University of Virginia Library

UCLA, UNC Take Cage Titles

By John Markon
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The final rounds of the major
college basketball tournaments
yielded both an ACC first and a
repetition of things past as UCLA
vanquished Villanova 68-62 for its
fifth consecutive NCAA title and
North Carolina blistered Georgia
Tech 84-66 to become the Atlantic
Coast Conference's first- ever NIT
titlist.

Steve Patterson and Henry
Bibby led the Bruins with a total of
46 points to a career high mark of
29 tallies. Center Patterson and
guard Bibby were UCLA's only
effective shooters against the
Wildcat's sgy "ball" defense, a
defense that UCLA would refuse to
attempt to penetrate when the
Bruin lead reached seven points or
better.

The clash between All-American
Sidney Wicks and Howard Porter
was, however, won conclusively by
Villanova's Porter who look home
Tournament MVP honors, scored
25 points and held Bad Sidney to
seven. It was only the early scoring
of Porter and foul-plagued Hank
Siemiontkowski that prevented
UCLA from putting the game on
ice shortly before halftime.

As it was the Bruins slowed the
pace down in the second half and
came within an inch of being upset.
With one minute to play, Wildcat
forward Clarence Smith missed a
lay-up that would have put
Villanova within two points of the
Angelenos. UCLA's Wicks snared
the rebound and, for all practical

purposes, the game and the season
were over.

Porter and Jim McDaniels,
center for third-place Western
Kentucky, led vote-getters for the
tourney All-Star squad and were
joined on the elite five by
Slomiontkowski, Patterson, and
Wicks.

Villanova's "close but no cigar"
performance left it to UNC's Tar
Heels to strike a blow for
competitiveness in college
basketball. Playing most of the
tourney without star Dennis
Wuycik and most of the final game
without the fouled-out Lee
Dedmon the 'Heels nevertheless
became the first ACC team to
advance beyond the quarterfinals,
let alone win, Madison Square
Garden's prestigious National
Invitation affair.

The championship game was
mostly a case of Carolina spurting
to big leads, Georgia Tech rallying
to make it close, and the Tar Heels
getting serious again and taking
another seemingly insurmountable
advantage. The last Carolina drive
was a devastating streak with
around seven minutes remaining to
close out Yellowjacket hopes.

Bill Chamberlain, an easy choice
for NIT MVP honors, was by far
the best player in uniform as he
scored 34 points and rebounded
well. Substitute Kim Huband added
14 additional Carolina points with
Dave Chadwick also netting 14 and
floor-leader George Karl
contributing 11.

Tom Wilson and Bob Murphy
paced the Tech attack with 19
points each