The Wrangell sentinel., 1952-03-14
Beats Juneau 2 Straight For Title


 EeI High school basketball team displayed outstanding shooting and floor play 10 down the Juneau Crimson Bears 71-51, and win the first Southeastern Alaska basket-I II championship since 1935I Wrangeu has won only once before that. in 1923 They are now play ing the Anchorage High School Eagles for the All-Alaska title. lSee Page One).
 Juneau got the lip off on Che opening whistle and speedy Joel Niuuis broke for the basket a q two points. This was the only time Juneau was ahead in the game All ter that. Tom MaXand brought the ball down the floor and with Clint Miller working as pivot man for him. sank one from the side. The Miller-MaXand play worked three times in a TOW before Juneau even scored again
 All through the first quarter big Bear center Jerry Wade covered Jim Tick Gunderson effectively enough to keep the ball from him. but Gunderson got three gift shots because of the close guarding and sank them all. ctTicko has a 76 per cent shooting average from the foul line for 19 games this year).
 Juneau swung it's defense to GOV CT Maxand so Miller sank a shot. and with Ninnis scoring three times from the floor for Juneau, the quarter ended in a dead heat, 13 all. Wrangell was more accurate from the foul line as Miller, Max and and Gunderson put in seven out of il. Juneau could only hit live out of 12.
 The second quarter Juneau wasn't sure who to check close so they let down their guard too long and Gunderson put in five beauti- fuI field goals before the half Max and added two more and as the Ju- neau boys drove toward the basket they fouled Miller and gave him four free shots. He sank three
 Close checking by Miller, Eddie Bradley and Steele Ferguson kept Juneau away from the basket the second quarter, except for one beautiful shot by Ninnis and a fast break by Forrest that put him un- Ger he basket ahead of the Wran- eaIl defense. Wrangell defense was costly though they gave Juneau seven shots on fouls. They sank six of them.
 Largely on Gunderson's spree the sWrangell team came out at half Lime nine points ahead, 33-24.
 Right after the half, Wrangell's s close-checking center Steele Fer euson fouled out and Ly n n Schwartz, a first-string calibre sub, came into the game. Schwartz got ahead of the Juneau defense fast enough to sink a fast lay-in. Then, on three field goals, each by Max and and Gunderson, w r Il g heightened their lead to 16 points, 51-35, to end the third period. Ju- neaus Ninnis helped keep his team in the race by adding two field goals with Wade, Herb Martin and Forrest supporting with one each.
 The last quarter Juneau's Ninnis took the spotlight in scoring as he made four beautiful field shots but alone couldn't keep up with the Miller. Maxand, Gunderson combin- ation. Miller added four more points and Gunderson six before both were benched for fouls and Maxand added seven. The personal fouls called took toll of three of the Juneau players. Wade in the third period and Engstrom and Al Carlson in the final minutes.
 Juneau sub Ken Kadow sank four out of five foul shots the last per iod and Wrangell sub Thorne Fer guson made a field goal to round out the scoring as Wrangell com manded a 20-point lead, 71-51, at the end of the game.
 The three top players on the floor Juneaus Ninnis and Wran- gels Maxand and Gunderson, sank ten field goals each during the game. The difference was on foul shots where Gunderson made seven for the two-game series with 16 out of 19 foul shooting record. Ninnis two out of five.
 Wrangell committed 23 fouls to Juneau's 31 the first night of play while the second night Wran- gell added 30 to Juneau's ,31 a. gain. Both teams lost three men to fouls the first night and Wrangel lost four to Juneau's three the sec ond night.
 In scoring the second night Gun derson led with 27, Maxand 26, Miller II, Schwartz 4, Thorne Fer guson 2 and Steele Ferguson 1 for Wrangell. For Juneau it was Ninnis 22,Martin 10, Forrest ', Engstrom and Kadow 1, Wade and Carlson and Orme l.
 The outstanding point in both games was the fine playing and