Fuller, Seeling led Tribe in 1975-76

(Continued from last week.)

On Jan. 16, 1976, Miami Trace clobbered Wilmington, 83-63, at Miami Trace, resurgent Madison Plains scared the life out of Washington on the Blue Lions’ home court, but Washington pulled it out, 55-52; Circleville, playing at home, drilled poor Unioto, 87-44, as Bumgarner racked up 22 points. Hillsboro and McClain played non-league games.

January 23 saw Washington beat Unioto, 117-45; Circleville beat McClain, 58-52, as George Moore tallied 27 Circleville points. Hillsboro traveled to

Wilmington, where they edged the Hurricane, 58-56. Seeling scored 20 and Fuller 17 for the Indians. Miami Trace and Madison Plains played outside the league.

    In the final January games, Miami Trace played at Hillsboro where they squeaked out a thriller, 69-67. Art Schlichter showed the way for Trace with

19 points, but Hillsboro’s Tim Fuller was high man of the game with 25 markers. 

    Washington sneaked out of Greenfield with a narrow, 50-45, win over the Tigers. Circleville took Wilmington, 65-48, and Unioto gave Madison Plains a

good game on the MP court, but the Golden Eagles won, 67-59.

   Only two league games were played Feb. 7, 1976. Wilmington visited Washington C.H., where Chuck Byrd and John Denen scored 19 and 18 points,

respectively, and the Blue Lions were victorious, 69-58. One of the key league games of the entire season was played at Circleville, where the home

team had to pull out all the stops to edge visiting Miami Trace, 70-65. George Moore scored 27 and Bumgarner 23 for the Circleville Tigers. Dan Gifford led MT with 21.

   Another key game was played Feb. 10 at Washington, where the Blue Lions peeled their Fayette County rivals, 74-67. Washington played without Byrd

and Trace played without guard Allan Conner. McClendon led the Lions with 20, while Schlichter racked up 20 for the black and white. This loss by Miami Trace effectively eliminated them from any chance of winning the league title and locked the championship down for Circleville.

    On Friday the 13th, of all dates, the sixth round of SCOL games in the 1975-76 basketball season were held. Hillsboro played Washington at home and

won, 70-66, getting 25 points from Seeling and 21 from Fuller. Denen’s 19 led the Blue Lions. Miami Trace downed Unioto on the Panthers’ home court,

56-45, with four men scoring in double figures. Circleville walloped Madison Plains, 62-38, with Bumgarner racking up 25 points.  And sophomore Gary

Williams had 18 to lead the Wilmington Hurricane to a 59-55 home court win over McClain.

    The last round of games in this SCOL season were played Feb. 20, when Circleville beat Washington, 48-43 in WCH; McClain played at Miami Trace and

lost, 71-61, as sophomore Schlichter poured in 26 points; and Hillsboro pummeled Unioto, 86-55. Wilmington and Madison Plains played non-league

games.

    Hillsboro had a make-up game scheduled at Madison Plains, which they lost, 40-38. 

    The Indians outscored the Golden Eagles by 14 points from the field, but the Golden Eagles had a pair of Golden referees, and outscored the visitors, 22-1, from the free throw line. For the game, the Eagles attempted 33 free throws to Hillsboro’s 7. The Indians led most of the game. But in the fourth quarter, Hillsboro’s starters began fouling out. With three starters on the bench, MP finally took the lead, and won the game by two points.

    This game didn’t matter much in the league standings, but it was an expensive loss for Hillsboro, because it was the last game before the tournament. Coaches like to go into the tournament on a positive note.

    The final SCOL standings for 1975-76 were:

   Circleville – 13-1, 17-1

   Washington – 9-5, 12-5

   Miami Trace – 9-5, 9-9

   Madison Plains – 8-6, 11-7

   Wilmington – 7-7, 8-10

   McClain – 5-9, 8-10

   Hillsboro – 5-9, 9-9

   Unioto – 0-14, 0-18

    When the dust had settled, Circleville’s talented senior Biff Bumgarner was the league’s leading individual scorer for the season, with a per-game average of 21.3 points. Hillsboro’s Tim Fuller (19.6) and Rick Seeling (18.7) were second and third, followed by Harvey of McClain (17.3) and Moore of Circleville (16.9).

    Washington C.H. was the top- seeded team in the sectional tournament at Unioto. They would meet SCOL foe Greenfield McClain in the opening game of

the tournament Feb. 27. Hillsboro was matched with second-seeded Waverly the next evening.

    Miami Trace would meet Portsmouth in the AAA sectional at Athens, and Circleville would play Lakewood in the Columbus sectional.

   Highland County’s entries exited the tourney quickly. Washington edge McClain, after a torrid battle, 71-69. Each team had four men scoring in

double figures. The next evening, Waverly downed Hillsboro, 66-57.

    In Columbus, Circleville handled Lakewood without too much trouble, 80-56.

    After winning their first round game against McClain, the Blue Lions of WCH drilled Federal Hocking of Athens County, 74-58. 

    In the sectional finals, the Blue Lions took a hard-fought game over Waverly, 57-55, to win the sectional championship and move on to the district semifinals at Rio Grande.

    Meanwhile, in Columbus, Circleville won their sectional by beating Pickerington, 61-44. The Tigers won their second straight district title by

beating Johnstown, 70-53, as George Moore scored 22 points.

    At Rio Grande, Washington, after a great tournament run, fell to tough Wheelersburg, 56-48. The Blue Lions ended their season with a record of 15-6. Circleville was defeated in the semifinal round of the regional tournament to conclude another fabulous season.

    Biff Bumgarner and George Moore, both of Circleville, were named to the All-South Central Ohio League first team, along with Chuck Byrd of Washington, Tim Fuller of Hillsboro, Art Schlichter of Miami Trace, Dave Wilson of Madison Plains and Steve Harvey of McClain.

  Allan Conner and Dan Gifford of Miami Trace, John Denen and Doug Phillips of Washington, Rick Seeling of Hillsboro and Gary Williams of Wilmington were named to the second team.

      Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.