Celeste--It will not be an unfamiliar roll (sic) for the Celeste Blue Devils when they take the basketball court at Greenville High School's gymnasium tonight.

This bi - district tilt will be the fourth straight for the Blue Devils and for a few of the team members.

Celeste will tangle with Como, District 44 - B champion, in the bi - district playoff tilt in Greenville tonight. Game time is 8:00 PM.

Gets Their Share

The prolific basketball winners of District 43 - B were not quite as fortunate in early season tournaments, but when it came to winning, the Blue Devils got their share.

Celeste won twenty-eight basketball games and dropped only six during regular season. The champions were 11 - 1 in district action and won two straight playoff games over talented Boles Home.

In 1963, Celeste won its bi - district game over Alba - Golden and went on into the finals of the Regional playoffs in Sherman before dropping the last game.

Nearly every member of this team is back this year with the exception of Tiny Rust.

Scoring Stalwarts

Joe Tillerson, David Pruitt, Lloyd Lanier, Bud Roach, and Jerry Weatherly are the scoring stalwarts this season, as were the former two in 1963.

Lanier opened the 1962 - 1963 season, but suffered a shoulder injury that put him on the bench for the district action. Tillerson and Pruitt carried most of the scoring load during that season.

This season, however, is a different story as far as depth goes. Tillerson, Pruitt, Roach, and Weatherley are all averaging in the double figures. Lanier is really close to this goal. Ronnie Clinton and Mark Hackney add depth as the sixth and seventh men on the team for Coach G. W. Tillerson.

Of those six losses Celeste has suffered this season, they have revenged five of them. The only team the Blue Devils didn't get a second shot at was Class AA Cooper.

Defeat Midlothian

The Blue Devils, in a warm up game last week, defeated Class A district champion Midlothian with Tillerson scoring his season high of forty-one points.

Como will come into this outing with a 32 - 7 season record after winning a playoff in two games over Alba - Golden for the loop championship.

Celeste did not play Como in any of the pre-district tournaments; so, a former game comparison cannot be made. Como lost to Honey Grove in the first round of the East Texas State College Tournament and later to Windom in the consolation division of the same tournament.

Other members of the Celeste Blue Devil basketball squad are W. S. Giles, Monty Blakemore, Guille Seigler, Joe Rodriguez, Harry Childress, Larry Martin, Jackie Jackson, Oliver Craver, Jimmy Steed, Richard Rust, David Hackney, Bill Gibson, Ray Wofford, Danny Lipsey, Garland Evans, and Duane Compton.

(Herald Banner Staff, undated clipping)

Submitted by Sarah Swindell

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