Maine West's varsity bucketmen will enter regional play at Prospect next week with high hopes of advancing to sectional play. Officially ranked as the number two team in the tourney, West opens competition against a weak Maryville squad Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Passing this test, the Warriors would advance to the semi‑finals on Thursday at 7:30, where their foe would probably be Maine East. If West does get a crack at the Demons, it will be out to avenge a 78‑64 loss in last year's regional. The Westmen advanced to the semi‑finals last year before being dumped by East.

The Warriors have one final tune‑up before the regional and that game is tonight, when they journey to Glenbrook to take on a faltering Spartan team for the second time this year. In their earlier meeting, the Warriors had a tough time subduing the Spartans 64‑59.

After a month‑long slump in which the squad dropped three of six contests, Coach Freeman's group seemed to be back on the right track in its two latest games, walloping Niles West 69‑38 and then squelching East Leyden 69‑56.

The Warriors rolled up 69 points at Niles, but the emphasis was on defense, as Niles' top man and one of the leading scorers in the Interim league, Jim Hart, was completely banked. The cagers also were guilty of only nine fouls, one of their lowest totals this year. After piling up a 13‑3 lead by the end of the opening quarter, the West bucketmen romped t h e rest of the way. Junior Barney Franzen topped the squad with 18 points, but every starter notched at least eight points.

It was sweet revenge for Maine last Friday, as the hoopmen gave East Leyden a hard fought but solid defeat. This time both defense and offense clicked, as the Warriors racked up over 50 per cent of their floor shots and held one of Leyden's top scorers to just five points. Al Waters and Rick Warnicke paced the West attack with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Waters also snagged 14 rebounds for Maine.

As of right now, West is tied for third place with Prospect in Interim standings, with an 11‑4 record. For the season, the Westmen are 13‑5.