Evening star., 1941-01-28
Leaders Possess 800
Mark While Others
Are Above ZOO
Fight for Bids to Star
Tourney Likely to Be
Red-Hot to Finish
BY GEORGE HUBER.

Eastern. Bethesda Chevy Chase,
Tech and Gonzaga rate as the top
high school basket ball teams in this
area as schoolboy cagers pause at
the halfway mark before plunging
into the stretch drive which ends
with the various series or sectional
championships and the big Star
Metropolitan Tournament to decide
the outstanding team in and around
the District.
Tentative dates for The Star Tour
nament have been set early in March
and invitations will be sent to eight
leading high school teams regularly
competing in and near Washington.
The winner and runnerup in the
high school series will be entered,
as we'll as the first two teams in the
Catholic School League.
Nearby Maryland and Northern
Virginia also will be represented.
with other teams to be invited on the
basis of outstanding season records.
Setting Fast Pace.
Eastern's current spot atop the
Washington schoolboy list has been
earned with a record of eight vic
tories in 10 starts for a percentage
of 800. Bethesda Tech and Con
zaga all have marks of better than
700. That the race for honors is
being contested closely, both in series
and outside games, is shown by the
fact that only Roosevelt, winner of
the high school and METROPOLITAN
crown last year. and Gonzaga, Cath
olic school champion, have been able
to spill an exceptionally good Ram
bier quint.
Bethesda. which has played three
more games than Eastern, has lost
only to Eastern. Washington-Lee
and Maryland Freshmen, and this
last one hardly should count on the
record. BY the same token, Roose-
velts Rough Riders would have a
much better percentage standing
than the .545 they now hold were
1t not for defeats charged against
them by George Washington Fresh
men and Navy Plebes, both teams
hardly in the high school class,
Gonzaga Heavy Scorer.
OF the four leaders. Gonzaga has
the best scoring record, having
averaged "a points a game, followed
by Tech with 80. Techs defensive
figures are best, though. it having
held opponents to "a points again,
8 less than the Maroons have scored
themselves.
Bethesda. despite its good ranking,
has had some close ones and is
averaging only 2 points better. The
good team wins the close ones,
though, and the Barons have won
tight games over Hyattsville, Roose-
welt, Anacostia and Tech.
Percentages don't always tell q
true story, though and must be
discounted in some instances Roose-
velt, for example. ranks below East
ern, Tech and Western in the high
school series. but it is no worse than
an even choice to repeat as cham
pion In the Catholic School League,
st. Johns with 286 is far below
Gonzaga's .729 and GEORGETOWN
Prep's 500, but the Johnnies are far
from out of the race. Montgomery
Blairs 800 compared to Bethesda's
1863 also doesn't give it as good a
chance as it really has of snatching
the Mont tgomery County title. The
Barons are favored, but not by any
7-to-3 margin.
Virginia Teams Close.
That Northern Virginia competi-
ton will be close is shown by the
fact that George Washington, win
ner last year, ranks just under
Washington-Lee with an average of
400 to 429. All three of these sec
tional races, incidently-Montgomery
County, Catholic Schools and North
ern Virginia-have important games
listed later this week and the figures
may have to be revised.
Here are the statistics, the
columns from left to right reading,
name of team. won, lost, percentage,
points, opponents points, average,
opponents average:
Team. W. L. Pct. Pts. Pts Av. Az