South Mountaineer Volume 19, Issue 19

              Published by the Lehigh University Alumni Association
Vol. 19 — No. 19
m
FEBRUARY 23, 1977
BETHLEHEM, PA.
Lehigh Cagers Rap Bucknell, Rider,
  i
Earn Post-Season Playoff Position
6-2 Mark
In League
Lehigh's young, rebuilt basketball squad bowled over league
rivals Bucknell, 67-56, and Rider,
75-68, last week to clinch a spot in
the East Coast Conference postseason playoffs.
The Engineers have won seven
of their last eight starts, including six of seven league tests,
during a late-season surge which
has found them emerging as the
surprise team of the 1976-77
conference race.
Coach Brian Hill's forces, 12-12
on the campaign following last
week's sweep, finish their
regular schedule this week with
ECC games at West Chester and
Lafayette.
Last week the Engineers
continued to receive well-
rounded, effective efforts from
seven men who played in both
contests, and from two who
played in one game apiece. Only
two of them—co-captains Charlie
Brown of Morristown, N.J., and
Paul Brandenburg of Iselin,
N.J.,—are seniors.
Along with Brown and Brandenburg, those seeing action
twice were freshmen Frank
Hillman of Montclair, N.J., Jeff
Vandemark of Mahwah, N.J.,
and Brian Camperson of Haddon-
field, N. J., sophomore Bill Griffin
of Scotch Plains, N.J., and junior
Ray Green of Washington, D.C.
Starting guard Ken Clifford, a
junior from Scotch Plains, N.J.,
helped defeat Bucknell but
suffered a bruised knee and had
to miss the Rider game. Mike
LEHIGH
Griffin 3-0-0-6, Clifford 3-1-4-7, Brown 3-1-2-
7, Green 3-11-12-17, Brandenburg 3-1-2-7,
Hillman 5-3-5-13, Vandemark 4-0-0-8,
Camperson 1-0-0-2. Totals: 25-17-25-67.
BUCKNELL
Purnell 7-0-0-14, Flannery 5-1-1-11, Clark 3-
0-0-6, Sigl 1-0-0-2, Barry 3-3-4-9, Belts, 5-0-0-
10, Oristaglio 1-0-0-2, Callaway 1-0-0-2.
Totals:  26-4-5-56.
Halftime: Lehigh,35-20
(B8.W Photos)
LEHIGH sharpshooters Mike Purcell, above, and Charlie
Brown (31) on target against Rider. Brown is the
Engineers' all-time scoring champion. He had 15 against
the Broncos and Purcell came off the bench to rack up 12.
Purcell, a sophomore from Upper
Darby, didn't play at Bucknell
but came off the bench to riddle
Rider's zone defense with half-a-
dozen baskets and 12 points, most
of them from long range.
Green led the team's scorers
with 29 points in the pair of
games, collecting 17 at Bucknell
and 12 against Rider.
Brown, who finished the week
as Lehigh's all-time scoring
champion with a career total of
1,278 points, had only seven at
Bucknell but 15 against Rider for
a 22-point week.
Vandemark, a 6-6 freshman
who gets most of his points on
shots from the corners, also
netted 22 with eight at Bucknell
and 14 against Rider.
Griffin had 18, with 12 of them
against Rider, Hillman had 13 at
Bucknell and two against Rider
for 15, Brandenburg contributed
11, Clifford seven in his single
appearance, and Camperson six.
At Bucknell, where the
Engineers   expected  the   usual
difficulties associated with
playing on the road, Hill's gang
fell behind early but came back
with a 12-2 outburst featuring
Brown and Brandenburg. Green
and Hillman, the latter coming
off the bench, kept things moving
as Lehigh piled up a 35-20 half-
time advantage with a steady
attack and super defense.
The Bisons, desperately
needing a victory to bolster
fading playoff hopes, cut the
Engineer lead to 43-37 during the
second half but three straight
Vandemark layups—on feeds
from Hillman—extended the
margin again.
Against Rider, in Grace Hall
Saturday night before 1,300 enthusiastic        followers,        the
LEHIGH
Griffin 6-0-0-12, Purcell 6-0-0-12, Hillman 1-0-
0-2, Green 3-6-7-12, Camperson 2-0-0-4, Brown
6-3-5-15, Vandemark 5-4-4-14, Brandenburg 2-
0-0-4. Totals: 31-13-16-75.
RIDER
Speakman 0-0-0-0, Hobbie 2-1-2-5, Prz-
bylowski 5-1-1-11, Simon 7-1-2-15, Puhalski 2-
2-2-6, Baptiste6-0-3-12, Spells 4-1-1-9, Hatcher
4-2-2-10. Totals:  30-8-13-68.
Halftime: Lehigh, 39-36
Engineers jumped away to an 18-
9 lead which was reduced to 39-36
at halftime. The Broncos kept
hustling, pulling into ties at 55
and 57, but clutch buskets by
Griffin, Purcell and Brown, along
with two foul conversions by
Green, put the Engineers back
out front for good. They built
their advantage to 10 points in the
final minutes and had no further
problems.
Green, Brown and Brandenburg continued their roles as
top rebounders as the Engineers
grabbed 47 off the boards against
38 for Rider. Green bagged 12,
Brown 10 and Brandenburg nine.
Hill has stuck with a regular
starting lineup all season including Green and Brown at
forward, Brandenburg at center,
Griffin and Clifford at guard,
except when injuries to Clifford
necessitated a change. Hillman,
Vandemark and Camperson have
been the top reserves.
East Coast
Conference
Western Division
W   L   PC
Lafayette 7     1     .875
LEHIGH  6     2     .750
Delaware 5    3    .625
Bucknell 4     4     .500
Rider l    7    .125
W.Chester 1    7    .125
Wednesday—Lehigh at W.
Chester, Bucknell at Delaware,
Lafayette at Rider.
Saturday —Lehigh at
Lafayette, Delaware at Rider, W.
Chester at Bucknell. (End of
regular schedule).
If...
Playoff action begins March 1.
If Lehigh finishes first in the
western division the Engineers
draw a bye directly into the ECC
semi-finals March 4.
If Lehigh finishes second the
Engineers host a playoff game
against the No. 3 finisher in the
eastern division March l.
If Lehigh finishes third the
Engineers travel for a game
March 1 to the home court of the
No. 2 team in the eastern bracket.
All semi-final, and final action,
is scheduled for Kirby Field
House, at Lafayette College,
March 4-5.
Battling for the three eastern
division playoff berths are
Hofstra, Temple, LaSalle, St.
Joseph's and American.
Tickets for games involving
Lehigh will go on sale in the
Taylor Gym ticket offices, during
regular working hours, the day
after a final position for the
Engineers is determined.
Playoff game tickets will cost
$4 and $2, the latter a special
price for students, faculty and
staff ID card holders at the
respective schools. These prices
were established by the conference.
Matmen Make Temple 12th Victim
Steve Turgeon of East Hartford, Conn., a winner only once in
10 tries during 1975-76 action,
provided most of the excitement
Saturday afternoon as Lehigh's
wrestlers coasted past Temple
before 2,200 fans in Grace Hall,
33-7.
Turgeon, in his first varsity test
of the winter, overcame a 9-1
deficit to defeat Alan Campbell of
the Owls, 10-9, at 126 pounds. This
was one of only three close bouts
on the program.
The others resulted in draws at
118, where Steve Bastianelli of
Lehigh    and    Mitch    Vance
struggled to a 1-1 stalemate, and
TV
Lehigh's wrestling meet
against Syracuse, Saturday at
2:30 p.m. in Grace Hall, will be
televised by WLVT, Ch. 39 of
Bethlehem, for showing Sunday
(Feb. 27) at 11:30 a.m.
It will be shown in the New
York City area by WLIW, Ch. 21
of Garden City, March 9 at 8 p.m.
and by WCNY, Ch. 24 of
Syracuse, on a date land time to
be selected.
at 158 where Jeff Allegar of the
Engineers tied Jack Akins, 6-6.
It was the second draw of the
campaign for both Bastianelli, of
Georgetown, Del., who has a 9-7-2
record, and for Allegar, of
Harrisburg, Pa., who is 2-3-2.
Both are freshmen.
National Mat Rankings
AMATEUR WRESTLING NEWS
NATIONAL MAT NEWS
February 19
February 23
1. Iowa
1. Iowa
2. Oklahoma St.
2. Iowa St.
3. Iowa St.
3. Oklahoma St.
4. Wisconsin
4. Wisconsin
5. Michigan
s. Michigan
6. Cal Poly
6. Cal Poly
7. LEHIGH
7. LEHIGH
8. Penn St.
8. Oklahoma
9. Oklahoma
9. Brigham Young
10. Minnesota
10. Penn St.
The only Lehigh loser was Greg
Cunningham, of Livingston, N.J.,
who bowed 9-2 to undefeated Ed
Rivera at 142. Cunningham, a
surprise winner at Penn State one
week earlier, has a 1-3-1 mark.
Rivera is 7-0-1.
Six other Engineers, all
veterans, won easily.
Bob Sloand (12-2-2) of Landing,
N.J., rolled up a 16-6 tally against
Doug Parise who went into action
with a highly-creditable 11-1
record, at 134. Pat Sculley (8-2 at
150) cruised past Lou Rivera, 13-
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