past few weeks. We're looking for certain .guys -- like (BillnDust, (Tom) Walsh, (Mark) DuRei -- to pick things up. We need production from them." Easterling, a junior forward, had 15 points for JHS in the Lake Zurich loss. v Senior guard Jeff Nichols -- as he has much of the season -- led the JHS offense with 20 points. Sophomore guard Frank Husak, whom Beck cited as being a solid floor leader, dished out seven assists. The play of senior forward DuRei has been a consistent spot for Beck and his squad thus far. "He doesn't score a lot of points for us, but he hustles real h%rd. That's the kind of role he plays. He's doing a pretty good job for us. BECK SAID the key for Johnsburg, if it is to topple the Rams, is to play aggressive Ben Beck defense inside. "We have to neutralize their in­ side game. That's probably tl|e key. Our major stumbling block all year long has been inconsisten­ cy. We haven't had all five guys play well together. It's imperative that we have that. We need that to win." After the Grayslake contest, the Skyhawks wilr travel to Hamp­ shire to face the Whip-purs Satur­ day night But, firsi things iirst. "It's be*»i too long," Beck said of the time between wins for his team. "We don't like losing at all. But nothing would cure us like a win would." Game time is 7:30 p.m. i