Anderson, Boone, Fulton pace 1991 team

(Continued from last week.)

On Feb. 1, 1991, after a bruising battle, WCH turned in a 77-61 SCOL victory. Pittser totaled 22 points for the blue-and-white, while Terry Rose added 15. Wilmington’s Brian Long led his team with 20, and Howard Johns had 16. But the early-season favorites were having a tough time winning now.

Elsewhere, Miami Trace’s defense stifled the Hillsboro Indians, and the Panthers took a 64-44 win at Trace. Trace had four men in double figures, led by Henry and Baker, who posted 15 each.

Brian Fulton and Tyler Anderson notched 10 each for the visiting Indians.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, Miami Trace hosted Greeneview.

The Panthers had not lost a game on their own court all season. This would be their final home game in 1990-91.

Since Greeneview was not having a good year, it appeared that the Panthers’ chances of finishing the season unbeaten at home were good. When Todd Henry went wild and racked up 35 points, the Panthers pulverized the Rams, 76-45.

After this big home win, the Panthers would travel to Wilmington on Friday night for their final league game and a chance to get a tie for the SCOL championship or even an outright league title.

Trace was 5-2 in SCOL games at this point. Both Washington and Wilmington were 4-2. So, the league was definitely anybody’s to win.

Washington would be hosting McClain, and everybody knew the Lions were tough to beat on their home court. Hillsboro would be entertaining Dayton Stebbins. Their final league contest would be Feb. 15 when they would host Washington in Hillsboro.

As for Washington, Coach Gary Shaffer knew that the Lions must control the tempo of the game in order to beat McClain. If the Tigers could keep the score in the 40s (or even the 30s), they were not going to be easy to beat.

Shaffer would prefer a game where both teams scored in the 60s, if possible.

But the strategy didn’t work out. The tough McClain defense forced several costly Lion turnovers early in the contest, and McClain was able to get out to a quick 12-0 lead. The first stanza ended with the visitors ahead, 19-9.

The Lion offense got in gear in the second quarter, and they closed the deficit to five, 31-26.

But the purple-and-gold were a step quicker than Washington, and they took advantage of the Lions’ missed opportunities. They led at the third-quarter break, 43-38 and outscored the Lions by six points in the final eight minutes to capture a 66-55 win.

This loss took the Lions out of contention for the SCOL title because Miami Trace thumped Wilmington on the Richardson Place court, 74-64.

After trailing most of the game, Wilmington made a fourth-quarter run at the Panthers, who responded by hitting 15 straight free-throw attempts down the stretch. Baker scored 25 points for Trace, and Henry added 18. Campbell and Mertz totaled 17 each for Wilmington, but it wasn’t enough.

The Panthers were SCOL basketball champions for 1990-91.

Hillsboro got a home court win over Stebbins the same night, 67-64.

The following night (Saturday), league champion Miami Trace trounced visiting Greeneview, 75-45. In Hillsboro, the Indians dropped a 58-56 game to Milford in double overtime. Also, Washington traveled to Plain City, where Jason Pittser burned the nets for 28 points, and the Blue Lions downed Jonathan Alder, 65-58.

When WCH visited Hillsboro, Feb. 15, 1991, the game was to be something of an afterthought, since the league title had already been conferred on Miami Trace. But for Coach Shaffer, it was a scouting trip, since the Indians and the Blue Lions would meet again four nights later, in the first round of tourney play at Chillicothe High School.

However, this game was postponed due to inclement weather, so Shaffer was not able to fill out a scouting report on the Indians.

But the two SCOL teams did meet Feb. 19 in Chillicothe. In this game, Hillsboro coach Rick Earley’s two technical fouls in the middle of the second quarter, with WCH clinging to a 15-14 lead, resulted in a 32-21 Blue Lion lead at halftime.

The Lions salted the game away in the second half as they waltzed to a 72-48 win. Aaron Boone led the Indian scorers with 13 markers, but WCH had four men in double-figure scoring, led by Pittser’s 18 points.

The Lions would advance to the championship game on Saturday night, meeting a familiar foe, the McClain Tigers. The Blue Lions had advanced to the sectional championship game four consecutive times but had lost all four times. Would this time be different?

The postponed WCH at Hillsboro game was played the very next night, Feb. 20. The Lions came out on top again, but by only 10 points, 69-59. Jason Pittser ripped the nets for 30 points for the blue-and-white. Tyler Anderson’s 21 was Hillsboro’s best.

(Continued next week.)

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