Blackford High School - Reflections Yearbook (Hartford City, IN)

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The Bruin ' s leading rebounder and second leading scorer, Jeff Stroup, scores on a fastbreak in first round sectional action. The Bruins best Wes-Del 56- 54. VARSITY BASKETBALL Season Record 12-11 CIC 3-3 BHS OPPONENT OPP 38 Wabash 44 60 Madison Grant 53 64 Peru 63 59 Delta 45 62 Marion 76 56 Muncie Central 63 80 Huntingdon 67 69 So. Wells 59 73 F.W. Concordia 80 82 Mississinewa 64 35 Yorktown 62 77 Elwood 60 49 Alexandria 50 66 Bluffton 53 62 Tipton 80 62 F.W. Wayne 70 58 Muncie North 79 68 Jay County 55 76 South Adams 48 57 Norwell 60 Sectional 56 Wes-Del 54 72 Eastbrook 49 53 Delta 60 In season highlight Bruins blast Eastbrook Early in the year several people predicted the Bruin roundhallers wouldn ' t win as many games as the football team. They didn ' t. The Basketball team did finish over .500 finishing 12-11. But for the second year in a row the Bruins lost their own Isectional. This year the Delta Eagles derailed the Bruins in the championship game 60-53. The Bruins did have school bright spots as juniors Dave Dickey and Brett Townsend averaged 10 and 12 points a game. Seniors Dave Spen- cer and Jeff Stroup led the team in that department though, by averag- ing 15 and 13 points a game. Though the Bruins did not get a Despite having a Delta Eagle on his back, ju- nior Brett Townsend puts in an easy two. Townsend averaged just over 12 points a game for the Bruins. chance to play the Eastbrook Pan- thers during the season, they did meet them in the sectional semi-fin- als. As usual the Bruins downed the Panthers 72-49, this marked their 12th straight victory without a de- feat against the varsity Panther roundballers. Besides being second in the scor- ing department, Stroup led the team in rebounding. He had 188 rebounds while Townsend hauled down 165. Senior Dave Spencer led the team in field goal percentage with his 45% coming mainly on 20 footers. Senior Kent Roush led the team in steals and assists with 56 and 100 for the 23 game season. Varsity Basketball 167

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A determined look on his face, senior play- maker Kent Roush twists for two against Del- ta. The Bruins lost to the Eagles. Senior center-forward Marc Rench made this sswannfw short jumper against Peru to help the Bruins win a 54-63 decision over the Tigers. Varsity Basketball Team: (Bottom Row) Steve Strine, Doug Coons, Bill Davis, Kent Roush, Dave Spencer, Willie Elliott. (Row 2) Asst. Coach Norm Fogwell, Asst. Coach Rick Clark, Brett Townsend, Robbie Bratton, Marc Rench, Jeff Stroup, Dave Dickey, Tom Sharp, Coach Steve Brunes. 166 Varsity Basketball

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Dave Spencer unleashes one of his rainbow shots from the baseUne in spite of the Delta Eagle. Spencer hit 45% of his shots. B-ball crowds dwindle Where are the fans? As many co aches put it, the home crowd is the team ' s best sixth man. In that case the Blackford Bruins were weak off the bench this year. Whether the reason be lack of in- terest or a team that just isn ' t spec- tacular no one is sure, but the Bruins aren ' t the only school bitten by the no show bug. State wide, crowds are slipping slowly at about 5% yearly rate. But the Blackford crowds have dropped about 15% a year over the last three years. Although regular season crowds are down, students still get excited about sectional. In the 1979-80 sec- tional the Bruin crowds were plainly the most vocal, as the home crowd should be. Although the games with Eastbrook High School have be- come bitter rivalries, the adminis- tration can still credit Eastbrook for livening the Blackford student ' s spirit. It may be time the administration proposed some kind of incentive sys- tem to those who attend the games before there ends-up being more players at the games than fans. While Dave Spencer hops up to get a better look at things, Brett Townsend avoids a Peru opponent to put in two more points. 168 Varsity Basketball