Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-12
ISLANDERS ARE
IN The FINALS
Will Battle With Bloomington
Tonight for State Basket
ball Championship.
WON 2 GAMES YESTERDAY
Mt. Vernon and Hinsdale, Two Of the
Best Teams in Illinois, Fell Be
fore Their Speed.

Bloomington, ILL.,, March 12.-(Spe-
cial.) Rock Island and Bloomington
high schools are scheduled to fight it
out for the state basketball champion
ship as the result of their both having
won two games yesterday afternoon
and evening. thereby putting the four
other contestants for the honor out of
the running The final game is sched-
contest will be the champion team Of
the state.
Yesterday afternoon two games were
played, Bloomington defeating Noko-
mis- SO to IS, and Rock Island winning
from Mt. Vernon 81 to "a. Blooming
toms defeat of Nokomis was almost
foregone conclusion, but after seeing
the Mt Vernon and the Rock Island
teams at practice it was evident that
the two teams were pretty evenly
matched and that the DOWNSTAIRS
were considerably stronger than they
were given credit for being when they
won their preliminary at their own
gym
Is Battle Royal.
The game was a battle royal from
start to finish and the spectators were
given an exhibition of some of the
fastest playing they had ever seen.
The Rock Island team presented its
usual lineup with Lift at center, Mac
Manus and Streckfus at forward and
Young and Steenburg at guard. The
losers lineup was as follows: Harlow.
center; Moss and Pulliam, forwards,
and Reid and Royal, guards.
HinsdaIe Disposed OF.
The strong Hinsdale team, which was
counted upon by many to win the
championship, was put out of the run
ming when it met the Rock Island boys
in the second game of the evening
The score was 81 to 81. The Rock Is
landers put up an even better game
than they had in the afternoon and
simply overwhelmed the losers. Their
team play and consistent basket throw
ing was the best that had been exhib-
tied up to that time. Benhamann, who
MacManus at forward for the
Rock Islanders, was the particular star
of the contest, making nearly half of
the winners points with total of
eight baskets. The Hinsdale lineup
was: Davidson, center; Conover and
Keith, forwards, and Bahlman and
guards.
The first game during the evening
was played by Bloomington and Mt.
and the former won handily
by a score of So to 10. The losers put |
up weak resistance and the winners
had things easy so that they could |
make baskets almost at will
Looks Like Rock Island.
The general verdict of the specta- |
tors who have witnessed the games |
thus fer is that the Rock Island team |
is the best that has played here and |
that it will defeat the Bloomington |
team in the final contest, although the |
latter has made the better scores so /
far. This is due, however, to the fact |
that Rock Island has disposed of two
Of the hardest teams to beat which
were entered in the tournament, while
was opposed to the two
which were admittedly the weakest of
them all. If the Rock Islanders show
the same form in the game tonight
which characterized the games yester-
lay, they will win the state champion
ship unless something unforeseen in
.ervenes.
Lift is the Star.
Richard Lift, captain of the Island
ers, is without doubt the speediest and
most accurate basketball player yer
seen on the local floor, and the Island
ers owe their victories to him more
han any other player. His playing is
he feature of the tournament