4. iildeats win 21 to 20. But liston to the last six minutes before the final gun. I quote from iir. Tunis' story: : "Then seconds tick off, minutes went by and Tom Gray faked, pivoted, and shot from the side to bring the score to Springfield 23, snderson 21. Then the Anderson Indians roared down tho court and Erskine rushed in to sink a one-hander and tied the scorée ‘ "Then a Wildcat fouled ond Anderson Indians went ahead 24 to 23. "The Wildcats wero spent, their feet were sore and hot, their legs were rods of iron, their thighs ached with every step,. their lungs were leaden bellows that crucified them each time they pounded the boards. They were through. They were beaten. They couldn't. "Tom Gray waves his fist in their gaaone 'You're gonna quit, are you? Gonna quit, YOu ZUYS eee just « o# When. we, have, it: won. «+; almost, eee quit on Don esos A fine gang you ore eee a fine team ... call yerself Wildcats! C'm on, Gang eee Let's give 'em all we got! A gang that won't be beat can't be aeadt Give! "sieven thousand people were watching this game: firewagon oo chances taken, wild recoveries made, spills and tumbles and falls all over the floor, with the outcome cf the contest and the Tourney, too, yet to be decided." But Tom Gray, the young tall weaving lad who played for his coach and his team with all of the finost traditions of idealism in sport, in spite of his father's attitudes, led his team to victery by 1 point in the last 50 seconds of play. Then to the last game at State Tournament, where Don Henderson's Wildcats are to battle with Bosse Hizh School of Evansville, whose great star, Jerry Kates, is already naticnally lmown. and Don with his five good average players who loved their team and who had won thus far on grit and spirit, ond with not a substitute worth mentioning! In the last minute in this crucial game, Don and his scrappy team come from behind to tie the score only to meet defeat by a single point. This is a glorious climax to Mr. Tunis! recounting of games. In three brief chapters he tells the story of this. great gamo. 4 basketball player, a conch, or any basketball fan, once into ir. Tunis' account of this game would be glued to its pages. We reads "The tension tightened, increased, became taut and unbearable. There was no world but this. Reality was that heated enclosure. Space was the confines of those four white lines, Time was the electric clock overhead. Life was that intense, thrust- ins surge below. "The final seconds. The last seconds of the gone, of the day, of the Tournament, of the entire season. On the floor the ten beaten figures wrenched for victory. Or defeat. "Then Kates leaped in and stole the ball. With a quick break, the little blond figure was out in “PR cloar, dribbling furiously down upon the Buildog goal." Thus Don Henderson, the young coach who had brought Springfield up through the scason to the State, lost in the final Game by one cmenia : Mr. Tunis knows what boys say to each nen in the heat of battle. ‘le knows all of the verious psychdlogicul cevices that coaches use to drive or to quiot a according to their various needs, bofore or during or after a game. He knows exactly whet coaches say in the dressing rooms. le has observed curefully and his dialogue as good. Ho knows how to watch a basketball , same and how to report it afterward. ile