Sammamish High School - Thunderbird Yearbook (Bellevue, WA)

Page 111 text:

we 0 Tournament W, L' 'wi ,, ,fi '4 1, ' , ' M J Qfff' ' H7 wi, . 5. 1. 2. 4. John Perrv, no. 30, attempts a layup slzor. The .fight fbr the hall Lv in vain as Mercer Island tops Samrnamish 66-62. Phil Parsons dribbles the ball 10 the other end of the court. Bradd Bever drives hzb man afler tak- ing a pass from Phil Parsons. 1 33

Page 110 text:

l l oH ight oRebound No one knew what to expect from the basketball Totems. Pre-season optimism and anticipation turned to pessimism as the long season wore on. A short team emerged and there were. . . No rebounds. No playoffs. No tournaments. The 1966-67 edition of basketball at Sammamish was one of constant defeat. The sixth place in league standings can be attributed to a lack of height. Basketball is a game for tall men. Sammamish's tallest two stand only six feet two inches. The average height for the starting five was a mere six feet. Man for man. the Totems talent could match any team in the league. but when it came to height. the Totems came out second best. Being one of the shortest teams in the league. Sammamish managed to win only five games against eleven defeats. The height made the difference and its lack tells the story of the season. The Totems lack of height showed up distinctly in the rebounding de- partment. A team without height cannot rebound and a team that can- not rebound can't win many ball games. A tall. but over-rated Seattle Prep team handed Sammamish their first loss in the seasons exhibi- tion opened at SU. KingCo League play began as the Totems defeated Issaquah and then Bothell. leaving themselves in first place with the season only two weeks old. In return matches. Sammamish defeated Issaquah once again but split with Bothell. In the first game with Mer- cer Island.Totems almost upset the Islanders. The Totems played good ball but the Islanders were too tall and we lost, 66-62. The second time around. the Islanders were quite strong and dominated the boards. giv- ing them an overwhelming 73-50 win. Consistently. the Totems performed well but did not have the height advantage to win basketball games. Bellevue beat the Totems once in the second game. which provided the annual excitement of the tradi- tional rivalry: escaped with a three point winning margin as a late Totem rally. reminiscent of football season. fell short. The Totes once again tasted victory over Lake Washington Kangaroos in a see-saw battle which saw the lead change hands many times. John Perry put up the winning bucket with only three seconds showing on the scoreboard clock giving him 29 points for the night and the Totes a 60-58 victory. The Kangs came back to avenge the loss and did so. Our next opponent. Inglemoor. stole a sure Totem victory when a Vik- ing reserve sank a fifteen foot jump shot with only two seconds remain- ing to play in the ball game. giving them a 69-68 triumph. The Vikings jumped on the Totems 79-57 in the other half of the series. State bound Newport. led by junior Bruce Case held the Totems to give points in the second half of the first game. The Knights victory margin was at least twenty five points each time. The Totems lost to an erratic Redmond five and were faced with a possible seven game losing streak in the season finals. The season ended with a 69-62 victory over the Redmond Mustangs. l, W ., Waals' I 'is 32

Page 112 text:

lun 1. . Mike Smoke feels remorse after losing a game. 2. John Perrys jump shot arches over the outstretch- ed hands of the opposing teams defender. ?. Coach Bierman and the team reflect defeat after losing another game, 5 ww 3 3 at fn as i f Q 34 W was 7 , N bw 2, P1 . as w s 'N 3221