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HICKMAN FALCONS UPEND CLAY CO. BOYS – 1973

Falcons Control Tempo To Upend Clay County 61-59 By JERRY ATKINS Sun-Democrat Sports Editor LOUISVILLE, Ky.-When you watch the Hickman County Falcons play basketball, you begin to wonder if they know what the word "pressure" means . ... you wonder if they even know the word exists! You wonder, too, if Coach Dale Ray teaches the art of coming from behind, no matter from how far, as it it were going out of style. You ask yourself if they practice free-throw shooting under hectic conditions, like if they should miss, they'd be hurled into the Mississippi River which flows just west of Clinton, the home of the Falcons. Whatever you think about Hickman's first-ever State Tournament team, it has 1 to be good. The Falcons used all these pressure qualities to perfection in spacious Freedom Hall yesterday afternoon en route to a spine-tingling 61-59 triumph over Clay County. Coach Ray and assistant coach Randy Pruitt used only five players to pull off the first round triumph in the 56th an- nual Kentucky State Tournament-seniors Issac Childress, Wallace Grundy, and Derrick Fitts, junior Sidney Spate and And sophomore Rick Weatherspoon. each one of them scored in double figures except Spate, who was only a bucket shy. Now, after disposing of Kentucky's winningest team - Clay County carried a 33-3 record into the game--the high-flying Falcons will wing their way back to center court in the tournament's quarterfinals tonight. And, one thing for certain, they'll have to play that pressure act all over again under more hectic conditions, this time before an anticipated full house of over 17,000 at Freedom Hall. Hickman County will go against Maysville, a 76-65 winner over Lee County in yesterday afternoon's second game. About that pressure, Coach Ray feels his players are hamperted by the jitters on occasion. "They'll panic at times, just like today," he told newsmen in the winning dressing room after the game. "But, most of the time, this group has found they can come from behind better by doing| what they do best." The answer followed an obvious question of how the Falcons had reacted after falling behind 8-0 early in the action and later trailing by ten points in the opening frame. "We got behind early because we didn't get back on their break," Ray explained. "But, they (Clay County) are a fine shooting ball club. When they come out of that break every man is in position.' Later, after Hickman County had disregarded the early pressure and pulled into a three-point lead--their widest at that pointthe Falcons seemingly put the ball on ice. Then, after controlling the action for more than four minutes without taking a (shot, the First Region champions behind momentum and fell on the big center scoreboard. It was at this point that Ray said his club panicked. "We went to it (the slowdown) too quick and lost some momentum," Ray said after the game. "It looked like we were trying to stall, but actually, they (his Falcons) did it on their own, they were calling their own shots. Then, after I called time out, we started going to the basket more." Fitts, a 5-8 ballhawk guard, engineered the Falcon offense from his point position with Childress, a muscular six footer, and Weatherspoon, the 5-9 wingman, helping out against Clay County's continued pressure. As it turned out, it was these three outside efforts, plus the inside work of Grundy, a 6-2 center, and Spate, a six-foot high jumping forward, that produced the two-point win. Toward the end of the action, it was the free-throw shooting of Childress and Fitts that decided the issue. Childress, who bagged a perfect 16-for-16 at the stripe in Hickman County's four-point win over Carlisle County in the First Region Tournament's finals last Saturday, cashed eight of 1 10 against Clay County, the last two coming with only 24 seconds to go to produce a 60-57 Falcon lead. Then, after Hickman County let Clay County's Rollie Pennington work through for a layup while Coach Ray was calling "don't foul" from the other end of the court, Fitts walked to the line for his contribution with just five seconds left. The little southpaw ripped the threads on both tosses, but the last one was erased when the official spotted his left 1 toe on the line. Clay County had one last chance to tie, but Cecil Hooker's jumper from the baseline was off as the horn sounded. Going down to the wire was a fitting climax to a well-played game, as all Hickman County fans who made it to Freedom Hall plus countless others who watched the live telecast over WDXR-TV, Channel 29 of Paducah, could tell you. Tonight's game also will be carried live b by Channel 29, starting at 7 p.m. In effect, Hickman County won the second and fourth quarters after Clay County's Tigers had claimed the first and third. The Falcons overcame a 20-12 first period deficit with an 18-9 effort in the second frame. Then, after losing the third stanza, 12-8, Coach Ray's Redmen came back with a solid 23-18 showingi in the final eight minutes. See HICKMAN, Page 14-B
Hickman-Maysville Tonight (Continued From Page 13-B) I Using the fast break to perfection, Clay County zipped into that 8-0 lead during the opening three minutes while Hickman County tried only three shots, all from long range and all off target. Then, after going to all-court pressure, the Falcons scored six straight points, Grundy hitting the first bucket on : a short jumper at the 4:45 level. Clay County also went to full court pressure and ripped off eight straight to spurt out by 10 for the first time. But, momentum began to change when Childress cashed a controlled tip at the horn, leaving the Falcons back by eight at the stop. Childress hit the first two of his free throws early in the second frame, and soon thereafter the Falcons were down by only three. Grundy cashed a 12-footer following a pair of Weatherspoon free tosses late in the quarter to trim the deficit to only one. Then, the smooth - shooting Weatherspoon who had missed those early long ones, twice blasted the threads from 30 feet away to give Hickman County its first lead of the game. Weatherspoon, who scored a gamehigh 16 points for the Falcons, first hit at the 1:03 mark to trim the Clay lead back to one for the second time, and then scored from straight away exactly a minute later to produce a 30-29 halftime lead. Fitts hit from the baseline early in the third quarter and Spate followed a short jumper by Clay County's Pennington before the slowdown began. Working hard for the easy shot, Hickman forced the Tigers out of their 2-1-2 zone and the Clay County five themselves panicked during a brief stretch when they were charged with four personals.. Clay County used one of its Sports In Brief By The Associated Press FOOTBALL FORT WORTH, Tex. Head football Coach Billy Tohill, of Texas Christian University, suffered critical injuries in an automobile crash. I talented guards, 5-10 Butch|hit Grubb who matched Weatherspoon's 16 points for game honors, to spark a comeback. Grubb converted a steal into a layup to break a slowdown and then bagged back - to - back buckets after a Childress layup to send his Tigers back into the lead. Spate regained it momentarily with a feed from Childress for a layup, but Clay's other guard, Gary Gregory, hit one from long range to produce a 39-38 lead. Grubbs scored again before the end of the frame and the Tigers not to be denied. Weatherspoon carried a three-point lead into the stanza. Grubbs stretched it to five with another steal early in the last quarter, and came back seconds later with a 30-footer of his own, but the Falcons were - Exhibition Baseball By The Associated Press At Clearwater, Fla. Houston 313 012 010 -11 15 Philadelphia 015 000 001 -7 11 Griffin, Forsch (4), Cosgrove (9) and Watson, Edwards (5); Brett, Wilson (3), Ruthven (5), Selma (8) and Boone, Ryan (7). May, Griffith. Watson; Philadelphia, W- Brett. Kansas City 000 300 000 02 -5 10 2 Schmidt, Pagan. St. Louis 000 300 00 0 (11 innings), Simpson, Jackson (5), Bird (8), Garber (11) and Martinez, May (6); Forsch, Hra(11) and Simmons. Grander. L-Segui. bosky (4), Bare (6), (8), Segui At Pompano Beach, Fla. Texas Baltimore 000 000 001 6 7 1 111 100 00x Cuellar, Hood (4), Watt (7) and williams, Robeles (6); Bosman, Paul (5), Foucault (9) and Fahey: W-Bosman. L-Cuellar. HR-Texas, Maddox. At Lakeland, Fla. Boston 101 010 000 -3 5 3 Detroit 008 100 00x -9 10 2 Skok, Burton (4), Bolin (7) and Montgomery; Niekro, Timmerman (4), Seelbach Freehan, (5), Zachary, (6). (7), W-Niekro. Sherman (9) L-Skok. and HRs Detroit, Horton, Taylor. At Tampa, Fla. Chicago 012 006 200 -11 14 Cincinnati 100 011 000 -3 12 Brinkman; Johnson Billingham, (5), O' Zachry Toole (6), (8), Rud- and dell (8) and Bench, Plummer (8). W-Stone. L-Billingham. At Vero Beach, Fla. New York (N) 100 040 001 -6 12 Los Angeles 000 020 201 -5 7 0 Koosman, Sadecki (6), Hennigan (8) and Dyer; Messersmith, Rau (5), Richert (8) and Dietz, Yeager (8). W-Koosman. L-Messersmith. HRsNew York, Jones, Hahn. At Bradenton, Fla. Cincinnati 020 401 041 -12 19 Pittsburgh 423 020 000 -11 15 Tolin King; McGiothlin, (7), Ellis, Behney Foor Carroll (5), (8), (3), Miller Alcala Sprague (8), (9) ladle (9) and May. W-Behney. L-Giusti. Giusti H R $ Cincinnati, Youngblood, Concepcion; Pittsburgh, Sanguillen, Alley and Cash. from the corner, Grundy cashed a pair of free throws and then a baseline jumper, and Childress slid down the right side for a layup while Grubb made those two buckets. Suddenly, the Falcons were back on top at 46-45 and never trailed again. Later, a Fitts jumper followed an offensive rebound pushed the Falcon lead out to five. Then, Childress hit two more tosses for a seven-point advantage seconds before Fitts restored that lead with two of his own. Clay County cut it back to one point, 56-55, just under the twominute level, but a Weatherspoon jumper nullified that effort. Then, two Tiger free throws trimmed it to 58-57 with 1:03 showing, setting the stage for the bonus clinchers by Childress with 24 seconds left. a Following Weatherspoon in the scoring column was Childress with 14, Grundy with 12, Fitts with 11 and Spate with eight. The Falcons cashed 52.3 per cent of their shots from the floor, making 23 of 44 tries, while Clay County played well with a 49 per cent effort, hitting 27 of 55. The Tigers got those extra shots by outrebounding the Falcons, 24-20, 15 of those 24 coming off the offensive board. Hickman County (61) G FT Spate 4 2-2 10 Wthrsp 7 2-2 16 Grundy 5 2-3 12 Cbidrs 3 6-9 12 Fitts 4 3-4 11 Totals 23 15-20 61 Clay County (59) G FT Stwart 5 0-0 10 Pngtn 6 0-4 12 Smith 3 2-3 8 Gregry 5 1-1 11 Grubb 8 0-0 16 Hocker 0 2-2 2 Clark 0 0-0 0 Totals 27 5-10 59 Hickman County 12 18 8 23-61 Clay County 20 9 12 18-59 Fouled out: Grubb, Stewart, Gregory Team Fouls: Hickman County 14, Clay County 20 Technical Fouls -none A-11,000

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