University of Virginia Library

Duke Beats Cavalier Stall, 57 - 45

By Jim O'Reilly

Saturday night at Richard
Nixon's old stomping grounds,
the Duke campus at Durham,
North Carolina, the Virginia
basketball team tried to "move
with all deliberate speed"
toward a victory with honor in
their first ACC contest of the
year.

A unilateral nine-minute
moratorium on scoring cost the
Cavaliers both the lead and the
game, 57-45. The deliberate
Virginia offense dominated the
first half of play, with a
tenacious two-three zone
defense reining in Duke and
setting up a 21-17 lead when
the period ended.

The Cavaliers' lack of depth
proved the deciding factor, however,
as the greater talent on the
Blue Devils' bench forced the tiring
Cavaliers into several key turnovers
in the second half. From a 27-20
lead, their largest of the game, the
Virginia offense sputtered and stalled
as Duke began an eighteen-point,
nine-minute surge without a Virginia
score. It was the Duke bench
- substitutes Bill Yarborough and
John Posen especially - who
provided the initiative on what
proved to be a cold night for the
starting five. Yarborough's fifteen-foot
jumper with 12:39 left began
the runaway.

Kevin Kennelly Had Good Performance Offensively, Defensively

Two injuries to Virginia starters
threatened to put the depleted
bench even deeper in trouble.
Senior captain Chip Case, playing
on two bad knees, came down for a
loose ball and reinjured one with 37
seconds to play in the first half.
Defensive standout Frank DeWitt
spelled him, until he later returned
to make the basket the Cavaliers
needed most, a 20-foot jumper with
4:20 to play that broke the scoring
drought. His last shot of the game,
with 40 seconds left, produced the
final score for the losers.

Guard Kevin Kenelly twisted an
ankle with eight minutes to play in
the second half, and was replaced
by soph Chip Miller. Kennelly left
with seven points after a good
defensive job on Dick DeVenzio.

Virginia's trademark, the slowdown
patterned offense of Coach
Bill Gibson, worked as long as its
prerequisites a cold-shooting
opponent, and an accurate backcourt
- were satisfied. DeVenzio
and Posen were key men in the
Duke surge that ended the Cavaliers'
effectiveness.

The low-scoring matchup also
featured good defensive work by
Virginia's sophomores, playing only
their second varsity game. Randy
Denton, Duke's 6-10 leading scorer
(27 against VPI), was held to five
pois, and shut out in the second
half (13 at VPI). Rick Kathermann
also suffered in the statistics; his
only basket of the night came on a
fifteen-foot jump shot early in the
first half. Much of the credit goes
to lean 6-10 center Scot McCandish,
whose best offensive play
was a scoring layup with a Kennelly
long pass from the backcourt.

Bill Gerry led all Virginia scorers
with fourteen points, eight of them
in the first half.