Evening star., 1945-03-11
Players on AII-Metro
Quintet Chosen for
Competitive Fire
BY BOB MCLEAN.

A pair of dream teams chosen
after consultation with the coaches,
a mulling over of statistics and a
rehash of the years big games, the
two squads present study in con-
trasts.
The all-high team was chosen on
| the basis of general all-round player
excellence, individual point-making
and consistent performance. The
all-tournament team was culled
from those players in The Evening
Stars annual basket ball tourna-
ment who showed the greatest COM
petitive fire, spirit and the will-to-
win that makes for colorful sports
The all-high first team is COM
posed entirely of players from Tech
and Eastern, the quintS that wound
up in the finals of both The Stars
event and the interhigh champion
ship race.
Came From Losing Clubs.
In contrast, the players on the
all-tournament squad come from
losing teams, clubs that made a
great stand in going down swinging
and added the spark that set the
tourney on fire.
Tech, Metropolitan champion and
interhigh kingpin, took five places
on the all-high squad, placing two
players on the first team and three
on the second. Eastern, runnerup
to Tech in both the Metro event
and the high school series, has the
edge on the first team, however,
with three players to Techs two
Central and Wilson each placed 8
youngster on the second team.
Gonzaga, on the basis of the
great fourth quarter of the semi
final Star tourney clash with Tech,
rates four lads on the all-tourna-
ment listings, the surprising Mount
Rainier squad and the game st.
Johns outfit placed two each, while
Bethesda and Tech each landed a
spot.
The all-high first team of Johnny
Moffatt and Andy Davis of Tech
and Billy Graham, Al D'Ambrosio
and Bob Lamon of Eastern is the
answer to any coach's prayer.
Provide Plenty of Height.
Moffat, D'Ambrosio and Lamon
provide the height, the experience
and hoopshooting skill. Little Billy
Graham and Andy Davis ring in a
hard playing brand of basket ball
that would sparkplug any quintet.
1t was Davis, in fact, whose field
goal in the final seconds of play
gave Tech 37-to-36 win over Con-
Zaga in the Metro semifnal. in a
Istandout example of how Andy has
been winning games for Tech all
year. Davis, star gridder, is no
ball-hog or prima donna star, but
a colorful dependable, who put the
teamwork in Techs championship
machinery.
Graham did the same job for
Eastern Smaller than most of the
lads he played against, Coach Woody
Smitherman always could count on
Billy to pep up the Rambler attack
when it began to bog.
OF the an-star five, Lamon Ger
tainly was the player of the year.
AS cool as ice, Bob is a steady, un-
excitable worker, whose long set
shots and pass work put the school
boy game on level with the college
game. His firm leadership held to-
gether an Eastern team that threat
ened to blow skyhigh on many
occasions
D'Ambrosio Fiery Tosser.
His teammate, D'Ambrosio. is a
direct opposite of Lamon. Excite
able, fiery. there was no stopping
ID'Ambrosio when he got going. A
tall, lanky youngster, AIS eyes are
so weak tha' he couldn't read the
scoreboard without the glasses he
wears off the court. D'Ambrosio
however, had no trouble finding the
hoop on layups to share scoring
honors with Lamon in many of East
ern's triumphs.
The fifth man on the dream team,
Moffatt, turned in many a sparkling
performance in leading Tech to its
pair of championships. A natural
ball hawk and deadeye shooter, Moi
fatt was one of the hardest workers
of the season and many times pulled
Tech out of hole
But for sheer color, We give you
the all-tournament first team line
up of George Jelly, Joe Burke and
Billy Kellinger of Gonzaga, Tommy
Gletner of st. Johns and Bucky
Loomis of Mount Rainier. None of
them was on a winning team, but
each added his own particular brand
of fire to put the big thrills in The
Stars event.
Little Fellows Gain Glory.
Jelly, Burke and Kellinger, small
lads all, came through in that men,
orable fourth stanza of the game
with Tech, to run all over a taller,
more experienced team that had
everything in the world to beat
them.
It's no fault of this trio that Tech
eventually won by a single point, be-
cause they turned on the kind of
basket ball that had a crowd of 1000
standing and cheering them on in
What many term the best Schoolboy
game in 10 years.
And then there's Tommy Glet-
ner and Bucky Loomis, who refused
to go down without a fight against
favored rivals. Gletner put the pep
in st. Johns losing rally against
Eastern in the Metro semifinals to
come within 8 points of the Ram
bier lead, only to lose, 26 to 10. Until
the final gun, Tommy refused to
quit, and he got big hand for the
show
Loomis was the startler of a Mount
Rainier five that went against Con-
zaga in the opening round without
a chance in the world of winning
according to most fans. Instead the
Mounties. spanked by the big, hard
playing youngster, were beaten by
only 9 points, Al to 38, after handing
the I Streeters a considerable scare