Muncie Central High School set an all time record by winning
its fifth state charnpionship. The Bearcats won the state title
previously in 1928, 1931, 1951 and 1952. The 53rd annual basketball tournament was a display of some of the finest basketball ever witnessed in state tournament play.
Muncie Central defeated South Bend Central 65-61 in a game that
sent the capacity crowd into near hysterics. Midway through the
first quarter, the score was dead-locked at 7-7. From this point
Muncie Central gradually drew away to leads of 21-13 and 35-26
at the end of the first quarter and the half, respectively.
South Bend Central came back with a rush at the beginning of
the second half and with five minutes to go in the third quarter
James Ward's jumper evened the score at 36-36. At the end of
the third quarter, South Bend led 46-45. In the suspense-packed
fourth quarter Muncie Central cashed in 12 of 14 free-throw
attempts which greatly helped in warding off the tenacious drive
of the South Bend Central Bears. Rick Jones led Muncie Central
with 20 points while Mike Warren of South Bend Central was
high for the game with 22 points.
In the first afternoon game, Muncie Central defeated Lafayette
Jefferson 73-71. The game was extremely 'hard fought throughout its entirety and the outcome was in doubt until the final gun.
Lafayette Jeff led at the first three stops 16-14, 33-29 and 51-49
but Muncie Central rallied in the last quarter to out-score Lafayette
Jeff by four points. Jones was high scorer for Muncie Central with
24 points, however, Dave Morrison was high for the game with
27 points.
South Bend Central defeated Terre Haute Garfield, conquerer of the defending champion, Evansville Bosse, by a score of 72-45. The South Bend Central Bears led at all stops 10-9, 38-23 and 56-35. Frank Hamblin led Terre Haute Garfield with 14 points while
Mike Otolski led South Bend Central with 17 points.
Due to continued consolidation of schools, 639 schools participated in the sectional tourneys as compared to 660 the previous year. Gross receipts were $1,027,719.83 and the total attendance was 1,488,622.
The Board of Control unanimously selected Greg Samuels of Tene
Haute Garfield as the recipient of the Arthur L. Trester Award
for Mental Attitude.