Evening star., 1948-02-21
Central Five Favored
In Tourney; PIayoffs
For I Berths Opens
By GEORGE Huber

BY George Huber
Central, of its first-place finisl
In the round robin series, will g
into next weeks D. G. public higl
title tournament as the favorite
The Vikings figure as q tough clul
to beat. They've got height, speet
and scoring power all down the line
Their only loss during the regula,
campaign was by 2 points to Wilson
in the opener; since then they've
taken everything in stride. includ'
ing Roosevelt, the runnerup, BY
1888, in last nights windup.
Before the title series next Fri.
day and Saturday nights there mus
be q preliminary playoff to breal
q three-way deadlock for third ane
fourth places. It involves Tech
against Wilson today at American
U. gym, with the loser against
Eastern Monday night at the Ar.
mory. Winners Of these two games
get in the title tourney.
Eastern. Wilson, Tech Win.
Eastern beat Western, 54-48; Viii
son defeated Anacostia, 44-32, and
Tech won over Coolidge, 34-2s, in
other games yesterday and last
night to earn places In the deadlock
Coolidge ended the series without
a win, a contrast to its champion
ship performances Of the last two
years.
Hal SPONSOR was the difference
that put Central home ahead Of
Roosevelt last night. He got 70
points, taking up the slack left
when jim Pantos, usual Viking lead
er, managed only six foul shots
Jim otherwise played q top game
and passed OF numerous scoring
chances to sponslor. Only in the
last period did the Vikings pull well
in front Of the Rough Riders. The
lead changed several times IN the
early going, Central taking = ILLS
half-time edge through Roosevelt's
zone on SPONSORS field goal as the
half-time gun sounded.
Bob Zamsky Of Roosevelt tied the
game at 17-l7 to open the third
frame, but Sponslor came through
with a foul toss that put Central
ahead to stay.
The Wilson -Anacostia nightcap
also was close through the first half
with Jack Whitcomb scoring at the
right moments to pull Wilson ahead
Altogether he tailed 20 points, six
of them coming in the second period
when the Tigers went in front for
a 23-1S half time lead. They carried
1928 edge into the final frame
and scored heavily toward the end
to make the game appear more one
sided than 1t was. II
Warner Gets 10 Points.
Wally Warner, Anacostia ace
scored 10 points last night. That's
below his usual pace, but he finished
the regular series with ITO points
and the individual leadership.
Tech had loads of trouble from
Coolidge's zone defense, but d pair
of buckets by Franny Frain helped
it take over the lead in the seconc
frame, a position it held thereafter
Especially troublesome to the Ma
rooms in the first half was Jim Bar.
rett. whose four baskets in the
second quarter kept the Colts close
Techs 1915 halftime lead in the
slow game was increased to 28-N
going into the final, Buddy Wickers
and Tony Sgro doing the scoring
that gave the Maroons enough cush.
ion to withstand the Colts late
minor rally.
Big Johnny Brown had hot hano
for Eastern as the Ramblers lee
Western all the way. He got
points in the first period to pace
the Ramblers to a fast start anc
continued steadily throughout tc
take game honors with 81 points
The Ramblers had 3l-22 half-timt
lead,