Monday, March 23, 1897. University of Delaware Press. Page 4.
North Carolina Takes NCAA Title
A tremendously poised North Carolina basketball team showed the mark of a champion in the clutch Friday and Saturday to take triple-overtime victories from Michigan State and KU and win the national championship.
The Carolinians, looking confident and relaxed every second of the final game, kept the pressure on the Jayhawkers even when KU mounted a 46-43 lead with 1:15 to play and the Tar Heel's all-American Lennie Rosenbluth was sitting on the bench with five fouls.
The Jayhawkers, forced to dance to the slow waltz tempo of 5-11 guard Tommy Kearns and his mates, simply had to play the slow down tyne of ball.
And they, were outmaneuvered, outfought and outsmarted most of the way. Only in stretches did the Jayhawkers get a chance to show the power that had blown San Francisco off the court 80-56 in the semifinals.
The Tar Heels played it smart from the beginning and got the breaks a champion seems to get. They leaped off to a 12-point lead at 19-7 and were in command most of the wav.
King Guards Rosenbluth
KU started in a 4-man zone defense with Maurice King guarding Rosenbluth man for man. However, with the early lead the Tar Heels simply held the ball, forcing the Jayhawkers to go into a man for man defense.
Then, as center Joe Quigg moved to the outside, taking Chamberlain with him, the Carolina guards whipped the ball to Rosenbluth for a high leaping jump shot. He hit 15 points in the first half as the Tar Heels ran up a 29-22 lead.
The Jayhawkers surged out in front 36-35 on Maurice King's one hander with nine minutes gone in the second half for their first lead of the night.
Both Teams Cautious
—(Daily Kansan photo by Ralph Butler)
The lead changed hands almost as fast as money after the game from there, on until the Jayhawkers grabbed a 46-43 lead. However, the nerveless Quigg hit a 20-foot jump shot and gutty little Kearns added a free throw to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The overtimes were filled with suspense with both teams playing cautiously and waiting for a good shot. KU controlled the tip in every overtime but could not hit the first shot. The Jayhawkers shot eight times in the three overtimes; North Carolina three times.
As Quigg dropped his two free throws through the hoop for a 54-53 Tar Heel lead, Kansas called time out with five seconds left to get the ball at half court when they returned to play.
Johnny Parker, tossed the ball to Ron Loneski who dribbled twice, then lofted a soft high pass to Wilt on the post. The alert Quigg bounded from behind Chamberlain and leaped into the air to deflect the ball to Kearns.
Kearns threw the ball into the air near the scoreboard clock and when it came to the court, North Carolina was the nation's No. 1 basketball team.
Kearns in the background and Bob Cunningham on the right who are circling Wilt Chamberlain. Gene Elstun, No. 12 waits for a rebound.
The Carolinians actually won the game off the backboards as they piled up a 40-28 advantage, the worst rebound defeat for the Jav-hawkers this year, and only the third time they have been outre-bounded.
Tar Heels Hold Rebound Edge
This rebounding edge came when the Tar Heels forced the Jayhawkers to go into a man for man defense in the second half, bringing Chamberlain from under the basket. As a result he got only 14, tops for both teams, but below his 19-rebound a game average.
DURHAM, N.C.-Duke University track star Dave Sime, whose professed first love is baseball, will take time out during next week's annual Florida State baseball tournament to participate in his first track competition of the current season. Sime plans to take part in the Florida Track Relays Saturday in Gainesville.
Duke Stars Returns To Track
RING AROUND THE ROSEBUSH—In this case it's four North Carolina players, Lennie Rosenbluth, No. 10, Joe Quigg, No. 41, Tommy
Wilt Breaks KU Scoring Marks
KU's previous high individual game scoring total was held jointly by H. B. Born and Clyde Lovellette, each of whom scored 44 points. Chamberlain's 31 rebounds broke the mark of 24 set by Lew Johnson last year.
In 27 games the Big Dipper also averaged 29.7. This topped the record held by Lovellette, who averaged 28.6 points per game for 31 games in 1952.
Wilt Chamberlain wasted no time in his first year of collegiate basketball to begin breaking KU records. The Stilt hit 52 points and gathered in 31 rebounds in the Jayhawker's opening game against Northwestern.
Chamberlain's 510 rebounds this season also topped Lovellette's previous high mark of 410.
Chamberlain scored 250 free throws in his sophomore season at KU, topping the old mark of 182 which was held by Lovellette. His 20 field goals against Northwestern beat the previous high of 18 held by Lovellette.
Gene Elstun, Jayhawker senior forward, moved his name up to fifth among the all-time KU scoring leaders. His 3-year total of 861 moved him ahead of Dallas Dobb's 3-year mark of 837.
Chamberlain's 800 points this season moved him to seventh among the all-time KU scoring leaders. In his first year of collegiate play he moved ahead of Ray Ebling's 3-year total of 691. His 800 points also topped the KU scoring record for a sophomore.
"We don't lose anybody at all from this year's team," the rookie coach pointed out. "And in addition, we have stars coming in from a freshman team that had an unbeaten 15-0 record."
Wilt Voted Top Player
Italy Wins Soccer Match
Wilt Chamberlain, KU's all-American center, edged another all-American player Lennie Rosenbluth for the most valuable player award at the NCAA tournament in Kansas City.
"We should be a better team next season," Bradley Coach Chuck Osborn proclaimed in the wake of his Braves' 84-83 win over Memphis State in Saturday's NIT finals, and the "experts" were quick to agree with him.
Bradley Loaded For Next Year
NEW YORK—(UP)—Bradley's "rich" National Invitation Tournament champions will be even "richer" next season — probably battling NCAA champion California and Kansas for the No.1 national basketball ranking.
Chamberlain received 17 votes to 15 for the Tar Heel's star. The 50 sports writers and broadcasters who picked the all-tournament team also selected Chamberlain as the only unanimous choice for the team.
Trinidad, home of calypso singers and steel bands, has a new theme song that hails the island's choice as capital of the forthcoming British West Indies Federation over rival Barbados and Jamaica.
Rosenbluth got all but three votes. Another Tar Heel, Pete Brennan was also named to the team.
Rounding out the all-star team were Gene Brown of the thirdplace San Francisco Dons and John Green, high leaping center of Michigan State.
Chamberlain swept every honor at the tournament as he won scoring honors with 55 points and also led in rebounding.
Rosenbluth, a 6-5 senior forward, scored 31 points in the triple-overtime victory over Michigan State in the semifinals, and added 20 more against the Jayhawkers before fouling out with 1:45 left in the regulation time.
Rosenbluth Great
Brennan played his best game of the tournament against Michigan State as he sank a shot with four seconds left in the first overtime to gain a tie and keep Tar Heel hopes alive. He did a great job off the backboards both nights.
WIESBADEN, Germany — (UP) — Italy defeated a United States soccer team, 4-1, Sunday in an international military match before a crowd of 2,500 rain-drenched spectators. The Italians led, 3-1, at halftime.
He was the team's leading re-
Brown was the Don's leading scorer for the year and hit 22 points in the victory over Michigan State. He is a 6-2/2 junior.
bounder during the regular season and is only a junior.
Green became eligible at the semester for Michigan State and it was mainly through the tremendous rebounding power he gave the team that it was able to sweep to the Big Ten title.
Green Was Difference
Only 6-5, he still outleaped every performer he played against in the tournament. He is only a sophomore but has great. quick hands.
Other players who ranked high on the all-star rating were Maurice King and Gene Elstun of Kansas, Tommy Kearns, Joe Quigg and Bob Cunningham of North Carolina, and Mike Farmer of San Francisco.
The only senior on the all-star squad is Rosenbluth and with sophomores Chamberlain and Green and juniors Brennan and Brown returning next year, the battle for all-American honors promises to provide stiff competition.
In 1955, Dutch nurserymen produced 826,000,000 tulip bulbs.
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