Arizona republican., 1921-01-23
COYOTES DEFEAT
 MESA A TO 23 . IN HARD BAT T[E
Phoenix Squad Forced Into Overtime To Nose Out Fast Gateway City Five; Mesa Leads At Half Way Mark, II to 9 Teams Play Cautiously

The Coyote basketball team jour- neyed to Mesa Friday night and gained 1-point verdict in an overtime battle with Mesa high in one of the prettiest and hardest waged contests ever staged between these ancient rivals. The "A to 2S decision threw Coach Vennes squad into a tie with Tempe normal for the valley Class A title. The cham pionship game between these schools will be played in Phoenix next Fri
 day, the winner to play Gilbert high,
 title winners in Class B, for the val ley honors.
 passing and clever basket shooting, 1 coupled with unexcelled defensive play, made the game one of the prettiest i spectacles of the season Members of | both teams set terrific clip from the ! outset with the result that the Coy ote captain, Davis, was banished early 1 in the game for personal fouls. In ] the last half. Salisbury. Mesa guard, was also retired for rough play.
 From start to finish the game was
 a real battle Defensive play was the
 chief concern of the opposing auintets, 1 and they put up as pretty a bit ol~A guarding as has been seen on any val ley floor in years. r
 At the half way station Mesa held
 the edge. II to 9. Phoenix, crippled ! through the loss of Slagle, momentarily lost its equilibrium when Captain Da-
 wis was sent to the side lines after 10
 minutes of play, with the result that
 Mesa got out in front
 Going into the second half, the Coy
 ote machine got into operation The
 game waxed hot back and forth. first
 one team and then the other holding
 the whip hand, and when Referee
 Phelps called time at the end of the
 regulation period, the score stood 22 l all A five minute overtime period was played and during this time the Coyotes made one field goal to one foul basket by Mesa giving the final result, Coyotes 24 Mesa g. S Big Tex Middleton, center. gave ex-
 hibftions of offensive and defensive ] play. He was all over the floor, in [ half dozen spots at the same time it seemed, shooting baskets. passing and ? playing defensively. His seven field . goals tell the story of the Coyote vic tory Eighteen of the 24 points ac- credited to Phoenix were made by Tex, ( points being added from the foul 1 line.
 n An analysis of the game shows that n superior basket shooting from the floor 0 won the game for Phoenix The Coy c otes were credited with 10 field bas- C kets to : for Mesa. On the other C hand. weakness from the foul line all
 but cost the Capital City boys the : game Slagle, regular foul basket n shooter, was out of the game because : of sickness, and Middleton was obliged g to take up these duties. While he was q scoring points in about 10 chances . Smith, Mesa center. dropped in n s through the cage. The work of smith :, center. Clark forward, and Spillsbury a guard was unusually good. The lineup: | Coyotes Position Mesa. T Oldham - LF. ..--.-...- Clarf e Coggins RE- ..... Fullel : Middleton - C. . STniti n Hill RG Lisonbet - Davis ........... l9.G. ..-.-. SpIilsbufA Il Summary: Field goals-Oldham, 2 t l-nneins AliddIatnn. [. CIark. 3.