The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1939-03-16

SAUK
ing room. Toftness had little to
say except, II admire that boy
Erickson. He had spirit" In that
last frame when Sank Centre was
holding the ball, he deliberately
fouled Conkey to get possession of
the ball. At the time Toftness,
remarked, That's smart. I like
that kid"
Tired in the legs, the Sank Cen
ire team was gleeful but respect
full of their opponents, at the same
time bit surprised that the rout
had been so complete. Said Pang-
burn: They were easy enough to
get through, but If the defense re-
Taxed a minute they were scoring.
1t was like carrying a box of dyna-
mite"
Kringen allowed he hadn't hand
led the ball quite so much in one
game" in his two year career. Lar
son, the boy who started the scor-
ing swim, was removed from the
game in the last minute, tired, to
be replaced by Deziel who was glad
to have a chance to get in on this
sensational victory.
There wasn't one man you could
point to and say-there is an out
standing player. Some excelled in
one thing and some in another, but
it was a ball club of five men that
won that game. Five men who
worked as one with one thought
in mind.
Captain George Conkey, who
smartly piloted his team, summed
up the whole thing with, We're
tired but we're happy"
Sank Centre 20;
Long Prairie rs
A thrill-packed mile a minute
game with Long Prairie leading
every step of the way, was Sank
Centres bid into the title finish
a successful bid that landed them
in a position to defend their title
against invading Alexandria in the
other bracket.
After three quarters of trailing
ball, Sank Centre changed the pic
ture suddenly, surged into lead,
and for the second time in success
sive years eliminated the Todd
county boys from the title race in
the semi-finals.
A whirlwind finish found Sank
Centre jumping into last minute
lead with Kringen's driving basket.
Then they stalled to shift that slen-
der one point lead to victory mar
gin, 20 to %.
Long Prairie made the most
tremendous bid for that finalist
title; but Sank Centre, prompted
by sheer drive and loads of luck,
the prescription of Toftness sue
cess, pulled it out.
Steadily driving away at a slim
lead they set up in the first quar-
ter, Long Prairie hammered up and
down the court on their quick
break, drove their lead in the open
ing of the third frame to an eight
point margin. But by the begin
ming of the fourth constant sniping
had whitfield it to only two, with
the Prairie boys leading 20 to Is.
From then on it was drama, with
a crowd that went stark mad.
With three minutes Of the last
frame gone, Ethun's long tied for
the first time the score. Fruetel
took it back and with four minutes
to go Jackson's free throw tied.
Simonson and Blake drove a three
point advantage. Conkey's bucket
closed the count with two minutes
to go.
A driving shot by Kringen, exc
cuted off a finely generated pass
play, was the winning basket. A
full minute to go then, Sank Cen
ire controlled the ball to a stalling
finish.
Long Prairie took over the court
in this game, forced Sank Centre
to play their type of fire engine
ball, and with Blake and Simon
son amassing II points rode on to
control the ball game except the
last four minutes.
Defensive work that entailed
rushing Sank Centre guards down
the floor disrupted the Sank Cen
ire attack. Pangburn was effect
lively bottled from scoring. Scoring
was passed around with Ethun and
Pangburn getting six each, Conkey
five, Jackson and Larson, each two.
A new high point man was born
that night when Kringen lead the
pack with eight points-gained on
four driving baskets to take in
shots.
The turn came at the beginning
Of the last half. Long Prairie kept
the running, breaking game going
but they were visibly firing. A
lead Of IA to 10 at halftime, was
strengthened to IS to 10 before Con-
key, Kringen, Larson, and Ethun
sniped in to cut that lead. Sensa-
tional work in that final quarter
that featured some setup plays, tol
score in under, brought Sank Cen
ire out into the fight. A dramatic
closing, with Sank Centre showing
its best ball Of the game in a one
stalling finish, put them in
the victory frame.
Sank Centre IN.