VOL. IX, NO. 10
MARCH 15, 1968

Maine West Cagers Triumph Over East, Then Lose Heartbreaker to South
A spirited Warrior basketball team fell reluctantly to the Maine South Hawks last week to end their season. Maine West was beaten 60-41 in what was the second round of the Prospect Regionals.

In sharp contrast to previous West-South encounters in which the Hawks would gain a fat and early lead, the Warriors this time put on an exceptional performance which saw them trailing South by only a few points for most of the game.

Exceptional shooting, rebound-ing, and just plain determination on West's part paralyzed the Hawks the entire first half and midway through third quarter, when West finally caught up and tied South 26-26. After that, however, center Dave Butz led the Hawks on a scoring splurge that continued the duration of the game.

Excitement was also high the previous Monday night when Maine West defeated Maine East 56-55 in the same Regional. What was a slim Warrior lead at first gradually grew larger as Bruce Kaechele, Harry Tistle, and Ken Mach controlled the shooting.
 The Warrior lead was threatened in the fourth quarter as the Blue Demons began to narrow the gap. The decisive moment was reached in the final 15 seconds when Kaechele managed to score in a frantic free-for-all at East's basket. The extra point, resulting from a goal-tending charge, gave West the one-point advantage necessary to win after East immediately followed suit with a basket.

Maine West wasn't as fortunate in some of the earlier games. Maine lost to Niles West 64-48, although Tistle was top scorer with 23 points. Maine lost a weekend double-header to Ridgewood 55-49 and Deerfield 62-50, with Tistle and Kaechele respective top scores with 18 points each.

Although Maine West finished sixth in the C.S.L. with a 4-10 record, it can't be said that Maine had a really unsuccessful season. The fine coaching of Mr. Gaston Freeman, the hard work and determination of the team, and the sometimes overwhelming spirit of the fans combined to produce such scoring surprises as, for instance, the one against Maine South.

The junior varsity and sophomores fared about the same as the varsity this year. The frosh, however, took the Conference championship.