By BOB TORSETH

Sun Sports Editor

A basic fact about high school basketball is that it takes four quarters to make a ball game.

East's Knights found it out the hard way last night as they absorbed their third straight prep court licking, this one a 39-35 setback at the hands of kings-X Lincoln of Tacoma in the Knight gym.

A disastrous fourth period, during which the Knights were able to counter but two bare points, spelled the difference in a contest which had previously been dominated by coach Les Eathorne's pressing hustlers.

LINCOLN MANAGED to counter 12 points of its own in those final eight minutes - eight of them from the foul stripe - to erase a 33-27 deficit it faced at the end of the first three panels.

And so the Knights will try once more for that evasive initial triumph-A class significance at Shelton.

Last night's defeat by Lincoln followed East setbacks by Bothell and Mount Tahoma, but save for those chilly last eight minutes the Knights were the better basketball team this night.

The Knights played good, good enough to win, but that non-productive last quarter nullified any victory aspirations.

Guard Greg Morrison, a driving force in the East offensive machine the evening long, got East's lone two points in the final session at the 5:35 mark to give the Knights a 35-29 advantage.

FROM THEN on, it was all Lincoln as the Knights tried and tried but couldn't produce from either field or foul line. In fact, East lost it at the foul line and Lincoln won it there.

Five straight times, East participants went to the foul line with one-and-one opportunities. But each tme the ball fell off on the first try and the chances to lock up a victory diminised with each missed toss.

Lincoln edged a loser to East on a pair charity conversions each by Dennis Buchholz and Ed Anderson and then gained a 35-35 knot at the 1:10 mark on Anderson's converted jump shot from the head of the key.

With 44 seconds left, Dave Carr - shooting one-and-one after Knight Jim Tienhaara's fifth personal foul - made both shots and the invading men of Chuck Gilmur were ahead to stay.

EAST MISSED two chances for the tying bucket as first Morrison, and then Darryl Fry, failed on close-in shots before Abe Dave Williams - with just three seconds showing on the clock - bucketed two more gift tosses to salt it away.

Through the first three periods, East's pressing defense and effective, clinging zone when set up defensively, held the Abes at bay and caused no end of difficulties for the Capital league challengers.

Knights held 9-6, 19-14 and 33-27 leads respectively during the first three panels.

Tienhaara, Fry and Morrison were the most effective point producers for the Knights during that span with John Tracy, a lanky junior making his first varsity start, supplying aid with his feed-off passes.

But those futile last minutes overshadowed the fine job accomplished by the Knights earlier.

THE STORY was told, as said, at the foul line where Lincoln - outscored from the field, 15-12 - shot 84 per cent on 15 of 18 tries, while the Knights were a horrendous 37 per cent on five of 13.

Tienhaara led both teams in scoring with 14 counters, while Lincoln's versatile Williams prevailed for the visitors with 11.

Preliminary - wise, Dan Johnston's 14 counters paced the East jayvees to a 45-27 conquest of the Abe reserves.

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KNIGHT ON DRIVE - Senior guard Greg Morrison (12) of East drove the middle and put up this left-handed lay-in during early moments of non-league prep basketball game with Lincoln of Tacoma last night. Trying to halt the flying Knight was Abe center Jerry Walker (55). East turned ice cold in the final period, scoring but two points, and dropped a 39-35 decision to the Tacma invaders. - Sun photo by Bob Torseth

Statistics

B Team Game

East (45) - Henery 2, Kennedy 4, Johnston 14, Gibson 10, Huguenin 2, Winderl, Fisher, Busby, Berteaux 2, Slate, Moe 1, Strachan 10

Lincoln (27) - Miller 7, Lion 5, Roning 1, MacDicken 4, Crawford 3, Arger 2, Patterson 3, Koval 2

East Squires Master West Rival, 37-31

East high school’s Squires made it two straight victories and turned back arch-rival West in the process yesterday, pinning a 37-31 defeat on the Wildkittens in the first of two season meetings between the freshmen rivals.

After a slow first period, East jumped into a 15-11 halftime lead, saw it dwindle to two, 25-23, at the end of the third, then pulled away again in the final stanza to seal the verdict.

Rangy Calvin Pharr and guard Allen Albertson set the Squire scoring pace with nine apiece, but received assistance from Butch Miller’s eight counters. Game honors, though, went to Wildkitten Jim White and his 15.

East (37) - Pharr 9, Mount 5, Love 4, Albertson 9, Miller 8, Bohlmann, Nelson 2, Yager, Johnson, Sokolowsky;

West (31) - White 15, Harrell 7, Bailey, Ogg, Green 9.

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