The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-03-07
FOUR STRONG
 TEAMS LEFT IN
 STATE TOURNEY
BY GEORGE T. DILLON

Outscoring New Britain from the floor, i7 to l6. meant little to War ren Harding as the Presidents miss1 ed seven in seven tries from the foul line while the Hardware City five sank eight of l3 complimentary attempts as close to 4,00O fans saw the defending state and New Eng land champions eliminated from the the Class A high school basketball tournament, 40 to 34, last night at the New Haven Arena.
 In the appetizer" which turned out to be a much better contest, fouls again decided the outcome. Bristol high outscored New London Bulkeley from the floor, l4 to l3, but Billy O'Brien's Whaling City kids converted 10 times on IA free throws from the l5-foot stripe while tho best Tommy Monahan's lads coulc do was make six in Is which told the tale as the Bell Cityites were eliminated, 36 to 34.
 Semi Finals Thursday
 Two attractive semi-final contests are on the Arena docket Thursday evening. The. opener at 7;30 will pit last evenings winners against each other while the main tilt at 9 will bring together Torrington, seeded No. in the competition, against a tall New Haven Hillhouse aggre- gation, Thursdays winners will clash in the finals Saturday night and Saturdays winner will repre- sent Connecticut in Providence, R. l., next week in the 18th annual New England tourney.
 Bookmakers. spotting Bristol six points, realized they were in for a shellacking soon after the game started, for the Bell Cityitcs started like champions and after the first quarter held an II to Q edge. At halfway Bulkeley trailed l9 to 9, but Bristol slipped miserably in the third frame and as the last canto started were trailing, 9 to 23. The last quarter was marked by very unorthodox play with players on both squads bombarding the irons from all angles of the floor, com pletely forgetting the fundamentals of team work. New London cashed in on this style of play as several long shots from mid-court found the mark.
 Jimmy Wctmore, black-haired guard of the OBrienmen. was the star of tho contest. Scoring three field goals, he added six charity awards in eight tries, to capture in- d!vidual scoring honors with l2 points. He also was & tower of strength on defense and his quick thinking broke up many Bristol plays beneath the irons.
 Presidents Look Bad
 Steve Miska's husky, but slow. Warren Harding club, spot ted three points D ythe bookles, fail. cd to look like tho No. 2 team of the tourney. The Presidents opened against New Britain with their Sec- ond stringers in action and shortly after hte start of the second period the regulars were ushered in with the up-starters In the lead, l2 to 5. Prom then on Harding was always on the short end, being 13 points behind with two minutes of the third quarter left.
 Captain Pat Perellie was the only hope of the Presidents. A dead set shot, the aggressive forward sunk eight field goals in Q loSlr , cause. However, his mates wer eunable to cope with him and time and time again missed easy set shots and lay up tries. Their foul-shooting waS the worst In the history of the tour ney, three of their tries not even hitting the irons or backboardS. The best team won, but even In victory did not look too good.