Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-16
Victory by .A!I-High
Assures Future for
Annual AII-Star Game
By Dick SIoy

By Dick Stay
The future of the All-High-
All-Prep basketball game may be
assured now, thanks to the per-
Torrance Of five Of the lesser
known high school players In
last nights eighth annual event
at Fort Myer.
= There were fears that another
runaway by the All-Prep team
similar to last years 1868 rout
would have q damaging effect
on the interest in years to come.
And at the end Of the first quar-
ter last night. these fears seemed
to have good foundation.
The prep stars, led by Bob
Rusevlyan. Bill Cassidy and
Ronnie Bennett, jumped to a
1876 lead going into the second
quarter and the favored ALI
High team couldn't have looked
worse.
Reserves Deadlock Game.
BY mutual agreement between
the two benches, both teams
employed their non-starters
throughout the second quarter
and the high school reserves
Frank Cohen of Western. Jules
Laventhol of Wilson, Dickie But
Ter of AnacoStia, Ed Barton Of
Eastern and Dick Preziotti of
Roosevelt-rallied to tie the
score at 23-an by halftime. From
then on the game was an au-
thentic contest for the 3.l00
fans, a good turnout considering
the event had been sandwiched
among several weekend tourna-
mentS.
The All-High team finished on
top, $3.50, in q contest that
could have gone either way, to
even the series at four victories
each, and breaking an All-Prep
two-game winning streak.
RuSevlyan of st. Johns cul-
minated a brilliant career in
appropriate fashion and was Sc
lected the outstanding prep
player. of the night. In the
three quarters he played he held
Anacostia's Zeke Zirkle. the
record scorer in the Interhigh
League, to nine points: scored
Is himself to top both teams,
grabbed a great share of the re-
bounds and paced the prep at
tack with superior floor work.
Cohen Top High Player.
The outstanding player award
among the nigh players went to
Cohen, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound
senior who got little attention
this season by playing for the
last-place club in the Interhigh
League.
Cohen's scoring and overall
defensive work spanked the high
players to their come-from-be-
hind effort in the second quar-
ter. He came back in the game
in the middle of the third. as
Coach Tony Kupka began to mix
his combinations. and remained
to the final buzzer.
In the closing moments Cohen
tossed in a rebound and threw
two perfect passes to the fast
breaking Lew Luce and Zirkle
that resulted in an eight-point
lead with two minutes to go.
The All-High squad had been
favored because of it's superior
scoring punch and size. 1t was
the latter that made the differ
ence. according to Coach Tommy
Nolan Of the Props. My kids
played good ball, defensively
very weh," he said. I'VE stopped
them from shooting Gin the first
quarter) but we couldn't stop
their height"
Kupka's Opinion Differs.
Kupka saw it differently. I'VE
weren't running at the start.
We were trying to set up the
plays and I told them to play it
tight. but we overdid it."
The prep team fell behind,
1873. midway in the third quar-
ter but Ruseviyan scored nine
of his points to give his side a
1913 lead going into the final.
Cohen. Hans JepSon of Tech and
Ed Barton of Eastern led a brief
squirt for the high team before
Bennett tied the score again at
48-all. Then Cohen, Luce and
Zirkle combined their efforts for
eight straight points to settle
the issue.
A preliminary game between
12-and-under teams of the
Boys Club of Washington
League resulted in the Whites
winning their 22d straight at
the expense of the Blues, 35-19.