Evening star., 1941-03-08
Riders Slim Favorites
To Halt Charge Of
Gonzaga Quint
Double Incentive Spurs
Mount Rainier and
HyuttsviIIe Girls
BY GEORGE HUBER.


A torrid finish to the 1941 scholas-
tic basket ball season win be written
tonight when Roosevelt and Con-
zaga battle for the boys champion
ship and Mount Rainier and Hyatts-
vile tangle for the girls title in the
finals of The Stars Metropolitan
InterScholastic Tournament at
Tech gym.
If past tournaments are cri-
terion, capacity crowd should
surround the court before hoStil-
tiles get under way with the girls
game at 7:30. The parking problem
has been licked, it is hoped, with a
promise from the District Street
Cleaning Department to have the
parking place at Tech cleared of
snow long before game time. There
is no night school at Tech tonight
and all the space will be available
for those attending the tournament
games.
Roosevelt, on the strength of an
earlier victory over the Eagles, 1895,
and its tournament action to date,
is slim favorite to take the Metro
politan crown as it did last year.
Gonzaga has manifold incentives
for winning and a team capable of
downing the accomplished Rough
Riders.
Hope to Dent Monopoly.
Possessing the Catholic School
title and an invitation to the East
ern States Catholic Tourney at
Newport R. l., the Eagles aim at be-
coming the second team outside the
District public high ranks to cap
ture the Metropolitan crown. st.
Johns did it in 1888 by defeating
Eastern in the final.
Coached by Irvine (HorSe) Hol-
brook, the Eagles sport a season
record of 10 victories against only
five setbacks, a record that compares
with Roosevelt's mark of II wins
and 5 defeats. Both schools also
own long winning streaks, Gonzaga's
standing at seven straight since
loss to Georgetown Freshmen early
last month. Roosevelt has won 10
in row, its string stretching from
late in January when it lost to
Western, a setback that later was
avenged in the playoffs for the
District public high championship.
Gonzaga's potential power is
shown by the fact that it has STAR
studded lineup backed by adequate
reserves. In the starting five are
such lads as Frannie CounSelman,
Bob Mulvihill, Hart Downs, Bernie
Nolan and Buddy Rowzee. Good re-
placements are Joe OLone, Al
Lauck and Joe Murphy.
Seek Outstanding Player Trophy.
Several of these players are strong
candidates for the trophy being
awarded the tournaments outstand-
ing player as chosen by commit
tee of college coaches, but Roosevelt,
too, has several stars that can match
the Eagles down the line. The COM
bination of Frank Ciango, Hymie
Perlo, Charles Howard and Tom and
George Robertson has proved one of
the most potent Schoolboy quintS in
this section and with Dick Good
man, Jim Norton and Frank Red
niger to back them up the Riders
will be slight favorites for tonight's
championship final All have been
developed within the last few years
by Coach Herman Littman, rightly
regarded as one of the outstanding
schoolboy mentors in this section.
Equally heated will be the girls
game. Mount Rainier and HyattS-
vile already have met three times
this season with the Mounts tri-
umphant in two games, but that's
hardly the story. They ran up a
string of 19 straight victories before
being stopped by Hyattsville last
week in the final of the Hyattsville
Gold Cup Tournament and will be
seeking a measure of revenge in
The Star championship final. That
Gold Cup victory gave Hyattsville
a claim to the Prince Georges Coun-
ty championship and it will be out
to strengthen that claim tonight.
The outstanding girl also will be
awarded a trophy. Numerous other
prizes will be distributed, among
them being emblems for winner and
runner-up in both divisions. Mem
bers of the championship boys team
will receive individual statuettes and
there is another trophy to be award
ed a boys team for exceptionally
meritorious performance.
Adding a big part of the color
to tonight's championship games
will be the ElkS' Boys Band, whose
spirited playing has marked previous
tournaments, and Jack O'Connell
again will be at the microphone of
the public address system.