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2-26-1969

Grizzly cagers end season here against Weber, ISU

University of Montana--Missoula. Office of University Relations

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Recommended Citation University of Montana--Missoula. Office of University Relations, "Grizzly cagers end season here against Weber, ISU" (1969). University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present. 4435. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/newsreleases/4435

This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Relations at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GRIZZLY CAGERS END SEASON HERE AGAINST WEBER, ISU

bill schwanke 2-26-69 s ports sports one $

Information Services • University of Montana • m is s o u la , m o n tan a 59801 * (406) 243-2522 MISSOULA---

Montana's Grizzly basketball team will have its work cut out in wrapping up the season

with three home games, especially Friday and Saturday against Big Sky leader Weber State.

Monday night, the Grizzlies will play Idaho State in the Adams Field House. All three

games are set for 8 p.m., with frosh preliminaries scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday only.

Awards for the Most Valuable Player (Dragstedt) and the Best Defensive Player (Eaheart)

ill be presented to two Grizzlies at the conclusion of Monday night's game.

Weber State is riding on one of its finest records in history, having won 22 of 24

starts to date. The Wildcats need only one win against Montana to wrap up their second

consecutive Big Sky title. Weber is 12-0 in league play, followed by Montana State, which

hosts Idaho State Friday and Saturday and Weber Monday, at 9-3.

The Wildcats clinched a title tie Saturday, beating Idaho State 94-75 in Pocatello.

Weber is paced by 6-8 sophomore sensation Willie Sojourner at . Although he

trails second-year guard Justus Thigpen in scoring, Sojourner, who never played organic

high school ball, is tremendous on the boards for first-year coach Phil Johnson.

Thigpen teams with junior transfer Sessions Harlan at guard for one of the finest

backcourt combinations the league has ever seen. Forwards Gus Chatmon, Larry Bergh and

Gary Strong give Sojourner plenty of help underneath.

Johnson's starters probably will come from this group, and Coach Bob Cope will assume

that once again, he will go into a game with a definite height disadvantage, as he has all year.

Montana's center will be either Jim Clawsen, 6-6, or George Yule, 6-8. The forwards will probably be 6-4 Ron Moore and 6-2 Dave Gustafson, with starting guards likely to

5-10 Harold Ross and 6-1 Don Wetzel. more GRIZZLY CAGERS--2--

Idaho State's top performer to date has been guard O'Neil Simmons, but forward Tony

Ioane, a 6-5 sophomore who was ineligible for the first semester of this school year, is

coming on strong, and in eight games has become the team's fifth-leading scorer.

The Bengals are not big, but 6-5 center Mike Gurnell leaps like 6-8 or 6-9, and gets

help from the likes of Lane Broyles, a 6-5 forward. Trent Magner, 6-0, and Wilson Terrell,

5-11, are outstanding guards.

Cope and his assistant, Lou Rocheleau, were very happy with the play of the Grizzlies

over the weekend while splitting with Gonzaga and losing to Idaho, all on the road.

"As usual, size was against us from the start in all three games," Cope said. "After

all, Gonzaga started three kids at 6-8, while Idaho had two at 6-8 and two at 6-7. But for

the first time all season, all of our kids did an excellent job of checking off on the

boards, allowing us to do a respectable job in rebounding."

The Grizzlies lost to Gonzaga Friday night, 71-68, and came back to win 76-74 Saturday

for their first Spokane win in 13 years. Idaho downed the Grizzlies 75-65 Monday after a

savage Grizzly comeback fell short.

Ross was named Big Sky Player of the Week for his efforts, especially against Gonzaga, when he scored 49 points and hit 64.5 per cent from the field in the two games.

"Ron Moore did the best job he has done all season on this trip," Cope said. "He

really came through on the boards, and although he had shooting difficulties, he played well offensively. His defensive work was the best for him this season."

With three games remaining, Ross leads Grizzly scoring with 17.8 points per game, fol­

lowed by Moore with 16.3. Ross is also tops in assists with 170,and free throw shooting with

71.6 per cent.

Yule has a narrow lead over Ross in field goal shooting, 46.8 per cent to 46.3, and over Moore in rebounding, 7.7 per game to 7.0.

30 UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA VARSITY BASKETBALL STATISTICS (23 Games: 8-15) PLAYER, POS. G FG-FGA PCT. FT-FTA PCT. SM REB AVG. PF-D A PTS. AVG? Harold Ross, G 23 146-316 .463 118-165 .716 217 70 3.0 71-3 170 410 17.8 Ron Moore, F 23 146-329 .444 84-127 .661 226 162 7.0 69-2 58 376 16.3 George Yule, C 23 81-173 .468 68-108 .630 132 178 7.7 70-3 25 230 10.0

Dave Gustafson, G-F 22 47-116 .405 40-62 .646 91 66 3.0 39-0 64 134 6.1 Mike Heroux, G 23 48-121 .397 16-28 .572 85 41 1.8 28-1 43 112 4.9 Sid Rhinehart, F 21 39-82 .476 18-30 .600 55 78 3.7 36-0 11 96 4.6

Steve Brown, F-C 16 34-75 .453 9-14 .643 46 46 2.9 26-0 14 77 4.8 Don Wetzel, G 17 26-65 .400 13-24 .542 50 20 1.2 20-0 15 65 3.8 Ray Dirindin, F 16 20-44 .455 9-12 .750 27 29 1.8 17-1 7 49 3.1

Mark Agather, F 4 12-25 .480 16-19 .843 16 24 6.0 17-2 6 40 10.0 Max Agather, F 15 13-38 .342 11-14 .786 28 38 2.7 23-1 9 37 2.5 John Cheek, G 12 9-27 .333 12-16 .750 22 15 1.3 9-0 17 30 2.5

Jim Clawsen, C 8 3-10 .300 3-9 .333 13 18 2.3 5-0 2 9 1.1 Howard Clark, F 1 1-3 .333 2-4 .500 4 9 9.0 5-1 2 4 4.0 Stan Yoder, F 1 1-1 1.000 0-0 .000 0 0 0.0 0-0 0 2 2.0 TEAM REBOUNDS-- -169 MONTANA TOTALS 23 626-1425 .439 419-632 .664 1012 963 41.8 435-14 443 1671 72.7 OPPONENT TOTALS 23 721-1624 .443 385-572 .673 1090 1139 49.6 492-23 — 1827 79.4

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA BASKETBALL STATISTICS (12 Games: 3-9) ..PLAYER, POS. GFG-FGA PCT. FT-FTA PCT. SM REB AVG. PF-D A PTS. AVG. Harold Ross, G 12 77-165 .467 59-74 .798 103 39 3.3 39-3 88 213 17.8 Ron Moore, F 12 73-177 .412 44-65 .678 125 87 7.3 32-0 33 190 15.8 George Yule, C 12 34-88 .387 33-56 .589 77 86 7.2 32-1 13 101 ° 4

Dave Gustafson, G-F 12 29-74 .392 20-34 .588 59 37 3.1 26-0 36 78 6.5 Mike Heroux, G 12 23-60 .383 7-16 .437 46 26 2.2 14-0 19 53 4.4 Sid Rhinehart, F 12 16-33 .485 11-13 .847 19 38 3.2 20-0 4 43 3.6

Steve Brown, F-C 9 14-26 .539 5-7 .714 14 17 1.9 14-0 5 33 3.7 Don Wetzel, G 9 12-25 .480 6-8 .750 15 8 0.9 13-0 9 30 3.3 Ray Dirindin, F 7 12-24 .500 4-5 .800 13 16 2.3 3-0 5 28 4.0

John Cheek, G 9 8-22 .364 10-14 .714 18 9 1.0 7-0 11 26 2.9 Max /'gather, F 9 8-25 .320 8-10 .800 19 29 3.2 17-1 8 24 2.7 Jim Clawsen, C 6 3-8 .375 3-9 .333 11 15 2.5 5-0 2 9 1.5 TEAM REBOUNDS-- --83 MONTANA TOTALS 12 309-727 .426 210-311 .676 519 490 40.8 222-5 233 828 69.0 OPPONENT TOTALS 12 368-850 .433 201-288 .698 569 598 49.8 241-10 — 937 78.3 RESULTS UM 100, Seattle Pacific 89 *UM 67,: Idaho 61 *Montana State 85, UM 68 UM 62, St. Cloud State 57 *UM 57, Idaho 56 (ot) St. Francis (Pa.) 96, UM 79 Washington State 90, UM 57 *Gonzaga 87, UM 69 Washington 78, UM 75 UM 85, Northern Iowa 75 *Idaho State 80, UM 73 *Montana State 82, UM 78 UM 100, Washington State 96 *Idaho State 82, UM 72 Portland State 84, UM 83 UM 75, Northern Michigan 66 (3ot) *Weber State 91, UM 61 *Gonzaga 71, UM 68 vJ. .Mihern Illinois 88, UM 66 *Montana State 93, UM 74 *UM 76, Gonzaga 74 San Diego State 71, UM 61 *Idaho 75, UM 65

*Big Sky Conference Games