Prep Basketball Forecast Calls For Warming Trend -- Metro Hoop Tournament

Perhaps because of two words - loser out - February brings out the best and worst in high-school basketball.

For the hoop junkie, Valentine's Day usually means tournament games by the metric ton.

Rush hour begins tonight and concludes March 11.

For the next three weeks, Metro League teams may be involved in 98 games from Renton to Brougham Pavilion to Edmundson Pavilion to the Tacoma Dome. It's wall-to-wall three-pointers and slam dunks.

Four games tip off the Metro League boys tournament tonight.

Garfield visits Franklin

Second-ranked Garfield (18-1) makes its first visit in three years to Franklin High School to face the No. 3 Quakers (17-2).

The Bulldogs' last visit, a spectacular overtime victory, will be remembered for the throng of fans who rushed the floor after an apparent last-second shot won the game for Garfield in regulation.

Two spectators were injured during the melee.

Quakers want home edge

Franklin and Metro officials had vowed to keep the game out of the high school, but Quaker coaches said they wanted to keep their home-court advantage and did not want tonight's game played at a neutral site.

Top-ranked O'Dea (19-1) hosts Ballard (13-5) tonight.

All four teams are guaranteed a Sea-King District berth, and the winners will meet at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Seattle Pacific University's Brougham Pavilion for the Metro tournament title.

Rainier Beach, Cleveland, Blanchet and Eastside Catholic will battle for three district boys berths.

Blanchet (13-7) hosts Rainier Beach (13-7) and Eastside Catholic (11-10) visits Cleveland (15-4) tonight. The losers play Friday for the final Metro berth to district.

The Metro girls postseason begins tomorrow.

No. 8 Chief Sealth (17-2) visits No. 2 Blanchet (19-1), where it lost earlier this season, and Franklin (15-3) hosts Roosevelt (15-4). Each team has earned a district berth.

Lakeside (10-10), the defending Metro, district and state champion, hosts Seattle Prep (10-6) and Ballard (9-11) plays at Holy Names (15-5).

The winners clinch district berths and the losers play for the league's seventh district berth on Friday. Metro League boys basketball scoring leaders

Name, school Pos Ht Yr G # Pts # # Hi/Lo Avg. . Michael Johnson, Ballard G/F 6-3 So. 18 440 36/10 24.4. . Tyrwone Still, Hale F 6-5 Jr. 20 437 35/9 21.9. . Jimmie Rainwater, .

Chief Sealth F 6-4 Sr. 20 422 32/9 21.1. . Greg Anderson, Roosevelt G/F 6-3 Jr. 20 384 34/7 19.2. . Mikael Moore, Ingraham G 5-11 Jr. 17 320 29/6 18.8. . Andrei Shepankov, Ballard C 6-5 Sr. 18 338 28/8 18.8. . Adrian Egger, E.Catholic G 6-1 Sr. 20 372 34/11 18.6. . Travon Hubbard, Cleveland G 6-3 Sr. 15 272 27/8 18.1. . E.J. Hall, Cleveland F 6-4 Sr. 18 316 24/6 17.6. . Gabe Rapier, Garfield F 6-4 Sr. 17 280 25/9 17.1. . .

# -Some games not reported.

# # -Minimum number of 10 games played. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Metro League girls basketball scoring leaders.

Name, school Pos Ht Yr G # Pts # # Hi/Lo Avg. . Sheila Lambert, .

Sealth G 5-6 Fr. 19 466 47/16 24.5. . Takiyah Jackson,.

Franklin F 6-0 Sr. 17 378 31/15 22.2. . Monique Zampera, .

Blanchet G/F 5-7 Jr. 20 304 26/6 15.2. . Melissa Gusaas, .

Ballard F 5-8 Sr. 16 240 24/7 15.0.

Nadia Morgan, Blanchet C/F 6-1 Fr. 20 296 26/6 14.8.

Regina Bresee, Roosevelt G 5-9 Sr. 19 263 26/2 13.8.

Rachel Martin, Hale F 5-9 Sr. 17 233 23/5 13.7.

Faye Hutchinson, .

Lakeside G 5-2 Sr. 20 272 26/6 13.6.

Enjoli Izidor, Roosevelt C 6-0 Fr. 19 253 24/6 13.3.

Fono Keni, Chief Sealth F 5-10 Jr. 19 248 22/3 13.1.

# -Some games not reported.

# # -Minimum number of 10 games played.