Hunt Co., TX - Schools - CELESTE BLUE DEVILS BOUND FOR AUSTIN *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: "Sarah Swindell" Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************** CELESTE BLUE DEVILS BOUND FOR AUSTIN By Paul Bailey Herald Banner Staff SHERMAN--The Celeste Blue Devils did what most people here thought to be impossible. The title-hungry Blue Devils riddled Slidell from the outside and inside to take the Class B regional tournament championship game 54 - 52. It was Slidell's 6-6 1/2" Butch Pruett that folks thought would go instead of Celeste. He played a fine game, but so did 6'3 Joe Tillerson, Lloyd Lanier, Bud Roach, David Pruitt, and Jerry Weatherley, all of Celeste. Celeste had been trying to win the regional tournament for the past three years. This was their fourth shot at the crown. Also, this is the first regional championship ever for a Celeste High School cage team. GO TO AUSTIN Coach G. W. Tillerson and his charges will now make that long-awaited trip to Austin next week in the Class B state basketball tournament. Over 2,000 fans watched Celeste come from behind in the third quarter and hold on for a narrow, but decisive victory. UNUSUAL RULE To add to the wild fourth quarter, there was an unusual ruling by the referees. The official clock ran out of time when Slidell tried to tie the game with a final shot. But the referees ruled that Joe Tillerson was fouled with four seconds left; so, the clock was run back to four seconds and Tillerson was given a free throw. He missed the charity shot, but Celeste got the rebound and ran out the clock (a second time). The game was tied twice and the lead changed hands four times. The last time being when Celeste took command with 5:40 left in the third period. NEVER HEADED The Blue Devils were never headed after that and led by as many as six points. Tillerson, the game's highest scorer with twenty-four points, made nine of Celeste eleven points in the first quarter. Pruitt came through with seven points in the second period to keep Celeste in the game. He ended up with twelve points. Lanier, Roach, and Weatherley each tallied six points to pad Celeste scoring and all five did a tremendous job of ball handling--making very few mistakes. Celeste, winning its opening game Friday over Collinsville, rolled over Annona 72 - 61, Saturday morning to gain the finals against Slidell. In the outing, Tillerson showed that he was the class of the tournament as he almost wore out the net on the way to hitting thirty-eight points. Slidell advanced Class B Morning Round Bailey Name FG FT F TF Cox 1 2 2 4 London, J 3 4 4 10 Jones 3 2 5 8 London, D 8 5 3 21 Gresham 4 5 4 12 Totals 19 18 19 56 Slidell Atcheson 7 7 2 21 Pruett 10 4 3 24 Mole 3 0 2 6 Gardner 1 2 1 4 Burchard 0 2 0 2 Hickerson 1 2 3 4 Totals 22 20 17 61 Celeste Tillerson 13 12 2 38 Pruitt 4 5 3 13 Lanier 1 3 4 5 Weatherley 2 1 4 5 Roach 4 3 4 11 Annona Hausler 7 4 4 18 Floyd 1 3 5 5 Hancock 0 0 5 0 Dean, G 2 4 3 8 Peek 8 0 3 16 Holloway 1 3 3 5 Dean, J 4 1 5 5 Totals 33 15 28 61 Score by Quarters: Celeste 15 20 17 20 72 Annona 11 12 16 22 61 Celeste Tillerson 9 6 1 24 Pruitt 5 2 3 12 Lanier 3 9 3 6 Roach 3 0 0 6 Weatherley 2 2 1 6 Totals 23 10 8 54 Slidell Pruett 7 5 5 19 Hickerson 5 3 4 13 England 1 9 2 2 Mole 5 1 1 10 Atcheson 3 2 2 8 Pierce 0 1 1 0 Totals 21 11 16 52 Score by Quarters: Celeste 10 14 17 13 54 Slidell 13 12 10 17 52