CNBNews

First appeared in the Gloucester City News (newspaper) on January 30, 1986

Gloucester High School's basketball team, having divided a pair of games last week, finds itself in a position of having to win two of its next three games to qualify for state tournament play. The Lions took a 6-7 record to Carneys Point this past Tuesday to face an improving St. James' team. A win would've given them a 7-7 record, with games against Glassboro and Schalick remaining before next Tuesday's cutoff date for the tournament.

Glassboro visits the Lions tomorrow night (Friday), and Schalick travels to Gloucester for an important game next Tuesday. If the Lions weren't victorious against St. James, its tournament hopes would appear bleak heading into the Glassboro games. "I think we can beat Glassboro," said Burke, "but it would take a maximum effort on our part. We would have to play better than what we have in our last few games."

Gloucester beat Schalick the first time around, 72-20, but the Colts have improved of late and will be a formidable rival, especially if the Lions need the game to make the tournament. Gloucester ran into a buzz-saw at Salem last week, falling to the Rams, 85-65. Salem bolted out to a 20-13 lead after one period and extended it to 40-31 by the intermission.

"I thought we played a pretty good first half," Burke said. "I wasn't happy with the number of points we gave up, and we talked about it at halftime. "I told the players we had to hold Salem under 20 points if we were going to make a run at being more patient on offense. I wanted us to take more time in between our shots." Salem still got 20 points in the third period to Gloucester's 12.

"I guess, in the end, Salem was just bigger and better than we were," Burked lamented. "I thought we had a nice balance in our scoring, but it wasn't good enough for Salem." Bob Eberle, a 6-5 junior, was high for Gloucester with 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half. John Graham, George Dobleman, Dave Johnson, Jack Weichmann, and George Russell collected three field goals apiece -  Graham being the Lions second highest scorer with eight points.

The Lions bounced back to post an 82-56 victory over winless Clayton. "We executed very well," said Burke. "We seem to do it against weaker teams but not against the strong ones. It's hard to understand." Four Lions - George Dobleman, Dave Johnson, Bob Eberle, and Jack Rossell - hit double figures. Doubleman showed the way with 17 points. Johnson followed with 14, and Eberle and Rossell contributed ten apiece.

Gloucester held period leads of 19-6, 41-19, and 58-37 as Burke kept sending in the reserves during the second half.

written by Walt Burrows

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