University of Virginia Library

Cagers' Comeback Cans Icy Blue Devils

By Randy Wert
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Thirteen points down with just a
little over ten minutes remaining on
the clock in University Hall,
Virginia's Big Five Champ cagers
roared back to overhaul nationally
ranked Duke 75-70 before a
screaming crowd of 8,000, certainly
the loudest in University history.

Leading the charge was 6-7
All-America candidate Bill Gerry
(22 points, 11 rebounds), whose
seven straight points in the midst of
tenacious rebounding limited a cold
shooting Duke club to one shot
each time they brought the ball
downcourt. The result was a surge
to a 64 all tie, again on a Gerry
bucket, after which the Cavaliers
never trailed, going on to deny
Duke's ugly man Randy Denton of
a victory in U-Hall for the third
consecutive year.

Virginia scored first on spot
field general Barry Parkhill's foul
shot after the Blue Devils had
controlled the tap and missed, but
Duke soph Richie O'Connor netted
the game's initial field goal to put
his club up, never to trail until
Gerry knotted the score with 4:37
remaining in the contest. Pressing
full court, Duke managed to hold
one or two basket leads until the
Cavaliers got close enough to tie, at
which time they lengthened their
advantage by running off a few
points. The tight Virginia zone
defense successfully kept the ball
away from the 6-10 Denton and his
fellow behemoths in the early going
as Duke settled for having
sophomore sharp shooter Jeff
Dawson snipe from way outside to
carry the attack. The Devils despite
hot shooting still couldn't blow
Virginia off the court, and as
jubilant Coach Bill Gibson readily
pointed out, "They couldn't shoot
like that forever."

Seven points behind midway
through the first half, supersubs
Chip Miller and Mike (Welcome
Back) Wilkes set up Scott
McCandlish's jumper from the
baseline which tied things up at 30
all. Immediately the Blue Devils
called time to straighten their
mussed jerseys and went back onto
the court to open an eight point
gap. McCandlish, the league's tallest
guard, pumped in a 17 foot jump
shot at the buzzer to close Duke's
halftime bulge to six.

Horrendously passive
rebounding on the part of Virginia
allowed Duke two and three shots
every time they came downcourt
which resulted in the Durham boys'
largest advantage, 13 points, at
10:35 in the second half. Then it
began to happen as Gerry's back to
back buckets forced another Devil
timeout. This proved nothing as
Wild Bill came back out to sink a
foul shot and a short jumper to
bring the Cavaliers within three.
Meanwhile the Cavalier defense,
brought out from its tight zone by
Coach Gibson to meet the Duke
backcourt, bounded the Blue Devil
shooters unmercifully and held
them scoreless for over five
minutes. After Gerry tied the score,
the teams traded buckets until
Miller hit for two field goals and
two free throws and Jim Hobgood
slammed in a 25 foot line drive
jump shot to give the Cavaliers a
four point edge, 72-68.

With McCandlish, consistently
hitting (eight for ten from the
floor, 16 points) from farther from
the hoop than most centers dare
roam, clearing the boards, Virginia
calmly killed the clock, dispelling
fears of a repeat of previous U Hall
chokes.

"I can't say enough," indicated
the elated Gibson, "about the
student body and fans. We asked
for an ACC attitude and the
response was out of this world."
Lauding his bench, Gibson said,
"There was no individual star."
Gibson did praise McCandlish who
"did a great job on Denton (25
points, 14 rebounds) when we put
him on him man to man." Parkhill
contributed ten points, four
rebounds, and most important,
seven assists.