Coached by Gene Hall
Overall season record 24-2
Conference record 8-1
Regional champions
2nd place NCIC
Inter-city champions
Coach Gene Hall's varsity basketball squad of 48-49 will long be remembered as one of Sterling High School's best. During the season, the Warriors racked up 24 wins against two defeats. In doing so, the Inter-City Title and the Regional Tournament Crown came to their possession.
In the opening game, Sterling turned back the determined East Moline team. Freeport then pushed the Golden Warriors to the limit as Sterling won 35-33 in a real thriller.
Later in the season, a murderous overtime period sent the highly regarded Tilden Tech quintet back to Chicago. This game proved the Warriors had the necessary spark to go places.
The Blue and Gold Cagers defeated Morton by two points in a tense ball game. Then they stretched their winning column to 10 games by beating Dixon, Beloit, Community, Rock Falls, Dixon, and Princeton.
By finally getting down to business in the second half, Sterling was able to properly dispose of Galesburg Silver Streaks by a score of 55-39.
Rochelle fell before the Warriors onslaught and so did West Rockford in an overtime period, 55-52.
Geneseo, Community, Hall Township, Rock Falls, and Ottawa were no match for Sterling, as game number 18 was stored away.
East Rockford and their possession brand of basketball nearly stopped the Golden Warriors. For eight minutes the R-Rabs stalled and made the final score 23-22 in Sterling's favor.
The DeKalb Barbs next gave the Warriors their only regular season defeat. It was in the form of a 45-54 upset. Bouncing back hard, Sterling defeated Wells of Chicago and Mendota, which gave them a tally of 21 wins against only one loss.
In tournament play the Golden Warriors met and defeated Rock Falls, Amboy, and Dixon to capture the Regional crown. In the Sectional, however, East Rockford proved too much, and Sterling was forced to taste loss for the second time during the year.
The members of the team were Tom McCormick '49, Roger Puterbaugh '50, Max Baumgardner '49, Ray Kenaga '50, Jim Ohda '49, Jack Hall '50, Dale Long '49, Chuck Sisson '49, Cliff Garriott '50, Palmer Miller '49, Elwin Thielen '50, and John Bowman '50. Their coach was Gene Hall.