The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-12-07
Ely Divides Double Bill
With E Ueleth Hoop Teams
High School Takes 80 to %
Win Handily; Virginia to
Come Here Saturday.

The Ely high school basketball team,
playing a typical first-of -the-season
game, turned back the Eveleth high
school cagerS, 80 to %, in Memorial
gymnasium Friday night.
Aside from brief rally on the part
of the visitors at the start of the
second half when they pulled up within
two points of the host club, Ely never
was threatened, holding a comfortable
margin throughout the contest.
Ely will encounter a more potent foe
in its second game of the season with
Virginia to be played in Memorial gym,
Saturday evening, starting at 8:15
o'clock 1t will be the first real test
for the local crew and should provide
fans with plenty of thrills.
The Bluedevils proved themselves an
up and coming aggregation by polish
ing off talented Aurora five, 80 to
26, on the Queen City floor last week.
The Ely and Virginia seconds will
tangle at tbs o'clock.
Coach Steve Silrekar apparently has
wealth of material available, using
topperS. The sophomore and junior
members of the club seem to have set
| the pace for the seniors.
Starting the game were Frank Vert
mix, sophomore, Willie Grahek, senior
at forward; Ted Grahek, a junior, at
center, and Albert Rowe and Lloyd
Bird, both juniors, at the guard posts
This team worked smoothly and had q
decided edge on the seniors who fol-
lowed it onto the floor.
Ted Grahek remained at center dur
ing the shifting of the lineup, going
the entire distance without substitu-
ton. Working with him as Coach
Smrekar benched the rest of the
starters in the middle of the second
quarter were Paul Prola, senior, and
Roy Johnson, a junior, forwards, and
William Mills and Andrew Luthanen
both seniors, at the guard positions
Coach Smrekar substituted freely
throughout the game in an attempt to
develop a winning combination, but
none worked quite so well as the start
ing lineup.
Sparkplug of the Ely attack was Vert
mix, who scored three times from the
floor. Willie Grahek also gave good
account of himself as did Paul Prola
both regulars last year. Rowe and Bird
turned in nice performance at guard
the former particularly living up to the
reputation he established on the soph-
omore squad last year.
Eveleth was able to score but one
free throw in the initial quarter as Ely's
guarding kept them far away from the
hoop. In the final quarter the best
they could get was basket and two
charity losses.
Ely confined most of it's shooting to
pot shots from under the basket OF
from inside the free throw line. The
boys took AZ cracks at the hoop to sink
IL goals to make about % per cent of
their shots. Eveleth sent the ball goal
ward go times and sank but field
goals.
The moving of the court end line four
feet instead OF two feet back of the
plane of the blackboard proved to be a
decided aid to the defensive team.
Guards, who always keep themselves
between the shooter and the basket, in
variably were always between the of
fensive team and the ball when it
failed to go through the hoop, captur-
ing it before it went out of bounds.
There was considerably more action
underneath the basket, but it was made
up mainly of fights for possession of the
ball. 1t presented an additional head
ache for the officials, who ran into
difficulties continually on the close-in
playing.
There was plenty of loose playing that
is typical of all early season games
with the local crew doing more than its
share of fumbling and bad passing. In
possessing such a large amount of ma
terial of nearly equal ability, Coach
Smrekar stamped himself as a mighty
tough problem for the clubs who have
an eye on district honors Anita Erick-
sen acted as cheer-leader for the game
The box score: