Ogden Onslaught Halted by Great Farmer Defense New Champions Take Early Lead, Then Stave Off Desperate Fourth-Quarter Drive of Foes; Capacity Crowd Watches By MARLOWE BRANAGAN A battling band of Farmers from Granite rose to the pinnacle of Utah prep basketball play for 1936 Saturday night in historic Deseret gym, when they turned back a snarling array of Tigers from Ogden, 21 to 16, in the grand finale of the annual state tournament. Horatio Alger, celebrated writer of juvenile fiction some forty years ago, never wrote in his entire career a story of the boy who rose from "rags to riches" which compares with the struggle against vicissitudes made by this same Granite machine in its drive to basketball heights. Two weeks ago the Farmers had to turn back their arch rivals, the Beetdiggers of Jordan, 1935 state champions, to gain the right to meet Murray for second place in the Jor¬dan district race. Then came a game with Murray, a game to de¬cide second and third place in the district. The Farmers lost, 13 toi 83, and had to encounter Morgan, Summit district runnerup, in order to qualify for the state classic. The true story of the uphill battle made by these Farmers has never been told—and maybe it shouldn't be written now that they are cham¬pions. But, in order to reach their peak for the state meet, the bat¬tling boys in the red and blue uni¬forms worked overtime—many hours of ceaseless workouts in the ancient Granite gym, with weary muscles at the end of those vigor¬ous drills. But that's all over now— the Farmers are champions of the state. Tigers Play Well The Farmers are champions, but no team that ever stepped on to the Deseret gym floor to compete in a title game ever went down to a more glorious defeat than did the Tigers of Ogden. They fought their hearts out in an ef¬fort to reach the summit in prep play for the first time since 1932. They hurled their vaunted attack against a defense which has gained statewide renown—a defense which reached Its zenith for the title game. The Tigers were defeated on the floor, but it took the best team in the state to turn the trick—and the best was not much too good. The largest final day crowd since 1929, and one of the largest in the 17-year history of the state meet, jammed every nook and corner of the spacious gym to watch the Farmers march to their fourth title in history and their first since the palmy days of 1934. Hundreds were turned away shortly after the first game of the evening started. From the opening minute of the struggle, the Farmers demonstrated that the pregame favorite was in for a tough evening. Five minutes after the opening of hostilities, the crowd sensed that history was be¬ing made. As the score rose to 10 to 4 at the half the air was tense with the knowledge that Granite—and not Ogden—was the coming cham¬pion of the state. Four minutes after the opening of hostilities the Tigers cracked the touted Granite defense for the first and last time in the first period, lanky Charley Norton, elongated center, eluding two Granite defen¬sive men and tanking a setup for the first score of the game. Rynearson Scores Then the Farmers really showed their class. Harvey Rynearson, who turned in the best game of his brilliant career, ripped the hoop with a shot-from the side and the Granite section of the stands went wild. Little Kenny Taylor, a charged bit of basketball ability, took a pass from Rynearson and bagged a setup. Just before the end of the quarter, Rynearson, taking a short pass from Dick Kramer, loped under the bas¬ket and tallied a setup. In the second period, the Farmers "froze" the ball at every opport¬unity and the frenzied efforts of the Ogden performers provided the openings the new champs were waiting for. On only two occa¬sions did the Tiger defense crack, but on the first Taylor bagged a one-hand shot from the foul line and on the second, lithe Stern Wood caged a shot from the side. With only two minutes left to play, the Tigers had scored only two points, but Adam Bengoeschea, a perfect piece of basketball machinery, took the ball during a scramble under the basket and bagged a setup to make the score 10 to 4 at the inter-mission. The Tigers came back in the third Session and tallied seven points as they limited the Farmers to three. Bengoeschea opened the scoring with a pretty long shot and Wood retaliated with a basket from the side. Big Pat Deming added a foul toss to Ogden's total, and when the brilliant Harold Mackay, Granite guard, was banished from the game the Tigers closed the gap on baskets by Norton and Bengoeschea. The third quarter ended: Granite 13, Ogden 11. The Region One champion then made its last desperate bid. Deming swished a one-hand shot from the side and the score was knotted at 13-all. Bengoeschea, banished from) the game a few minutes later, tal¬lied a side shot which gave Ogden a 15 to 13 lead. Farmers Come Through The aroused Farmers, battling with all the fury of the Revolu¬tionary war farmers, rose to the occasion and fired the shots which maae basketball history by giving a third place district team the cham-pionship for the first time in his¬tory. Taylor sent in a one-hand push shot which tied the count at 15-all. Don Wright, a reserve for¬ward who went in at guard and made himself famous by his great play, tallied a foul toss, and then Rynearson wrote finis to the Tigers' chances by dribbling in for a setup after he had stolen the ball from a tired Ogden forward. Kramer tal¬lied a foul toss and Briggs gave the Tigers their last score with a charity throw. The clever Rynear¬son then brought the game to a close with a basket from the left side of the court. To mention outstanding stars would be to discredit the other con¬testants. Every man on the rival teams fought his heart out for his school. It is better to mention no names when youngsters waged such a gallant scrap as the one in the Deseret gym Saturdav night. OGDEN G TF P Bngoesha rf 4 2 0 81 Aguirre lf 0 1 0 01 Norton c . 2 1 0 4 Briggs rg . 0 1 1 1 Agricola lg 0 0 0 Oi Deming lg 1 2 1 31 Totals . 7 7 2 161 GRANITE G T F P Taylor rf . 3 0 0 6 Wood If . . 2 2 0 4 Rynearson c 4 5 1 9 Kramer re 0 2 11 H. Mckay lg 0 0 0 0 C. Mckay lg 0 0 0 0 Wright lg . 0 1 1 1 Totals.. 9 10 3 21 Score by quarters: Ogden 2 4 11 16 Granite 6 10 13 21 Referee, Howard; umpire, C. Nielsen.