Page 118 - CBA 1977 YEARBOOK

114
BASKETBALL
CBA ices CNYCL basketball title
WATERTOWN — Christian Brothers Academy clinched an undisputed third consecutive Central New York Cities League basketball championship with a 79- 62 triumph over Watertown here Saturday afternoon.
Bob Felasco’s Brothers, winning their 16th straight CNYCL game over a two-year period, lifted their sea­ son record to 12-0 in league play, 14-1 overall Water- town dropped to 2-10 in the CNYCL, 3-12 overall,
CBA's 6-4 Earl Belcher, the league’s leading scorer with a 24.8 average, poured In 26 points, 17 in the second half, as the Purple and Gold pulled away from a 39-31 halftime edge. Joe Fletcher scored a career-high 20 and Steve Barber added 18 to spark the winners.
Watertown coach Lew Klbllng scored a moral victory of sorts against the talented Brothers, holding CBA’s talented Syracuse University-bound Marty Headd score­ less for the first time in two years. “We used a triangle and two on them and Berky (5-7 junior guard Jim Berk- man) did a great job denying Headd the ball. We couldn’t keep Belcher off the foul line, though, and that really hurl us. He made 12 freee throws and we had three different players in foul trouble trying to guard him” Headd, however, did have 14 assists.
Berkman scored 16 points while Steve Jackson and Jim Taylor each added 14 and Bob Kowalick had 10. “ I really thought I had nothing when we started practice in November,’’ concluded Kibllng. “But these kids have come a long ways. We only lose Jackson to graduation so you know I’m looking forward to next year.’’
CBA, becoming the first team to take three straight CNYCL titles since the Central Tech quintet of 1959^, '60-61 and ’61-62, opened a 3 t4-game lead over second- place HeDninger.(8-3) in the CNYCL runaway. The Brothers, aiming to become the league's first unbeaten regular-season champion since the Bishop Ludden quin­ tet of 1968-69, have makeup games left at Fowler and Auburn.
If
were to visit Vernon Downs this summer, a hunch bet on a 3-2 daily double would be understandable
The Christian Brothers Academy tennis coach used those magic numbers on four occasions as his Purple and Gold tennis team won an un­ beaten title in the biggest surprise of the recently con­ cluded Central New York Cit­ ies League spring sports sea­ son
CBA’s perennial (rack power captured its 11th un­ beaten crown in 12 years
But CBA’s tennis crown re­ mains the number one spring shocker. The crown was the first for CBA in the modern history of the CNYCL and loosened a five-year strangle­ hold on the throne by Auburn powers. The numbers 3-2 did it for the all-underclassman CBA lineup. On each occasion that was the winning score in duels with Auburn, Corcoran, Water- town and Nottingham. It may also explain why Brother Jerome was seen casting a sigh of relief heavenward after each nail-biter.
SWIMMING
CBA MERMEN WIN CNYCL TOURNEY
Regular-season champion Christian Brothers Academy won five events and romped to top honors in the Central New York Cities League swimming and diving championships at the ultra-modern Fowler pool ^turday.
CBA, which earlier this week con­ cluded an 8-0 regular season in the CNYCL, scored 346 points to outdistance runner-up Watertown by lOOjwints.
Bert Hayes doubled in the 50 freestyle (:23.0) and 100 butterfly (;55.8), Kelly Hopkins took the 200 individual medley (2:08.6), Rody McLaughlin captured the 100 backstroke (:59.2) and the trio com­ bined with senior classmate Phil Skopek for an opening victory in the 200 medley relay (1:45.3).
Runner-up Watertown was led by the double of junior Scott Wisner in the' 200 (1:51.3) and 500 (4:53.2) freestyles and Sean Keane’s triumph in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.9).
C.N.Y.C.L
TENNIS
Brother Jerome Lippert
“We'd have had a lot more trouble if we had been out­ doors in all our matches," said Brother Jerome in retrospect. “We practice indoors and when the weather turned out as bad as it was in May. we had to have a lot of our matches indoors too. That had to give us an advantage. I
know if we had had to play Au­ burn outdoors like we were supposed to. it m ight have been a different story.
T don’t have all the league records, but I can't recall us having won the league in ten­ nis in the last 20 years or so," .said Brother Jerome, a Class of ’51 CBA graduate. ’This sure made a nice 25lh anniver­ sary present for me."
The CBA tennis coach does not like to look loo far ahead but the Brothers must be rated the favorites to repeat next year
Nobodv on the .squad gradu­ ates although sophomore Ed Blake is moving to Chicago. But (he rest of the team will be back, headed by juniors Dave Mount, Bob Sable and Steve Magee, sophomores Joe W einheimer and Ed Samrnis and freshmen Bob Gualtieri and Tom Sacco. Brother Jerome's ‘magic numbers’ next year may be 4-1 or 5-0.