Sun-Democrat, March 15, 1974

 

Tigers Drop Decision--Murray Falls, 80-67

 

By Jerry Atkins

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Plagued by their own errors and a red hot shooting Warren East quint, Murray High’s First Region champion Tigers ran into a cage here last night.

 

Playing in the final first-round game of the 57th annual Kentucky High School State Tournament, Murray fell behind early in the action and never recovered.  Warren East, winner of the Fourth Region championship, posted an 80-67 decision as a result.

 

Coach Bob Toon’s Tigers, winding out a 26-3 season, battled back repeatedly down the stretch, but couldn’t overcome those unusual mistakes.  Down by as many as 18 early in the second half, the hustling Bengals finally found the groove to twice pull within seven of the Raiders late in the action.  But, they had waited too late.

 

And, that possibly was the difference in the game.  “We got down too far in the first half,” a disappointed Toon said after the setback.  “If we hadn’t been down by 14 at the half, I think we’d have won the ball game.  But, they’ve got a good team.”

 

The Murray coach couldn’t explain his team’s turnover problems--the Bengals were charged with 28 errors against only 15 by Warren East.  “We made too many mental errors,” he shook his head.  Those three-second violations...we haven’t had this type of problem before.  Maybe we weren’t mentally sharp...we just turned the ball over too many times.”

 

Warren East appeared to be shooting at a tremendous clip, but final stats showed the two teams were about even in this department.  “I thought we had good defensive position on them, but they still popped it,”  Toon pointed out.  “They hit the basket from places where I thought our defense was in position to stop them.”

 

Murray had one driving force down the stretch--senior guard Glenn Jackson who didn’t count a point in the first period and had only six at the half.  But, with the Tigers’ back to the wall, Jackson went to work for 24 second-half points to finish with a game-high 30.

 

“Jackson just did a tremendous job,” his coach said.  “He was really hitting, but that last foul called on him was a mighty weak one.”  Jackson fouled out on a charging foul with 1:55 to go.

 

Before fouling out, Jackson had counted 12 points in each of the last two quarters.  And, it was his spark that brought the Tigers from the depths of defeat.

 

Trailing 40-26 at the half, the Tigers gave up four quick points early in the third period and suddenly found themselves behind by 18.  Jackson then started his recovery blitz with a 20-footer that came two minutes into the second half.  East’s Jerry Britt, one of four Raiders to finish in double figures, countered with a long jumper of his own for another 18-point Raider lead, but the Jackson-inspired Tigers were on the prowl.

 

During the next two minutes of action, Jackson scored half of Murray’s production during a 12-4 comeback that trimmed the deficit from 18 back to 10.  Later in the canto, Jackson scored twice more to pull the Tigers back to within eight, first at 52-44 and finally at 54-46.

 

But, Warren East, in almost storybook fashion, scored the last four points of the quarter and took a 58-46 lead to side court.  Murray claimed only a 20-18 edge for the quarter, and still trailed by 12 with eight minutes to go.

 

Senior guard Ray Lane, Jackson’s running mate in the backcourt, took a floor-length Tyrone McCuistion pass home for a layup with 4:51 to go, pulling the Tigers to within seven, 66-59.  Then, after East’s Ronnie Watt cashed a fast-break layup, Murray center Danny Hudspeth took a perfect feed from Lane for one of his own to produce still another seven-point deficit.