Herald Sports By GARY STEWART j KM Tall—Understatement Of The Year I’d like to pass on to you readers something I found in the Lincoln Times-News last week. Headlines on the sports page read “Kings Mountain Wins Two.” The writer, Gary Abernathy, started the story by say ing: “The Lincolnton Wolfpacks opened their conference season at home Friday and fell to a much larger Kings Mountain.” It went on to say that “both games were highlighted by a number of fouls. It seemed as though the Wolves were not able to take a deep breath without having a foul called on them.” Abernathy stated that Lincolnton’s statistician Danny Ledbetter pointed out the fact that the Wolves and Kings Mountain had the same number of field goals (17) but Kings Mountain won by 14 points (52-38) on the strength of free throws alone. He then went into the details of the girls game and then moved into the boys’ contest. His description of the boys’ game, looked to me like something he wanted the Lincolnton fans to believe rather than the exact facts. It started: “To say that the Kings Mountain boys were taller than the Wolves would be the understatement of the year. One Mountie starter was six feet six, another was six feet five, and another was six feet four. The tallest Wolf is 6’2” Bill Cash. However, as easy as it would be to say that height is all they have, they had more than any foe seen so far. Still is is hard to believe that they could have defeated the Wolves had they been shorter.” You Ain't Seen Nothing, Yet Ever heard the expression, “you ain’t seen nothing, yet?” Or, “that ain’t the half of it?” The write-up went on to tell about the first, second and third quarters, all marred by fouls. Then, the final period began: “In the fourth quarter Ihe Mounties stretched their lead to 21 points. Then Paul Lawing was fouled by a Kings Mountain player and had to be helped off the court.” Now, that’s what gets me. For the first part, Lawing wasn’t fouled by a Kings Mountain player because Lawing is the one who commit ed the foul. Persons present ai the game know, but for you fans who weren’t there, Lawing and KM’s Ken Mitchem were both attempting toe atch a high Lincolnton pass. Lawing, jumped over Mitchem’s back and hit the floor, and pretty hard at that. That’s when he had to be helped from the court. Mitchem 'came to the KM charity line and sank the free throw. Now, getting back to the understatement. If Kings Mountain has three giants starting for them, I’d like to see them. Senior forward Larry Burton is about 6’5”, and George Adams is around 6’4”, But Mitchem is no more than 6’1”, if that tall. And, Abernathy didn’t mention the size of KM’s two guards, 5’5” Nelson Connor and 5’8” Steve Spencer. I could say that Abernathy’s a poor loser, but I won’t. Everybody should be a poor loser. But, I will say that he’s making up some poor excuses. He did give Kings Mountain a little plug. He said that the Mounties were tougher than any foe Lincolnton had faced. And, I’ll give the Wolves a plug, when the two teams played, Lincolnton was the best that Kings Mountain had faced. Kings Mountain’s not the best team in the state, not by a long shot. The way I look at it, when you lose, that’s yesterday. Start getting ready for the next game. If you have to make up excusses, throw off on your own team, not the one that beat you. Abernathy’s statement, “It seemed as though the Wolves were not able to breath without having a foul call ed on them” puts into the minds of his readers that the of ficials wei’e calling fouls only on the Wolves. Kings Moun tain’s boys certainly didn’t say, “Come on man, foul me”, and the officials weren’t calling any fouls that didn’t oc cur. Several fouls weren’t called, but that’s normal. After all, it’s pretty hard for two men to keep their eyss on 10 boys and call everything right. And his statement, “Then Paul Lawing was fouled by a Kings Mountain player and had to be helped off the court” puts into the minds of his readers that the KM play ers were purposely trying to hurt Lincolnton players. On that particular play, though, it was Lawing doing the foul ing. No More Overtimes, Please The 1967 basketball season is still young, but I’ve al ready had to sit through two overtimes while following Kings Mountain. There was one thing good about it, though. Both times, the outcome was in KM’s favor. The girls won a 34-24 victory over Lincolnton in an overtime in the first conference game of the season and then Coach Don Parker’s Mountaineers beat R-S Central by three points in a triple-overtime Friday night. It’s rough having to sit through those kind, though. You have to give both teams a lot of credit, and you also have to give a lot of credit to both coaches. Every boy on each team played hard throughout the contest. You’ll not see any two high school teams more evenly matched. Jenny Oates Leads Mixed Bowling Win Jenny Oates rolled a 377 set to lead the Bill Mullinax team to a 3-1 win over Lib Gault in mixed bowling league action Thursday night. Jenny combined lines of 135, 102 and 140 for her total. Lib was high for her team with a 128 line and a 307 set. Clyde Culbertson gained high scoring honors for the night with a 146 line and a 388 set but his team a 3-1 decision to Ronnie Culbertson. Gerald Hipps had a 348 set for the losers. Ronnie Culbertson had a la2 line and a i 358 set for the winners, while Boyer Murray added a 138 line and a 346 set. Bob Herndon moved into se cond place in the league stand ings, six games off the leading pace, winning four games off Ranny Blanton. Herndon had a 128 line and a 368 set for the w-inners while M. Bowen had a 10S line and a 298 set for the lo sers. STANDINGS Team Bill Mullinax Bob Herndon Ronnie Culbertson Clyde Culbertson Ranny Blanton >Ub Gault W L Pet 37 23 .617 31 29 .517 30 30 .500 29 31 .483 27 33 .450 26 34 .433 KM Beats Central In Triple-Overtime BY GARY STEWART Nelson Connor sank two straight foul shots with 42 se conds left in a third overtime period, then added two more with 22 seconds left to lift Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers past R-S Central, 62'59- Friday night. Connor’s initial two overtime free throws brought the Moun taineers from a 59-58 deficit into a 60-59 lead and his final two iced the victory. The Mountaineers and R-S Central both went into the game, undefeated in Southwest Confe- ' rence play, and both teams fought hard to the finish. In fact, R-S Central’s six-point lead (12-6) at the end of the first period was the biggest lead either team en joyed. Until junior center George A dams fouled out the game with 13 seconds left in the second over time, the contest had been most ly a battle between Adams and big center Joe Hill of Central, who leads the conference in scoring Both boys finished the game with 26 points, and both players were the backbones of their team’s defensive unit. R-S Central led the entire first half. Hill put the Hilltoppers a head, 2-0, at the 7:04 mark and then a basket by Thomas Bur nette with 6:15 remaining in creased the lead to 4-0. Burnette, a Negro guard, tallied six points in the first quarter, keeping the Mountaineer defense stunned with an outstanding display of outside shooting. Kings Mountain tied the game for the first time with 1:32 left in the half when sophomore for ward Ken Mitehem hit a free thro 'o make the score 20-all. Howe\ r, Burnette hit a basket with 54 seconds left to make it 22-20, before Mitehem connected on another charity toss to make it 22-21 with 40 seconds remain ing. Burnette bucketed a 20-foot er with a second left to give the Hilltoppers a 24-21 lead at half time. The Mountaineers took their first lead 25-24, with 6:30 left in the third quarter when Adams hit a field goal with 7:19 left. After Connor had bucketed a bas ket to out Central’s lead to -one, 24-23. Kings Mountain jumped to a three-point advantage- 31-28, with 4:41 left w'hen Adams added a nother two-pointer. The Mounties led by three, 37-34, heading into the fourth quarter. Hill scored on a free throw to tie the game at 37-all with 6:51 left. The two teams then played neck and neck until the Hilltop pers opened up a four-point lead, 45‘41, on a basket by Hill at the 2:56 mark. Kings Mountain fought from behind to tie the score at 45-all but Hill hit a nother basket with 10 seconds left to put the visitors ahead, 47-45. Steve Spencer brought the ball downcourt for the Mounties and attempted to drive in for a lay up but was fouled. Spencer went to the line for two shots and on ly four seconds showing on the ; MOUNTAINETTE STANDOUT — Pictured above is junior Kathy Plonk, who has been a defensive standout for the local girls' basketball team this season. Kathy will be in the starting line up Friday night when the Mountainettes seek to break a three game losing streak against Belmont. Red Heads Here February 10 That colorful' sensational, and very exciting ALL AMERICAN RED HEADS basketball team is slated to be Kings Mountain Feb 10, at 7:30, in Kings Moun tain high school gymnasium. The RED HEADS, Queens of j big time basketball and undisput- j ed world champion women’s basketball team will be appear ing through the sponsorship of the Kings Mountain Lions Club. The “RED HEADS'a truly great basketball attraction will meet an all-star men’s team. The game will be played by regula tion men rules. Last season the RED HEADS played 197 games, all against men teams. The RED HEADS won 135 of these games. The RED HEADS feature top girl basketball talent found any where and “Living it up on the court’’ has been their trade mark and “How Thmey Play the Game’’ has become their way of life. The ALL AMERICAN RED HEADS’ “Magic at the Gate’’j makes this attraction great and as always the Red Heads are: drawing them through turnstiles in tremendous numbers. Lion Pre sident Hal Plonk, said that his organization was most pleased at being able to get this much sought after attraction to appear in Kings Mountain ' Admission prices will be $1.00 for students- and $1.50 for adults, i Tickets- are on sale -at Kings Mountain Drug, Griffin Drug and Willie's Jewelry. i Blanton Leading Men's Loop By Six Ranny Blanton stretched its men’s bowling league lead to three games Monday night by taking a 3T decision over Plonk Oil Co. Bill Gault was high scorer for the match with a 134 line and a 348 set Blanton added a 341 setj for the winners while team cap- j tain Clarence Plonk was high for j Plonk Oil with a 12A4 line and a 338 set. John Dilling rolled a 139 line and Bob Herndon added a 352 set as Dilling Heating defeated Al bert Brackett three game to one. The win moved the Dilling Heat ing team into a three-way tie for third place in the six-team standings. Dilling finished the match with a 346 set. Tom Gamble’s 122 line and Albert Brackett’s 333 set were high marks for the losers. Richard Culbertson gained high scoring honors for the night with | a 155 line and a 364 set which 1 led his team to a 2-2 split with j Clyde Culbertson. All five mem- j bers of Richard’s team rolled 300 j plus sets with Ronnie Culbertson | finishing second with a 340 Bill Westmoreland had a 130 [ line and a 352 set for Clyde's I team while Boyer Murray added | a 327. STANDINGS Team Ranny Blanton Richard Culbertson Clyde Culbertson Dilling Heating Plonk Oil Co Albert Brackett W L Pct.j 13 3 .813 j 10 6 .625 7 9 .438 7 9 .4381 7 9 .438 4 12 2250' clock. He sank both shots and Central threw the ball in bounds and immediately called time out. The Hilltopper throw-in from the North side of the court, went into the KM bleachers and the Mounties had a chance with two seconds left. The Mounties at tempted to feed the ball to A dams, but the horn sounded be fore they could work it into him, and regulation play ended at 47-all. Adams bucketed a field goal with 2:36 left in the first over time to push KM into a 49-47 lead. Bill Luckadoo connected for a three-point play with 2:21 left to put the visitors ahead, 59-49. Warren Goforth added a free throw with 39 seconds left to make it 51-49. Adams added another basket with 19 seconds remaining to tie it again, 51-51. Spencer drew his fifth foul with six seconds left, sending Burnette to the line for two shots. He missed both, Hill rebounded but missed a final shot, forcing a second overtime period. Burnette hit a field goal at the 2:46 mark to push Central a head 53 51 before Adams added two points with 2:30 left to knot the score at 53-all. Hill hit a free throw with 2:07 left to push Central back into the lead by one, but Connor came downcourt and scored to give K.MHS a 55 54 lead with 1:54 left. Hill made it 56-55 (Central) with a field goal at the 1:14 mark. With 13 seconds left, A dams drew his fifth foul and Mounties Host Belmont Friday Kings Mountain’s Mountain eers will go after their 11th Straight win at home Friday night against Belmont while Coach Bob Hussey s Mountain ettes will he trying to end a three-game losing streak. The Mountaineers lead the Southwest Conference boys divi sion with a perfect 4-0 record after winning a 62-58 decision over Shelby Tuesday night. Kings Mountain’s girls are 1-3 in conference play, heading into the match with the Raiderettes, who are 3-1. Belmont’s girls swept a 22-16 victory over Lin colnton Tuesday night. Belmont's boys are winless in conference p'ay, having lost their fourth straight Tuesday at Lincolnton, 54-50. The Raiders are 3-7 overall. Center Henry Robinson and guard Tommy Tate have been Belmont’s two big scorers so far. They’re joined in the starting lineup by Frank Elmore, Steve Wilhelm and Grier. Nancy Lowdermilk and Clay Breeland have been the top scor ers for the Belmont girls so far while Nancy Breeland has been a standout on defense. The Kings Mountain boys will probably go with the same starting lineup. However, the girls’ lineup will be changed since Libby Tedder, a junior guard, and senior forward Hilda Lowery were both injured Tues day against Shelby. Tedder sustained a knee injury during the first half, and had to sit out the entire second half. Lowery suffered an ankle injury. Coach Bob Hussey said Wednes day that neither girl would see action Friday night. Hussey said that sophomore Nancy Reynolds will start Friday in Lowery’s place, but said that he’s not sure of a starter for Tedder. The remainder of the lineup will be Sharon Gold, Kathy Plonk, Linda Childers, and j Joy Roberts. Gold still leads the conference in scoring. To date, she has tal lied 180 points and has an 18.0 scoring average. Her average has dropped 4.2 points since her knee injury three weeks ago. Junior center George Adams scored 26 points against Shelby to up his season’s average to 18.4 points per game. He now has 184 points. Ken Mitchem is second on the Mountaineer scoring list with 112 points and an 11.2 average. Kings Mountain travels to Cherryville Tuesday night, and the Mountaineers will probably have their hands full with the Ironmen. The Ironmen are 2-2 in conference play, 7-3 overall,1 and are fresh from a one-sided, 73-54, victory over Chase. Cherry-, ville’s girls are 0-4 in the con ference, losing to Chase, 29-26 Tuesday night. Center Larry Giles, forward Richard Hovis and guard Terry Smith will be the big guns in the Ironmen lineup. Smith is fourth in scoring in the South west Conference, while Giles and Hovis, both 6’4”, are defensive standouts. Cherryville’s girls are led by senior forwards Mary Beam and Vickie Bumgarner, who are both in the top ten in scoring in the (Continued on Page S) Hill hit the charity toss to push the visitors ahead by two, 57-55. The Mountaineers drove down court, Mitchem shot, and missed and Ray Morgan shot and miss ed, before Larry Burton tied the I score at 57 a 11 as the horn sound ed, ending the second overtime. With Spencer and Adams sit-1 ting on the bench with five per sonal fouls, it seemed douftful! that the Mounties could win the game, but the basket by Burton apparently stole the Hilltoppers’ morale. Burton hit a free throw with 1:42 left to put KM ahead 58-57 before Tommy Lane hit a field goal to push the Hilltoppers back j ahead- 59-58 with 52 seconds re maining. Then Connor sank two free throws with 42 seconds remain ing to put the Mounties back in to the lead, 60-59. The little sen ior guard then calmly sank two more with 22 seconds left to make it 62-59. Hill attempted a field goal with 11 seconds left, and missed, but drew a foul from Morgan. He missed the free throw, though, and Mitchem snatched the re bound and held on tio the ball until the horn sounded. For the game, R-S Central hit on 40 percent of its field goals with 24 of 60 of their field goals with 24 of 60 and 48 percent of their field goals with 23 of 61. The Mounties hit on 38 percent of their field goals and 48 percent of their free throws. Diane Daniel scored 20 points to lead the R'S Central girls to HIGH SCORER — Pictured above is George Adams, who scored 26 points, grabbed 28 rebounds and blocked eight shots Tuesday night to lead Kings Mountain's Mountain eers into first place in the Southwest Conference with a 62-58 win over Shelby. Adams, who sports an 18.4 scoring average, also scored 26 points in a ^triple-overtime win over R-S Central Friday night KM-Shelby Box Scores GIRLS GAME Kings Mountain (30) F—Lowery 5 F—Childers 1 F—Gold 16 G—Plonk 7 G—Tedder 0 G—Roberts 0 Subs Scoring: Reynolds 1. Shelby (41) F—Green 17 F—Williams 9 F—Keeter 5 G—Christopher 4 G—Blanton 0 G—Dayberry 2 Subs Scoring: Poston 4. Halftime Score: Shelby 20, Kings Mountain 19. BOYS GAME Kings Mountain (62) F—Mitchem 13 F—Burton 8 C—Adams 26 G—Connor 6 G—Spencer 9 Shelby (58) F—McNeely 15 F—B. Lutz 1 C—E. Lutz 12 G—McDaniel 17 G—Short 4 Subs Scoring: Mack 4, Homesley 1, Wright 2, Corn 2. Halftime Score: Kings Mountain 32, Shelby 25. a 33-25 win in the opener. The Hilltopperetles led the en tire game, enjoying a 19-9 lead after the initial two periods. The Mountainettes stayed close during the first quarter, trailing by 7'5 after the first seven min utes. For Kings Mountain, Sharon Gold, who saw spot action be cause on a knee injury, and Lin da Childers scored eight points while Kathy Plonk added seven. Kings Mountain fought to with in two points, 24-22- with 5:50 j left in the game when Plonk con nected with a floor shot, but R-S Central then sored seven straight j points to ice the win. The Mountainettes missed 17j of 22 free throws. BOXSCORES GIRLS' GAME Kings Mountain F Lowery F Reynolds F Childers G Plonk G — Tedder G Roberts Subs—Gold 8. R-S Central F—Daniel F Merchant F—Harrison G—Lovelace G Price G—Bowers Subs- Turner 3, Melton BOYS GAME Kings Mountain F—Mitchem F Burton C—Adams G—Connor G—Spencer R-S Central F Davis F Luckadoo C Hill G Burnette G—Lane Subs Scoring: Gorforth Halftime Score: R-SCe Kings Mountain21 Regulation Score: R-S •17, Kings Mountain 47. (25) 0 2 8 7 0! o: (33) 201 6 j 0 2 ■o 1. (62) 9 5 26 12 KL (59) 6 o 26 19 2 ntral 2-1, Central Little Mounties Defeat Shelby And R-S Central Odus Cole sank two free throws with three seconds left Monday night to give Coach Bill Bates' junior varsity boys a 50-49 win over countyrival Shelby. The win left the Little Moun taineers with a 9'0 record head ing into a match today (Thurs day) at Belmont. The Little Mountaineers begin second round play Monday at Cherryville. The Little Mountaineers, now in sole possession of first place in the Southwest Conference Jun ior Varsity race, defeated R-S Central 34-2 Friday afternoon Shelby led most of the way Monday night. The Lions led, 12 i 11 after the first quarter, 24-20 at halftime and 33-31 heading into the final period. Cole was high scorer for the Little Mountaineers with 19 ' points, followed by guard Alan j Hambright with 11. Mull and McDowell had 19 and 14 respec tively for Shelby. In the game against R-S Cen tral- the Little Mountaineers built up a 16-1 halftime lead, then cruised to victory. Every member of the KM team saw action. Cole and Hambright led the Little Mountaineer scoring with eight and seven points re spectively. Coach Glenda O'Shields’ girls lost to both R-S Central and Shelby The girls do not play this week. CENTRAL GAME 'Kings Mountain <34) Ham bright 7, Bell 5, Barnes 4, Glad den 2, Cole 9- Frances 2, M. Smith 2, Weiss 3, R. Smith 1. R-S Central (2)- Dalton 1, Watson 1. SHELBY GAME Kings Mountain (50) -Smith 6, Cole 19- Barnes 9, Hambright 11, Gladden 5. Shelby (49)-Foster 4, Hines 2, Hall 4, Pearson 2- Mull 19, McDowell 14, Singleton 2, Farmer 12. Cash Grocery Takes Over Lead In Recreation Cash Grocery leads the City Recreation Basketball League race by a half-game this week after winning a 77-49 victory over Fulton’s Dept. Store Thurs day night. Cash Grocery went into Thurs day's action tied for first place with the All-Stars. The All Stars, however, lost to Optimist - Timms in Thursday’s nightcap by a 66-55 margin. Tommy Barrett scored 17 points, and Ken Cash, Terry Lavender and Lawrence Bolin Adams Scores 26 In 62-58 Victory Over Lions By GARY STEWART Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers took over sole possession of first place in the Southwest Confer ence basketball standings Tues day night after winning a 62*38 decision over Shelby. The Mountaineers built up a 12-point lead, 32-40, heading into the final period. However, in the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers committed 11 turnovers as the hosting Lions came to within four points. Shelby scored six points in the final It) seconds. Kings Mountain’s girls gave the Shelby lassies the scare of their lives in the opener- but fell for the third time in four conference outings, 4130. George Adams scored a game high of 26 points to load the Mountaineer win. Besides being the game's high scorer, Big George hauled in 2S rebounds and blocked eight shots. Mike Mc Daniel was high for Shelby with 17 points. With Shelby double - teaming Adams, the Mountaineers iiad to rely on the shooting of Ken Mitchem in the first quarter. Mitchem came through with six first period points, as the Moun ties jumped to a 1611 lead after the first eight minutes. Kings Mountain led throughout most of the ballgame. Shelby took early leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 5-4, but after guard Nelson Con nor bucketed a field goal with five minutes remaining in the first period to put the Mountain eers ahead, 6-5, it was all Kings Mountain. The Mountaineers hit 53.9 per cent of their field goal attempts during the first period with seven of 13. in the second quarter, the Mounties hit six of 12 to increase their lead to seven points, 32-25, at halftime. Kings Mountain reached its big gest lead, 14 points, with 4:04 left in the third quarter when Mitch , cm hit two foul shots to make the ■ score -16-32. The Mountaineers led by 12, 5240, heading into the final stanza. Shelby began using a full-court j press in the fourth quarter and ' came to within four points, 52-48, with 4:09 left when Jim Corn i bucketed two free throws. The Mounties began to pull 1 back into the lead, but- on a field goal by McDaniel, the Lions came to within four again, 56-52. The Mounties then tallied six straight points to make the score 62-52, before Shelby stole the ball three straight times in the final 10 sec onds to make the final count 62 58. For the game, the Mountaineers flit on 43.9 percent of their field goal attempts with 25 of 57. The ..ions hit on 24 of 69 attempts for a 34.8 percentage. The Mountain eers hit only 10 of 22 foul shots while the Lions made good on eight of 15. Kings Mountain’s girls stayed right with Shelby's undefeated Lady Lions for three periods- but couldn’t connect during the final seven minutes -ad lost by 11, 41-30. Sharon Gold, still unable to rove, scored 16 points to lead the - Mountainettes while Susie Green of Shelby gained high scoring honors for the game with 17. Scoring was nip and tuck dur ing the entire first half as the lead changed hands seven times. Kings Mountain’s biggest lead , was three points, 15-12. Shelby led by two, 12-10- after the first quarter, but led by only one, 2019, at halftime The Moun tainettes hit a cold spell during the late stages of the third quar ter and Shelby opened up a five point lead, 30-25- heading into the final period. Shelby’s strong rebounding was i entirely too much for the KM lassies during the fourth period i and the Lady Lions began to pull away. KM guard Libby Ted der sustained a knee injury dur ing the first half and had to sit | out the final two periods. It was the fourth straight con ference win for the Shelby girls and left their overall record at 9-1. Kings Mountain is now 1-3 in the conference and 4-6 overall. I added 16, 13 and 10 respectively | to lead Cash’s win over Fulton’s. ; Tom Richie scored 15 points for i the losers. Bob Haden and Richard Little ! scored 24 and 22 points respec tively to lead Optimist - Timms* i 66-55 win over the All-Stars. Bill Owens and Roosevelt Adams tal i lied 16 and 14 respectively for ' the losers. The All-Stars placed five men in double figures in Tuesday’s opener, and captured an easy 84-47 win over the Meat Cutters. Hood led the way for the All Stars with 18, while Carl Burris had 20 for the losers. The All Stars led at halftime, 31-25. Fulton’s, with Roy Whitaker i leading the way with 25 points. ■ scored an 87-56 win over Uthium in Tuesday’s nightcap. Robert Phifer and Tom Richie added 20’ and 18 respectively for the win-. (Continued, on Puge 8J