Evening star., 1945-02-18
Vikings 10 Meet
Colts for Last
Spot in Final
Moroons Roted Lucky
In Facing Survivor
Of Extra Contest
BY BOB MCLEAN.

Coach Dutch Usilaner of Tech
High School, rabbits foot in one
pocket and fonr-leaf clovers in an
other, tossed a coin yesterday at a
meeting of the public school physi-
cal education department and won
the first break of the interhigh
basket ball championships starting
Tuesday.
Maj. Mike Kelley, representing
Eastern High, lost. AS a result of
the toss, Tech, deadlocked with
Eastern in the windup of the inter-
high round robin, is ranked as
the No. l team. Eastern is No. 2.
The other deadlock in the stand
ings, between Central and Coolidge,
for the No. 4 spot, will be ironed out
tomorrow at o'clock in the Tech
gym when the teams battle it out
to get into the playoffs.
Rules of the title games specify
that the No. l quintet meets No. 4
on the first day of the two-day
championships, while No. 2 tangles
with No. 3.
BY winning the toss, Tech draws
either Central or Coolidge in the
first round, and neither quint
should trouble Coach Usilaner's
king-size charges greatly. On the
other hand, by losing the coin flip,
Eastern must play Wilson, the No.
five, on the opening day, and the
Green Tigers, red hot when the
chips are down, can punish any
team severely.
Scraps Start Tuesday.
The opening round Tuesday finds
Tech taking on the winner of the
Central Coolidge tilt in Eastern's S
gym at 4 o'clock and Eastern tan
Cling with Wilson at Tech at the
same hour. The winners will meet
for the title at 4 o'clock on Wednes-
day in the Tech gym.
If Eastern and Tech are the
teams that fight it out for the
| championship, as the form sheet
indicates, the Maroons will go into
the fray a favored five, helped by
its big .break Eastern had its
tough luck when Coolidge. quipt
it hads defeated easily early in the
season, snapped the Ramblers' win
ming streak of IA straight Thursday.
Tech, making the most of a wind
up schedule that paired it with
lowly Roosevelt and Western, open
ed up stretch drive that has fans
comparing the Maroon with some
of the best teams in local scholastic
history. A tall bunch of sharp
shooters, the Tech boys have rolled
up the two biggest scores Of the
interhigh series in scoring 81 points
against Wilson and 81 in the West
ern game to tie Eastern for the top
spot in the standings.
Eastern Tough in Clutch.
With 6-foot-8 Walt (Swede)
Olson and 6-foot-5 Johnny Moffatt
in the lineup, plus such layup ar
lists as Alvin Lam, George Abra-
ham and Al Raphelson, Tech ap-
pears almost unbeatable, but Eastern
always plays great game when the
going gets tough and the Ramblers
have plenty of supporters.
Dopesters who are trying to pre-
dict the outcome of the playoffs
recall that Eastern defeated Tech. 28
to 18, in the opening round of the
regular series, but Coach Woody
Smitherman and the Ramblers who
saw Tech play Friday know that
they will face an entirely different
team if they tangle with the Maroon
in the title playoff.
Eastern, banking on Bob Lamon,
termed the best individual player in
town; Eddie Charnock and AL
D'Ambrosio, has three aces that can
give Tech difficulty, and should the
final match them, the game should
be one Of the greatest ever played
| here by SchoolbOy teams.