BALL ON TH LOOSE - Arms entwined, East Knight Darryl Fry (white jersey) and West's J.D. Tamerius battled for rebund possession during early going of last night's 'AA' class at East. Neither man got the ball, but seconds later Knight John Tracy did and banked in a rebound.  Play watchers include West's Dan Shedwin (21) and Steve Schumacher.

Double-A Top Roost

Deadlocked Two Ways

By JOHN K. SMITH
Sun Sports Writer

East Knights and West Wildcats head into the late run and the post-season picture dead even and ready for a probable third meeting of the season on a neutral court.

Last night the Knights far more readily handled the Wildcats than the score indicated in East’s 60-53 class AA tournament trail triumph. The Knights had established such supreme command in the second and third periods that when the Wildcats in the fourth quarter tallied more than they had in the first three quarters it still wasn’t sufficient to catch up.

Not both East and West have won 10 and lost one on the double-A tourney path, locked in the lead for three local berths in the four-team “district” elimination for a single place at the state class AA tournament March 13-16 at Seattle. A third Olympic peninsula team and the double-A leader of the Seamount league will complete the post-season playoff roster.  But in all probability, East and West will meet again to decide the city and area championships and the victorious one should march on to Seattle.

VICTORY at East last night was vengeance indeed for the 39-56 loss at West in the initial crosstown collision of the campaign.

The front line Knights were jousting champions that would have served ably at the round table of King Arthur. And, as one player can stand out within a good team performance, forward Jim Tienhaara was the Sir Lancelot that would have charmed Queen Guinevere last night.

Tienhaara scored 27 points, nearly half the Knight total, after a very slow start. He sank only one of his first six attempts from the floor and had only three points at the end of the first eight minutes of action. In the next three periods, he missed only two except when fouled in the act of shooting which let him mount the total at the free throw line. Overall, he sank nine of 16 field goal tries – that was eight for 10 in the last three quarters and six for six in the second half. He added nine of 13 charity chances.

Perhaps more important, he proved himself a more complete ball player than the critics, who credited his unquestionable shooting ability as his lone claim to a starting role, had realized. Late in the contest, he even soloed down court with an inbound pass, drove through the key and laid in a basket that caught the Wildcats flatfooted just as they were seriously nibbling at the big East advantage.

ONLY SIX of the 12 Knights in combat scored at all. Nearest to Tienhaara’s big effort were guard John Tracy with 11 and forward Mike Holen with nine.

West paced by forward Les Dicks with 13, center Dan Shedwin with 11 and forward-guard J.D. Tamerius with 10.

Eight of the 11 ‘Cats in the game contributed something to the scoreboard. Most of it was too small and too late. Dicks collected eight of his 13 in the last two minutes of the game when Knight reserves were little protecting what coach Les Eathorne had considered a safe lead.

Both teams lost one player via the first personal foul route. Guard Greg Morrison, who didn’t start for East but played most of the contest, bowed out with 3:51 left on the clock. Center Dan Shedwin, who had been the only consistently flossy performer for West although weighed down virtually from the beginning by personal fouls, drew his fifth with 3:36 remaining.

THE ONLY TRAIT lacking in the Knights’ otherwise peerless imitation of the role for which they are nicknamed was chivalry. They bowed to no one, And, in the middle quarter at least, their pilfering of West passes quickly passed from petit larceny to international crime of a scope that would have threatened the crown jewels in the tower of London.

It got so bad for awhile, between West’s signaling where it intended to pass next and East’ flawless timing in intercepting, that it was doubtful if the Wildcats could have retained the basketball in a locked safe armed with an electric eye burglar alarm and the combination known only by referees.

The game was close to start with. East shot 21 times to 11 by West in the first quarter but that eight minutes found the Wildcats in front 14-13 anyway.

Then East’s full-court press, its best weapon all year, began to function in the manner for which it was designed. West couldn’t get the ball downcourt. East took advantage to build a 23-20 half-time lead.

THAT DIDN’T appear too serious.

It was.

At the start of the third quarter, the Knights increased their tempo and kept the Wildcats in a constant fuddle. Halfway through the period, the Knights led by 12. With two minutes left in the quarter, they were on top by 17.  West tallied three and East two in the last minute and a half to make it 43-36 for the Knights going into the final eight minutes.

Finally the Wildcats came to life, assaulted the basket from every direction, including the free throw line, to counter 27 points – nearly as much as some fair college teams acquire in a 20-minutes half.

The outburst could salvage only pride, however. East already had won. The Wildcats blew enough free throw chances in the late going, particularly on the first one-and-one situation, to have made up the eventual difference. But if the threat had developed, Knights starters would have been back on hand in time to assure the triumph.

EAST HAD a 58-43 advantage when Eathorne began serious substitution with two minutes to play. The Knights managed only two free throws the rest of the way while West was romping in 10 points, mostly by goal.

Tienhaara had twined four free throws and three goals for 10 points in the space of three minutes in that fourth panel.

In total statistics, East outrebounded West 21-18 in the first half but lost out in the final rebound figures, 35-38. Dicks was game leader with 13. Holen peaked East with 11.

The Knights made good 21 field goals in 58 attempts for 36.2 per cent.  The Wildcats managed 18 of 49, 36.7 per cent. At the charity stripe, East had 18 of 25, 72 per cent, and West 17 of 27, 63 per cent.

West has three games left on its 20-tilt regular season slate. East has two of its 18 still to go.  Next action will find West hosting Lincoln in a Capital league fray Thursday. East travels to Port Angeles Thursday for its final class AA tourney trail test.

Totals

Totals

B Team Game

West (50) - Gordon 21, Gran 4, Richardson, Shute 10, Egan, Chamberlain, Costello, Tobacco 15;

East (63) - Winderl 9, Kennedy 6, Johnston 6, Gibson 25, Slate, Strachen 17.

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MOVING FOR TWO - West Wildcats J.D. Tamerius drove the base line and escaped the defensive maneuvering of East's Jim Tienhaara to collect a first-half two-pointer in contest won by East, 60-53. Tienhaara was game high scorer with 27, while Tamerius had 10 for West.

- Sun photos by Elling Simonsen and Bob Torseth