Evening star., 1945-02-08
Eastern, Tech Facing
Danger in Battling
Wilson, Roosevelt
BY BOB MCLEAN.

ny OO0 MCCLEAN.
Jockey Jake, jr., our schoolboy
friend who has given up his career
of making book on scholastic bas-
ket ball games to become an expert
on the current high school series,
has tipped us of that the champion
ship race is In for a shakeup to-
morrow.
Jockey Jake, who hasn't called q
game wrong all season, retired from
wagering following the publicity we
gave him in q recent column, but
holds no grudge against us. In
fact jake, with the open-handed-
ness Of his Is years, is giving us
this dope for nothing. He may have
an angle In 1t somewhere, but we
can't find 1t.
However, Jake is getting cautious
He no longer will name outright
his forecast of game. He feels
he must state the factors that may
sway The result either way.
For instance, Jake thinks that
Eastern will beat Wilson tomorrow
in the top game of the day at
Tech provided Eastern hasn't be-
come overconfident after its 13-
game winning streak. Jake says the
boys are getting little cocky and
may take a tumble if they don't
snap out Of 1t. Wilson had q redhot
quintet that was going places until
the three stars of the outfit were
banged up in q postgame brawl
across the river.
Wilson Could, Eastern May.
Wilson, Jake says in q hedging
statement, actually has q chance of
winning If Gene Taylor's hand, hurt
in that mixup, has healed sufncient-
ly, and If Tom McLarney and Josh
Dorsey have snapped back from the
shaking up they got. However,
jake howevers. Eastern still has the
top man in town in Bob Lamon, a
one-man ball club, and with the aid
of Eddie Charnock and AL DAmbro-
sio, may prove little too powerful
for the Tigers.
Who does Jake think is going
to win? You figure it out. We
can't.
Jake's other predictions are made
on the same hazy "if' basis. Cool
idge will lick Central In the game
at Roosevelt, he thinks, but warns
that the Colts have lost their de-
pendable star, Dana Scott, now
graduated and at Yale with a
scholarship. Central showed great
form yesterday In beating st.
Anthony's, and If Gus Baroutas and
Steve Manos can get going again
as they did in the early season,
Central may provide an upset, the
expert says. Coolidge, however, has
been hot lately, and with a real
chance to get into the playoffs will
be playing to the limit But don't
sell Central short, our expert cau-
tions
Our young expert is equally vague
concerning the outcome of the
Tech Roosevelt game at Eastern.
A week ago Tech would have been
a sure thing to win, he says, but
what happens? Yesterday, Roose-
welt ups and beats St. Johns, one
Of the best teams in the Metropon-
tan Area, and on that kind OF form
can't be discounted. Tech, though,
rates as the outstanding threat to
Easterns title hopes, and has been
going strong all season. Only team
to beat Tech in the interhigh series,
the expert reminds us, was Eastern,
and that was in the early season
before the race really got tough.
Tech Good, Riders Not Bad.
Tech also has beaten Wilson, and
that's quite an accomplishment.
Jake adds the usual however"
with the warning that Roosevelt is
an entirely different quint from the
five that was getting walloped all
over the place early this year. Watch
out for Roosevelt, he says in his be-
wlldering way, concluding with the
prediction that Tech also may win.
But in his forecast for the West
ern-Anacostia game at Anacostia,
little Jake really hits his stride.
Neither team has won q game in the
series and neither has shown any
form to speak Of. In addition to
that, Western has Just lost Buddy
Hart to the Army and Hart was the
top star Of the club. Anacostia Just
can't seem to click, but Ronny Kent
is beginning to show signs Of devel-
oping as a real player, our scout re-
ports, and If he should get going to-
morrow, Anacostia will have good
chance.
We called jake on that one. How
about real prediction-we wanted
to know.
I'll tell you," said the expert.
''One thing is certain. BY the time
that game is over one of those teams
finally can say it. has won game
in the SERIES"
Thanks, pal. You've been a real
help.