Evening star., 1945-03-05
Torrid Rivals CIashine
In Season Rubber;
Girls in Title Tilt
By BOB McCLEAN

BY BOB MCLEAN
I'm going to Turkish bath and
try to relax" said Coach Dutch
Usilaner of Tech after his team
grabbed a 37-to-36 win in a wild
fourth quarter of a battle with Con-
zaga in the semifinals of The Even
ing Stars annual basket ball tour
nament Saturday night in Uline
Arena.
| Usilaner may need more than q
steam bath to calm him after to-
nights grand finale of the tourney
at Tech High School when the Ma
room tangles with Eastern for the
Metropolitan championship. It's
another double header with the first
game of the evening, at 7 o'clock,
pairing Washington-Lee and Sher-
wood High Schools in a tussle for
the girls title. The Tech Eastern
High clash is listed for o'clock.
AS more than 1000 wildly cheer
ing fans looked on, Tech won Sat-
urday nights game when Andy
Davis, with only 20 seconds of play
remaining, shot a field goal for the
lone-point margin.
Il can't stand another game like
that" says Usilaner, who sweated
out that stirring fourth quarter by
running up and down the sidelines,
wringing his hands, beating his FORE
head and jumping five feet up in
the air every time Tech scored a
basket. The coach's excitement
was pardonable, because everyone
else in that roaring arena felt the
same way.
Rubber" for Tech, Eastern.
Usilaner may be in for a similar
experience tonisht at Tech when
the Maroon tangles with Eastern for
the Metropolitan title. The quintets
are so well matched that choice
between them is impossible. East
ern has won one game in the feud.
Tech has been victorious once-in
the tilt for the 1945 interhigh
championship. This is the rubber
game and it should be a sizzler.
Eastern showed class and power
to burn in defeating st. Johns
Saturday night, but the Ramblers
were overshadowed in drive and
fire by the Tech quintet that put
ON the most spectacular quarter of
the year here against Gonzaga.
Gonzaga, however, is the team of
the year, as far as the will to win
and competitive spirit go. There
are many fans who still feel that
the Streeters actually beat Tech
and certainly GonZaga had thou
sands of rooters as it overcame a
3-to-20 deficit to sweep into the
last minutes of the game with a
lead.
1t was brilliant exhibition by
a hard-playing bunch of youngsters
who were up against team that
has everything, including height,
talent and experience, to beat them
Gonzaga, however, refused to admit
that Tech was its master.
Gonzaga Won't Admit Defeat.
In fact, today, most Gonzagans,
including Coach Joe Kozik, refuse
to admit defeat and feel that it
should be Gonzaga that plays Tech
in tonight's final.
The Gonzaga claim, which is sup
ported by many witnesses, is that
Davis scored Techs winning goal
after the game actually was over.
The contention is that the time
keeper stopped the big electric
clock during approximately 20 Sec
onds of that torrid action, thus CIV
ing Tech the necessary time to cop
the decision.
AS far as the Streeters are con-
cerned, the score of that game is
Gonzaga, 36; Tech, 35. The official
record, however, reads otherwise,
and the clock incident, if true, may
be marked up as one of those things
that happen when thousands of peo-
pie are jammed together and the
game goes wildhouse.
It's too bad we can't rematcf
those two fighting fves. What a
ball game that would be.
The final tonight promises to be
a similar thriller.
News Editor Charles M. Egan, in
behalf of The Star, dedicated the
tournament to the lads who have
played in it in previous years and
have been killed in action in this
war.
The colorful ceremonies provided
Saturday night by the Drum and
Bugle Corps of Marine Barracks,
headed by Drum Major Mccoy; the
National Guard of Honor of the
American Legion, led by Capt. Gail
Judd, and the st. Johns College
band will be absent due to the small
ness of the Tech gym, but Jack
O'Connell will be back at the mike
as master of ceremonies. And
enough redhot basket ball for any
fan will be ON tap.