Ernest Seaholm High School - Piper Yearbook (Birmingham, MI)

Page 85 text:

f52 to Both Win in District crushed Port Huron by 31, beat a good Royal Oak Dondero squad 70-59, and gained revenge for last year's losses by beating the Ferndale Eagles 66-59. Next, the Maples ran up against another unbeaten team, Southfield, the eventual league champions. It took the Bluejays an extra overtime period, but they edged the Maples 78-77. Seaholm's second shot at Southfield proved to be even less successful than the first. The Bluejays dom- inated nearly every aspect of the game in routing the Maples 80-52. Seaholm followed this loss with two un- inspired performances against Edsel Ford, Kimball, and Berkley. They escaped with a narrow 74-72 win over Edsel Ford, but dropped the other decisions by close margins. With tournament time drawing near, Seaholm finally got untracked against Hazel Park with 112 Driving by Scott Paganos from Groves is Seaholm's 6' 4 forward Bob Lyle. 122 Jim Hughes, the team's most improved player. was almost unstoppable on. the drive. 132 In his second year of varsity competition, John Denning outjumps South- fiela s Brad Allen. 142 Seaholm's outstanding coach, Mr. Torn Villemure, has compiled a 29-8 record in two years at Sea- holm. 152 John Petersen finishes on' the fast break with Chuck Hammond close behind. 162 Scott Hammond developed into one of the area's top ball handlers and led the Maples in scoring. 172 Known for his consistent play, Neal Ranstead was SeahoIm's top playnzaker and led in assists. 1 QXX N ,,,p......-af' 155 472 and Place 2nd in SMA a 73-45 victory. Having overcome their late season slump, the Maples were ready to make a run for the district championship. They downed Andover by 11 points and held a usually high-scoring Lahser team to just 53 points to win the district semi-final. The Maples met Brother Rice in the game that was to decide the district champion, and with nearly 4,000 people pack- ing the Seaholm gym, the Maples held off a late War- rior rally to post a 54-45 win and capture the title for the first time in six years. The season finally came to an end in the first game of the regional tournaments when the Maples ran up against the state's top ranked cage power Pontiac Cen- tral. They kept things close for over three periods stay- ing within 8 points with just 3 minutes remaining, but Central finally ran away with a 95-68 win. 81

Page 84 text:

Qvercome Player Loss Despite the fact that they lost four starting seniors from the previous year, Seaholm had one of its finest basketball seasons in many years. Going into the season, John Denning was Sea- holm's only player with a good deal of starting experi- ence and it was questionable how the Maples would perform. Even Coach Villemure, in his second season at Seaholm, was unsure as to how the team would re- act. Most all of the questions were answered in Sea- holm's first game against Groves. Trailing by nine points going into the final period, the Maples never lost their poise and rallied for an important 77-67 victory. They kept right on going with 3 more wins With- out a loss, gaining believers and gradually working their way into the top ten teams in the state. Th6Y

Page 86 text:

Villemure Coachesg o Player Dominates As is always the case with Mr. Villemure's teams, this year's squad had no one single play- er who dominated play. Instead he used a mix- ture of talents that, put together, made an extremely successful team. Of course, each player had different abilities, but Mr. Villemure molded them into a single unit with teamwork being a most essential factor. Seaholm's two competent guards this season were 6' 2 Neal Ranstead and 6' 1 Scott Ham- mond. Neal, in his third year on the varsity team, was the Maples' only starting senior. The team's best playmaker, Neal often set up his teammates for baskets with his deceptive and accurate passing. He led the Maples with 118 assists, averaging 6.6 per game. Scott Ham- mond is a dedicated basketball player. As a result of constant practice, Scott developed an extremely deadly outside shot to go along with fine ball handling ability. Scott led the Maples in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game, and was named All-SMA and All-State honorable mention. Scott has tremendous potential and is only a junior. At the forward spot the Maples were equally as strong with two juniors, Jim Hughes and Bob Lyle. Jim developed an extremely effective drive this year which, combined with a good jump shot, make him very difficult to defend against. Equipped with good spring and excel- lent strength, Jim was Seaholm's top rebounder with 189. Lyle was an extremely versatile play- er, as he could score either inside or outside. Bob had an accurate set shot and he had the size to score in close. He placed second on the team in scoring with a 14.3 average and was the third best rebounder. The center position was filled by 6' 5 junior John Denning, who started for the second straight year. A tremendous leaper, John used his size to block opponents' shots and gather in offensive and defensive rebounds. John was second in rebounding with 186 and had the squad's best shooting percentage of 55.329, He played a superb game against Pontiac Central, holding his own against All-American Campy Russell. 82