Evening star., 1937-03-17
BEATS GENERALS
IN EXTRA SESSION
Takes on Western Tonight.
Eastern and St. Johns
Share Spotlight.
BY BILL DISMER, Jr.

IF A valiant Mount Rainier basket
ball team fulfllls its promise of
counteracting the effect of two
hard games within the space OF
20 hours and gives the Districts high
school champion run for its money,
this old town tonight is going to see
two Of the gosh-darndest basket ball
games that ever composed schol-
RStic double-header.
While the majority Of the city's
court fans were talking today only of
the Eastern-St. Johns game which
will climax the semi-final program
of The Stars Metropolitan scholastic
tournament at Tech High tonight,
those on the inside of the fifth annual
classic were unwilling to sell the
Mounts short in their game against
mighty Western which will open the
twin bill at 8 o'clock.
Admittedly, the only suburban team
left in the tournament is the under
dog" but developments of the last two
DAYS not only have won it popular
favor with the Journeys followers but
made it nearly an even choice to pull
another upset.
The lowering of the odds on West
ern are due entirely to events between
the hours of o'clock Monday nlght
and S O'Clock yesterday afternoon,
which stamped Mount Rainier not
onlv as a combination with plenty OF
heart, but q team of championship
caliber. Undefeated and boastlng
streak of % straight victories, the
Mounts rode 10 miles by bus over
snow-covered roads Monday afternoon
to Hagerstown where they were 10
NAV the Allegany High of Cumber-
land, one of the strongest teams IN the
State, in the Western Shore cham-
pionship tournament.
Mounts Indomitable.
IAMPERED by driving conditions,
IL Coach Perry Wilkinson and his
little band did not arrive at the scene
of the game until 1880 O'Clock, one
half hour before game-time. Making
the sad angle as brief as possible,
Allegany handed them their first de-
feat in % games. And once more the
Mounts took to the road, arriving
home at 1870 am.
Under such conditions hardly any
team could be expected to recover Its
winning form inside of few days,
much less the day following Yet.
Mount Rainier not only came through
with a victory yesterday, but Gid so
in as thrilling a manner as any en-
trant has done in the flve-year history
of The Star-sponsored competition.
Using only six men, in contrast to
the 10 used by Westinghouse OF
Ballston, the Mounts rallied from the
depths of seemingly certain defeat to
win a 3l-27 declsion-in two over
time periods! Seventy minutes of the
hardest playing those half dozen
young lives ever experienced in less
than days period, but seml-flnal
role in the classiest of local schoolboy
tournaments is their reward!
More to their credit is the fact that
the team is entirely new this year, not
one regular of the 1886 season
being on the squad. Only two Of the
six boys whom Wilkinson will gamble
upon were on last years squad-Ed
Shinn and George (Roneo) Taylor.
The rest-Gregory O'Connor, Harold
Brown, Country Miller and Bartlett
Dorr-are playing their first high
school basket ball.
When it is realized that Mount Raj
nier High School has a student body
of only BIT, compared to the thou
sands of other survivors in this tourna-
ment, some idea of the magnitude Of
Wilkinson's-and the kids'-feat is
grasped.