West Zips Past SK Foe, 46-38

By JOE SHERK

Sun Sports Writer

A 20-point explosin in the third period, triggered by Les Dicks, Dan Shedwin and Fred Kegel, brought West Wildcats a 46-38 triumph over South Kitsap Wolves in double A tournament trail fracas here last night.

Victory was the second in as many tries for the 'Cats along the path to a possible state tourney berth and their third in five outings. For South Kitsap it was the initial loss in the tourney circuit against one win and the fourth loss in five contests.

DICKS AND KEGEL each netted five points and Shedwin four in the third quarter when 'Cats came from a 22-19 halftime deficit to a commanding 39-28 margin going into the final stanza.

West could do little wrong during the third eight minutes as they dropped through nine of 19 field goals but connected on only two of five free throw attempts. They made as many two pointers in one period as Wolves could collect all night.

Tight zone defense also was a big factor in the third panel as SK shot but six times and hit only one. Visitors from Port Orchard couldn't penetrate the zone nor shoot over it.

Dicks paced the Wildcat scoring with 14 points and was a tower of strength on the backboards. He dropped in half his team's points in the opening period. He was the only man from either side to reach double figures.

FRAY WAS nip - and - tuck for the first half as SK moved to a five point, 7-2, lead with 4:07 to play in the opening quarter only to hit a cold streak and Dicks tied it 7-all with 2:29 showing. Rod Johnson's short jumper put West ahead 9-7 and hosts moved to a 12-9 lead.

'Cats of coach Bob Smith moved to a six point, 19-13 advantage with 4:39 yet to play in the half but they couldn't score the remainder of the stanza and Wolves, using the foul line, move to the three-point halftime difference.

Basket was elusive for West, meshing only two of 14 from the field. SK hit two of five but eight of 12 from the charity stripe to take the lead.

While West was rallying in the third quarter Wolves of Orv Anderson were faltering. They hit one of six from the field and added four of eight from the foul line but then ran into a frigid streak and didn't score for seven minutes, 52 seconds running from 3:50 in the third to 4:08 in the fourth. When they finally did part the twine they were down by 15 counters.

'CATS ONLY POTTED seven tallies in the final panel but had the fray securely tucked away.

Foul shooting is all that kept smaller and less experienced Wolves in the contest. They put through 20 of 34 chances as West was whistled down 23 times.

Tom Erickson led SK with nine points, all coming from the free throw line. Normal Wolf high point man, Rick Piercy, came up with only seven as Wildcats did a fine job of defense on him.

Missing from the SK line up was regular starting guard Bob Houston. He missed the last three days of school due to a bad cold.

Fouls built early for West as Steve Schumacher, Shedwin and Johnson each accumulated three before the close of the half. No one fouled out of the game.

'CATS GARNERED 17 of 55 two pointers for a 30.9 percentage and made good on 12 0f 19 foul shots. SK shot half as many times as did winners, making nine of 26, 34.6 per cent.

West is idle until Jan. 4 when they travel to Shelton for another class AA battle. Wolves don't play until the same night when they tackle East on the Knight court. Game is also A tourney encounter.

B Team Game

West (51) - Matlock, Gordon 1 Gran 13, Shute 11, Egan 6, Wright 3, Jackson 3, Pudas 2, Costello, Watson 2, Chamberlain 10, Munns.

SK (31) - Nilson 4, Holtine, McCready 5, Tingling 5, Bryant, May, Ebbert 3, Rylander 2, thompson 4, Eisentrout 3, Crux, Barker, Rees.

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East Dumps Central In Road Fray, 69-51

By JOHN k. SMITH

Sun Sports Writer

East Knights mastered the Central Kitsap Cougars, 68-51, in an Olympic league class AA tournament trail tussle last night at Silverdale

The Knights of coach Les Eathorne built an early lead, upped it to 16 at halftime and it stayed close to that the rest of the way.  When the Cougars spurted fiercely in the third and fourth quarters, the Knights managed to operate just a little better and never were threatened.

FORWARD Mike Holen scored 17 points in pacing the Knights twiners. Forward Jim Tienhaara tallied 14 and guard Greg Morrison 10 in chief support. Other two East starters were only a point or two from reaching double figures also.

Tienhaara sank four of his six shots in the first quarter, collecting almost half of the East 17 points in those eight minutes. Holen tossed in six points in the second quarter as six Knights helped build the halftime margin, of 34-18.

In the third quarter, Cougars put on their biggest outburst with four players, led by forward Jerry Turner, equalling their entire first-half score. But East tallied 19 in the same space to hold a 53-36 advantage going into the last eight minutes.

JOHN BURROUGHS, 6-1 Cougar guard, then staged the only individual heroics of the evening for CK. He headed a sudden running onslaught by the host five, bagging nine points in a minute and a half - and still managed to lower the deficit no farther than a 14-point difference.

East actually rebounded so quickly the Knights ran up a 22-point lead, with 3:53 left to play before going into a lull that was broken only by a pair of free throws by deep reserve Dan Niemann with seven seconds on the clock.

Difference between the teams, even more than shooting, was in the Knight pressing defense that caused 10 turnovers by Central in the first half. Cougars tried to use a fast break, court-length pass often over the press, but more often than not lost the ball out of bounds and East came right back on the attack.

Knight shooting percentage from the field sounded like major college at its best - 52 per cent on 30 field goals in 58 attempts.

"PERCENTAGE can get that high easily with a lot of lay-ins," mentor Ken Lund of CK commented afterward, disappointed in his team's defense.

Cougars made 20 of 52 field attempts for 38 per cent.

At the free throw line, East made good nine of 14 while CK netted only 11 of 21 opportunities.

Knights outrebounded the Cougars, 35-31, according to East statisticians.

Triumph was only the second for the Knights in six contest, but both wins have been on the all-important double-A tournament path where they are undefeated.

Loss was second against two wins for CK, now 1-1 on the tourney trail.

East hosts Bothell next Friday in a non-league rematch of the Knight's early-season loss. CK entertains Sequim in an out-of-class Olympic league game Friday and invades Peninsula in a non-leaguer Saturday.

B Team Game

East (60) - Henry 2, Winderl 2, Kennedy, Johnston 8, Berteaux 5, Gibson 6, Strachan 4, Huguenin 10, Slate 6, Moe 7, Fisher 6, Busby 4.

CK (36) - Jacobs 4, Ruble, Segerman 12, Colby, Thompson 6, Murphy 4, Ungren 4, Smith 4, Carlson 2, Story, Collier.