-----------

1980-81 at La Salle -- The First of Coach
Bill Michuda's Two League Championships . . .
 
  This story was written after La Salle won the 1980-81 Catholic
 League championship by beating West Catholic, 40-38 . . .

  "This might sound ridiculous, but I told the kids all year, 'There's only one superstar . . . and He's up in heaven. The only way La Salle can attain success is by playing together.' "
   -- Bill Michuda

By Ted Silary
  During the first half of yesterday's Catholic League title game, La Salle High played basketball like the words uttered so often by their coach were gospel, like lightning would drop them dead in their tracks if they dared not to sacrifice.
  Chris O'Brien flipped to Chip Greenberg for chip shots from the wings over 3-2 and 2-1-2 zones. O'Brien and Greenberg, in turn, whisked passes to Mike Flanigan and Mark Mischler for layups and short jumpers that gave people the impression, due to scant resistance, that warmups had not yet ended.
  In fact, the Explorers played so well, they almost played themselves into pine boxes, the kind that are lowered into the ground and covered with dirt.
  Trailing 27-21 at an intermission, West's Pat Cassidy made the X-and-O move of the season, deciding to scrap lazy zones in favor of a triangle-and-two.
  Godwin Guerrero played O'Brien and Eric Rutherford played Greenberg. Maybe
stalked is a better word.
  In 30 games, the Explorers had never faced that defense. In numerous workouts, they had never worked against it, either.
  You can probably imagine the confusion that resulted as Mischler, Flanigan and Brian Rodden gave up their dribble and looked to O'Brien and Greenberg.
  You can probably imagine the looks on their faces, which seemed to say, "These guys got us in drydock. Go on and do your thing. "
  WHAT YOU MIGHT not be able to fathom is La Salle, which converted only four
second-half baskets, emerged on the positive side of 40-38 math, thus emerging
with its first league title since 1963.
  For an explanation, we return to a bathroom in the Palestra's northwest locker room, where Bill Michuda is standing in a pool of water that becomes grander by the droplet.
  "This was replete with the same characteristics as all our big games, " Michuda said. "It was almost like somebody used the same script. I have  been saying all year, these kids have intangibles, things that don't show in boxscores.
  "Against that triangle, I couldn't quite get the kids to think along my lines. We've got coaches on the floor in O'Brien and Mischler. And they helped pull us through. "
  O'Brien attempted no shots in the second half and Greenberg launched his trio, making two, in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
  If someone had told Michuda beforehand that La Salle would have to plug onward with almost no points from its best two performers in the second half, he might have jammed chunks of glass in his tires or perhaps a knife in his heart.
  " Hey, people should know us by now," roared sub Tom " Disco" Nolan. "We
hang in there like Charley Tuna. Nothing keeps us down for long. "
  "That (triangle) never entered our minds," stated Greenberg, who accounted for two-thirds of the Explorers' first-half output with 10 points and four assists. " A box-and-one, maybe, but not a triangle. That defense killed us. Chris and me were taken right out of the game. What a shocker!
  "TRUTHFULLY, I LOST my confidence when West took the lead (with the first 7
points of third quarter). They had all kinds of momentum and we were doing
nothing. "
  At least the veteran Explorers - Mischler, O'Brien and Flanigan all started as sophs - had learned enough by the final game to retain their composure and keep their goals within sight.
  That might have been difficult, considering a 48-34 loss to Judge in the first round of the '79 playoffs and a 64-60 loss to Kenrick in the first round of the '80 playoffs. The Explorers were even edged by West Catholic last spring in the Palumbo League final, albeit minus Mischler.
  "We had this dream since freshman year," Mark said. " We had a good record that year and we've always said since, 'Come senior year, we want a title. '
  "Even during down moments, I always thought it would come. It never crossed my mind that we might not do it.
  "We had to grow up. We'd fall apart under pressure last year a lot. When faced with pressure this year, we would hang together, take it to our opponent. A few losses this season resulted from playing like individuals, but mostly we played like a team.
  "IN THE PLAYOFFS, the teams that come together most are the teams that win.
We stuck together the whole time down here. "
  Want proof? Though Greenberg notched 42 points in three Big House appearances, shooting 16-for-28 and 10-for-10, Mischler (25), Rodden (20), O'Brien (17) and Powell (17) provided balance while Flanigan averaged a team-high six rebounds.
  "I look at very good teams getting upset in the NCAAs," Michuda said, "and, in my opinion, they are losing because they are not playing together. Our people did that straight through the playoffs. "
  Even so, the Explorers failed to dazzle anyone down the stretch and could have emerged with nooses rather than nets around their necks if West had displayed a little more poise and alertness.
  Specifically, Eric Rutherford launched a 23-footer with 1:02 remaining and the Burrs trailing by one. Specifically, when Mischler flubbed the second part of a one-and-one at 0:23 after giving La Salle a 38-36 lead, Anthony Murphy couldn't get the rebound and fouled Mike Flanigan, who made both free throws.
  A basket by Rousey, a missed foul shot by O'Brien and 21 seconds later, Rousey was off right and short with a desperate shot from two steps inside midcourt.
  "If ever there was a losing team which had a right to say, 'We should've won,' it was us," said Cassidy. " We did just enough things wrong. "
  Yup, even the surprise of the year, the switch to a triangle, couldn't prevent defeat though it surely created doubt and confusion.
  "These young people are winners ," Michuda noted. "That's something you can't teach. "
  But as we have noticed during the past three seasons of La Salle-watching, the art of winning can surely be learned.
  TITLE TIDBITS: Bill Michuda has coached La Salle (23-8) for two years. He
played for La Salle College, assisted at La Salle and spent one season as JV coach under Bill " Speedy" Morris at Roman . . . West shot 4-for-11 from the foul line . . . In '63, La Salle defeated Cardinal Dougherty for the title, 55-43, as Frank Gaidjunas scored 22 points and George Smith added 12.

La S

Pts

QUARTERFINAL
At the Palestra
La Salle 41, Kenrick 39 (OT)
  Chris O’Brien drained an 8-foot jumper at 0:03 and Kenrick’s Mike Lowry could only hit the rim on a 30-footer. Chip Greenberg had 10 points, five assists. Kenrick’s Jim McLaughlin had 10 points.
SEMIFINAL
At the Palestra
La Salle 52, Judge 47
  Chip Greenberg mixed 18 points, six rebounds and three assists and sub Dave Powell had nine points, five boards. Mark Singer (16) paced Judge.
FINAL
At the Palestra
La Salle 40, West 38
  While facing a triangle-and-two — on Chip Greenberg (14) and Chris O'Brien — for the first time all season, La Salle scored just four second-half field goals but managed to capture its first title since 1963. Mark Mischler had 10 points and eight rebounds and Mike Flanigan hit two free throws for a 40-36 lead with 0:21 left. West's Anthony Murphy had 13 points, eight boards.

By Ted Silary
  For one game - and, assuredly, one game only - Abe Dunmeyer last night became the best sixth man in high school basketball.
All productive first subs across the country are welcome to argue the point, but dissent would probably prove fruitless.
  As Penn Charter stopped visiting Haverford School, 75-59, to clinch its second Inter-Ac League title in three years, Dunmeyer merely shot 8-for-10 and 4-for-7 for 20 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dealt 5 assists.
  Ah, but an asterisk is in order.
  Dunmeyer, a husky, 6-1 junior, began the game pinned to the bench. He and and two other starters, junior guards Scott Burke and Pete Jacquinto, made late entrances as part of "Senior Night" festivities.
  Marv Dunmeyer, Abe's brother, was joined as a starter by fellow seniors Chris White (key sub), Bill Doyle and Tony Rinaldi (deep subs). That, of course, is only four players. But since they are the Quakers' only seniors, 6-6 sophomore Matt Guokas was able to retain his starting berth at center.
  "Chris White plays meaningful minutes for us," said coach Bill Michuda, ''while Bill Doyle's an athlete and Tony Rinaldi's a gym rat. I wasn't going to leave them out there for seven minutes or so, but I felt we owed them three, four minutes if we could give it to them. I wasn't too worried. "
  By the time Burke and Jacquinto checked in 2:30 into the game, Charter had its usual starting five on the floor and Guokas was ready to complete a three- point play for a 9-0 lead.
  Early in the second quarter, the score ballooned to 27-10 to effectively remove most suspense for the overflow crowd, although Haverford's Ed McCrystal (13-for-19, 33 points, 10-for-10 second half, almost all on long jumpers) certainly kept everyone entertained. The loss put Haverford's record at 18-5, 6-3.
  "It (patchwork starting lineup) was nothing to get worried about. We came out playing as hard as usual," Abe Dunmeyer said. "The seniors are as good as the juniors and the juniors are as good as the sophomores. We have a whole team.
  "I'm sure they (White, Doyle, Rinaldi) were very nervous, like anybody would be as a first-time starter. They did the job, though. I give it to them. "
  The Dunmeyer brothers each attended Roxborough as freshmen before being plucked by Penn Charter, where they then repeated a year.
  Marv, also 6-1, spends much of his time on the perimeter. Abe stays inside and thrives. Little brother Jon, a 6-3 sophomore, now plays for Roxborough and is one of the Public League's few sophomores of consequence. He, too, is eyeing a switch to the Inter-Ac - either to PC or Germantown Academy, according to Abe.
  "I wasn't sure about following Marv here at all," Abe said. "The Roxborough people tried to talk me into staying. But once I made my mind up that I wanted to better myself in life, and get myself into a better school, that was it, I was leaving. But there was no pressure in following Marv here. None at all. "
  Team-wide pressure will come Tuesday, when the Quakers (22-2, 8-1) attempt to break the (modern, at least) school record for wins in a season. The 1971-72 juggernaut, the last team before the 1983-84 edition to win the championship, also was 22-2.
  "Win the league and break the school record for wins. Those have been our goals for a while," Michuda said.
  Last night, you would have thought the Quakers were out to set a national record for bench scoring.