By JOHN K. SMITH
Sun Sports Writer

Field goals beat the stuffing out of free throws and that, in a capsule, was the West Wildcats over the East Knights last night in the first meeting of the season of the local class AA tournament trail leaders.

West, which couldn’t shoot free throws with the freshman, whaled East, which took its field shooting back home to the refrigerator to warm up, 59-36.

Both had been unbeaten on the tourney path going into the contest.

The Wildcats of coach Bob Smith stayed slightly ahead most of the tight first three quarters and then blazed in the final eight minutes to equal their entire first half collection of 23 points.

East got in front just twice, by one, early in the second quarter. Coach Les Eathorne’s Knights tied the count twice, once in the second period and once in the third.

West reach a five-point margin once in the first quarter; had an eight-point bulge with 53 seconds to go in the third panel but saw it narrowed to five again going into the last frame.

‘Cats swooshed in 10 of 15 field goal attempts and even added three of five free throw tries to increase the margin by 12 points in the eight minutes. Dan Shedwin, supposedly suffering from a badly sprained thumb and a doubtful starter, poured in seven of his evening’s high individual count of 19. He was just one of seven Wildcats who shared the late rally glory.

IF THE lanky junior center had an effect from the bad digit, there should be more of them in local prep hoop circles.

In trouble early with three personal fouls in the initial half, Shedwin twined seven of 11 field goal attempts and five of six from the charity strip. Indicating what he might have done if less careless with body contract, he had hit five of seven tries in the first half, including a three-for-three second quarter.

Lone Knight in double figures was senior forward Jim Tienhaara with 15.

Both Tienhaara and Shedwin had 10 points by intermission but Tienhaara, too, was listening to whistles. The Knight had three of four personals registered against East by halftime. Benched a good share of the time, he finally fouled out on a infraction with 2:50 remaining to play. He was the only player to get a premature curtain but West was on top by 14 at the time and made it 15 on the following free throw.

SHEDWIN’S chief support in scoring came from Fred Kegel’s 11 points and Steve Schumacher’s 10. Perhaps the greatest aid to Shedwin’s all-around performance came from Les Dicks who got only four on a pair of goals but swept 18 rebounds.

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Island Loss Leaves

East West Ahead

East and West continued in a tie for the county frosh basketball league lead today but without the company of Bainbridge, West’s victim yesterday.

Wildkittens tipped the Island yearlings, 50-28.  Squires of East batted Marcus Whitman 48-29, and Central Kitsap Coubabes downed North Kitsap Viklings, 32-26.

Both East and West now are 4-1 in the circuit with CK and Bainbridge a step behind at 3-2.

Walt Harrell scored 20 points for the Wildkittens followed by Jack Bailey with 12 and Jim White with 10.

Allen Albertson’s 10 points paced a balanced Squire output that saw all five starters with six or more points and every player get in at least a quarter of play. Steve Anderson of Whitman also had 10.

NK’s Bud Stadshaug meshed 11 for game individual honors against CK in a losing cause. Eight by Jerry Childs topped the winners.

East (48) – Pharr 6, Mount 8, Love 7, Albertson 10, Miller 6, Nelson 2, Walker 2, McInnes 2, Bohlmann 5, Yeager, Sokolowsky, Topness;

Whitman (29) – Stead 7, Ness 4, Hubbell 2, McLeod 3, Louden 1, Reece 2, Anderson 10, Westfall, Allen.

CK (32) – Childs 8, Plum 5, Frender 5, Potter 2, Lonshore, Winger 6, Kendall 6;

NK (26) – Stadshaug 11, Gwattney 2, Olson, Murphy, Zuarri 2, Rethl 7, Mandio 4.

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Shedwin had 13 out of West's 54 rebounds that, especially in the second half, combed the Knights right out of the 'Cat fur. East had 43 off the backboards, 14 by John Tracy.

Percentage tells the final story. West made good 24 of 53 goal attempts for 45.3 per cent while East was netting 11 of 62, 17.7 per cent. At the free throw line West, missing 11 of 15 chances in the third quarter when it customarily has pulled distant from opponents, was overall eight for 24, 33.3 per cent. East, seven for nine in the second quarter and 10 for 14 in the first half, ended with 17 points in 26 gift flips, 65 per cent.

TEAM FOULS ended up almost even but they came in different halves. Wildcats got only four chances for three throws in the whole first half while the Knights took advantage of 12 calls against the hosts. After intermission, it was East suffering under 14 violations while West garnered nine.

Four plays stood on in individual performance. Two belonged to Kegel and two to Shedwin.

Fierce Fred contributed the first pretty play of the heated combat when he sliced between two defenders and deftly laid in a two pointer, was fouled and made it three just past midpoint of the second quarter. In the middle of the third stanza, in the heat of a fast break, Kegel brought cheers with “the touch’ that tipped in a wild carom although he was high in the air and going so fast it didn’t seem possible he could time the tap before sailing beyond the backboard.

Deft Dan made both his showcase efforts at the top of fantastic jumps. He spurred the West’s second fast break spurt of the fourth quarter with a “dunk” that could have seen the basket swallow his arm. Earlier he had turned an East field goal attempt into the hardest dribble of the night. Waist-high above his opponent, he smashed the ball floorward before it could quite leave the shooter’s hand, got it on the high bounce and started downcourt.

OTHER CROWD-PLEASERS were Dick’s left hand lay-in banked in while falling sideways after a neat drive and sophomore reserve guard Rod Johnson’s hammering tip-in with clenched fist from an altitude beyond the scope of most youngsters standing 5-10.

“We want to be a running team, we’ve worked hard at it and we were one tonight,” Smith summarized the victory.

“We didn’t shoot well and West took the rebounds in the second half,” Eathorne said, still wondering why not even one of his more consistent shooters could have come up with a passing grade in the game.

West vies at Mount Tahoma Tuesday in a Capital league clash and then hosts Port Angeles in a double-A tiff Friday. East, idle Tuesday, entertains North Kitsap Friday in an Olympic league and tourney path tussle.

B Team Game

East (56) - Winderl 10, Kennedy 11, Johnston 17, Gibson 8, Slate 9 Huguenia 1;

West (49) - Gordon 1, Gran 24, Richardson, Shute 9, Chamberlain 4, Tobacco 11;

LOOK OUT BELOW - East high center Darryl Fry tries to avoid sitting on the neck of his West counterpart, Dan Shedwin, after committing himself to a fake by the Wildcat. Result was a severe fall on his back but Fry came up smiling. Witness is Knight forward Jim Tienhaara. Shedwin was game high scorer with 19 points in pacing West to 56-39 class AA tournament trail triumph in the first interacity hoop test of the season.

- Sun photos by Cliff McNair, jr.

GLORY RIDE FOR COACH - Bob Smith, in his first season as head coach at West, is carried on the shoulders of his jubilant players after the Wildcats had tallied 23 points in the fourth quarter to defeat arch rival East, 56-39. Identifiable players are junior reserve center Steve Balcom (11) and sophomore substitute guard Rod Johnson (right). Conquest preserved West's perfect record on local class AA tournament trail. It was first loss on the T-path for Knights of East.