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 (do) in 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 ha 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 then hold on for a narrow but decisive victory.

Unusual Rule

To add to the will 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 rule 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 (again).

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 games highest scorer with twenty-four points, made nine of Celeste's eleven points in the he 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 this 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 to...(Rest of clipping missing).

Celeste
Joe Tillerson.........9...6...1...24
David Pruitt...........5...2...3...13
Lloyd Lanier..........3...0...3.....6
Bud Roach............3...0...0.....6
Jerry Weatherley..2...2...1.....6

Slidell
Pruett....................7...5...5...19
Hickerson.............5...3...4...13
England................1...0...2.....2
Mole......................5...1...1...10
Atcheson..............3...2...2......8
Pierce...................0...1...1......0

Celeste..............10...14...17...13...54

Slidell.................13...12...10...17...52

Class B Morning Round

Bailey

Cox...............4
London, J...10
Jones............8
London, D..21
Gresham....13

Slidell
Atcheson...31
Pruett.........24
Mote.............6
Gardner........4
Burchard......2
Hickerson....4

Celeste
Joe Tillerson......13...12...2...38
David Pruitt......... 4....5....3...13
Lloyd Lanier.........1....3....4.....5
Jerry Weatherley.2....1....4.....5
Bud Roach...........4....3....4...11

Annona
Hausler.................7...4...4....13
Floyd.....................1...3...5......5
Hancock................0...0...5.....0
G. Dean.................2...4...3.....6
Peek......................8...0...3...16
Holloway................1...3...3.....5
J. Dean..................4...1...5.....5

Celeste............15...20...17...72

Annona.............11..12...16...61

(Undated clipping)

Submitted by Sarah Swindell

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