The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-25
RTS--- SUCCESS MARKS OPENING OF TOURNEY-SPORTS
FAST GAMES FEA TURF OPENING
 OF STAT TIE BASKETBALL MEET
Lanier, SpringviIIe, Marbury, Gordo, GreenviIIe, Simpson and Central Win Their Games

Games
 The first day of play in the Ala bama High school basketball cham pionship tournament was a success from every standpoint. Every game played was good and the event was marred by only one forfeiture, that of Collinsville, to Shawmut, nac- count of the illness of members of the Collinsville team preventing this quin- tet from arriving in Birmingham to participate in the tourney. Seven games were played yesterday morning and afternoon with the fol- lowing results:
 SpringvilIe defeated Warrior, 34
 to IA.
 CoIlinsville forfeited to Shaw
 nut.
 Sidney Lanier defeated LangdaIe,
 70 13.
 Greenville defeated EnsIey, 37
 to 20.
 Mnrbury defeated Ozark. 31 to Ii.
 Simpson defeated Fairfax, 56
 to13.
 GOrdo defeated Lnnette. 90 to 25.
 Central High school defeated
 HaleyvilIe High, 6 to 20.
 The victory of Sidney Lanier was perhaps the most decisive of any, for the Poets outclassed their opponents in every department of the game. f4anier promises to be one of the lead :1g contenders for the championship, and it will surely give somebody ter- -ible battle before being defeated- tSat is, if they are defeated.
 ENSLEY ELIMINATED
 If the three local schools entered in the tournament, two, Central and Simp- son, easily won their games and give promise of sticking through till near the end, if not to the finals. Ensley, how ever, caught a tarter in Greenville and was defeated, 37 to 26, but not be- fore Coach Hovaters boys had given sp1eE1id account of themselves Green vile nas a fast team, with several good shooters in the lineup, and these boys are sure to be heard of before the tourney is over.
 Marbury, Gordo and Springville all have fast teams that will make tho competition keen during the remainder of the tourney.
 Good refereeing wns feature
 of every game played yesterday,
 Young, Marshall, Bryan, Hotchlxiss
 handling the games fin almost per-
 feet fashion.
 LARGE CROWDS
 That interest in the tournament is great was evidenced by the large crowds that turned out to witness the games yesterday morning and after noon. For every game capacity crowd was recorded, and it was stated by B. A. c. officials yesterday that over 600 paid admissions had been recorded for the days attendance. It was necessary to stop the sale of tick cts for the Central -Haleyville game, as the crowd became so large that stand- ing room was gone.
 Pep" and enthusiasm was much in evidence. and each team had it's quota of supporters on hand to cheer the team on to victory or to console them in defeat.
 K LAST NIGHTS GAMES
 Like the games of yesterday morn ing and afternoon, the battles between the lower bracket teams, staged last night, were well attended, and fast playing featured the three contests staged. Results of last nights games follow:
 Barton academy (Mobile) de-
 feated Shelby County, 56 to 13.
 Walker County defeated Choc-
 tnw County 4 to
 Alliance defeated Tuscaloosa
 High 33 to IA.
 Barton academy made perhaps the best showing of any of the lower bracket teams. Although the players are light, they are fast and have evil dently had good coaching, for their passwork and general ability is en- tirely up to standard. This is one of the best balanced teams in the tourna- ment.
 Walker county turned out to be a heavy but fast aggregation, with some excellent shooters in the lineup.
 Alliance is we'll developed passing machine, but seems to have a tendency to rely on long distance shooting as a medium of scoring. It is surprising how accurate the Alliance players are at this style of shooting, as several of their field goals were made from long distances last night. Disque High of Gadsden drew a bye yesterday. and local fans were unable to witness this team in action. This team will meet Barton academy today and to win it must be a dandy. To- days pairings follow: UPPER BRACKET SpringvflIe vs. Shawmut at o'clock this morning. Sidney Lanier vs. Greenvflle at 10 o'clock this morning. Marbury VII. Simpson at II o'clock this morning. Central VI. GordO at noon today. Winner of SprinEville-Shawmut game meets winner of Lanier- Greenville clash at o'clock to- night.
 Winner of Mnrbury-Simps0n game meets winner of Central Gordo battle at o'clock tonight.
 The above pairings will reduce play