South Mountaineer Volume 19, Issue 21

              Cagers Impressive Despite 81 - 72 Loss
Vol. 19 — No. 21
m
MARCH 8, 1977
BETHLEHEM, PA.
8 Wrestlers Qualify For Nationals
■ .
During LU Romp In EIWA Tourney
Best Season
Since 1970
Lehigh's basketball team,
involved in post-season conference playoffs for the first time
since 1970, dropped a hard-fought
first round game at Hofstra last
week, 81-72.
Hofstra, the East Coast Conference defending champion, got
past the surprisingly strong
Engineers only after breaking
away from a 71-69 situation with
five minutes remaining.
The Flying Dutchmen then
moved to Kirby Field House on
the Lafayette campus, for semifinal and final round action in the
ECC playoffs and made Lehigh
look real good by brushing off
Temple, 71-58, and LaSalle, 92-81,
to retain their league title and
qualify for the NCAA playoffs.
In other ECC post-season action LaSalle reached the finals by
downing  Delaware,   84-77,   and
(Continued on Page 2)
(B&.W Photo)
1977 EIWA CHAMPIONS. Front, from left-Gene Mills of Syracuse, 118; Lance Leonhardt of Lehigh,
126; George Medina of Syracuse, 134; Steve Traylor of Yale, 142, and Gary Kessel of East Stroudsburg, 150. Rear, from left—John Althans of Navy, 158; Mark Lieberman, 167; Mike Brown, 177, and
Don McCorkel, 190, of Lehigh, and John Sefter of Princeton, unlimited.
How They Placed In EIWA Test
FIRST THREE IN EACH WEIGHT CLASS QUALIFY FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT AT NORMAN, OKLA.
118-
126-
134-
142-
150-
158-
167-
177-
190-
HWT-
CHAMPION
Gene Mills
Syracuse
LANCE LEONHARDT
LEHIGH
George Medina
Syracuse
Steve Traylor
Yale
Gary Kessel
E. Stroudsburg
John Althans
Navy
MARK LIEBERMAN
LEHIGH
MIKE BROWN
LEHIGH
DONMcCORKEL
LEHIGH
John Sefter
Princeton
RUNNERUP
' Ron Keene
Cornell
Greg Shoemaker
E. Stroudsburg
' LonBalum
Wilkes
PATSCULLEY
LEHIGH
Steve Grubman
Penn
Chris Moffa
Rutgers
Roger Fleischer
Navy
Keith Ely
Princeton
Greg Cooper
Navy
Bob Matzelle
Army
THIRD
STEVE BASTIANELLI
LEHIGH
Guy Dugas
Syracuse
BOB SLOAND
LEHIGH
Tom Bauer
Navy
Larry Kihlstadius
Navy
NILS DEACON
LEHIGH
Jim Vargo
E. Stroudsburg
Bart Cook
Wilkes
Dave Gregrow
Wilkes
Nick Mygas
Navy
FOURTH
BillHawley
Princeton
Kirk Dabney
Princeton
Doug Parise
Temple
+Bruce Lear
Wilkes
Matt D'Annunzio
Yale
John Akins
Temple
Pete Englehardt
Syracuse
Rich McPhee
Army
Mike Morrell
Colgate
Dan House
Wilkes
FIFTH
Tom Coleman
Army
Rich Mahonski
Wilkes
Kevin Roesch
Princeton
Ed Rivera
Temple
Lou Rivera
Temple
Greg MacLean
Wilkes
Ted Kastner
Colgate
Carmel Morina
Temple
MikeFlynn
Temple
Steve Glasgow
Penn
SIXTH
Mitch Vance
Temple
Andy Samu
Columbia
Kevin McHough
Columbia
Doug Oliver
Rutgers
JEFF ALLEGAR
LEHIGH
Lloyd Woodruff
Colgate
I GeneClemons
Wilkes
Bob Kiefer
Rutgers
Bob Baumgartner
Penn
GUY TALARICO
LEHIGH
+Bruce Lear selected by coaches as EIWA "wild card" entry into NCAA tournament.
4 Engineers
Win Crowns
Eight Lehigh matmen, four of
them 1977 champions, qualified
for the NCAA tournament last
weekend while leading the
Engineers to their third straight
EIWA team title.
Coach Thad Turner's squad
placed every member of its 10-
man tournament delegation at
Syracuse but only the first three
finishers in each weight class
qualify for the Nationals.
The Engineers piled up 155
team points and, for the third
year in a row, had things neatly
clinched and put away even
before the final round began
Saturday night in spacious
Manley Fieldhouse.
Navy was a distant second with
95 points and Princeton staged a
surprisingly strong effort to
finish third with 86. Wilkes netted
85 and host Syracuse 73% to
round out the Top Five.
Winning individual crowns for
the Engineers were Lance
Leonhardt at 126, Mark
Lieberman at 167, Mike Brown at
177 and Don McCorkel at 190.
Leonhardt and Lieberman also
were champs in 1975 and McCorkel became a rare 3-timer
because he also gained titles in
1975 and 1976.
Brown, perhaps the finest
freshman wrestler in the nation,
took a championship in his first
tournament appearance.
McCorkel, from Hershey, Pa.,
and Leonhardt are seniors and
Lieberman is a sophomore.
Additional Lehigh qualifiers for
the Nationals were Pat Sculley,
runnerup at 142, and a trio of
third-place finishers, 118-pounder
Steve Bastianelli of Georgetown,
Del., 134-pounder Bob Sloand of
Landing, N.J., and 158-pounder
Nils Deacon of Howell, N.J.
Earning team points for sixth-
place performances, but unable
to qualify for the Nationals, were
150-pounder Jeff Allegar of
Harrisburg, Pa., and
heavyweight Guy Talarico of
Nutley, N.J.
The failure of Sloand and
Sculley, both former champions,
to finish No. 1 at their weights
took a little bit off the Lehigh
victory celebration. Sloand was
upset in the semi-finals by
George Medina of Syracuse, 15-7,
after whipping the same opponent 20-5 just one week earlier
in a dual meet. Sculley lost in the
finals to Steve Traylor of Yale, 5-
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