The Cavalier daily :: Monday, December 6, 1971 :: University of Virginia Library

As the Athletic Department
and some ardent Wahoo
rooters have been saying for
some time, this could be the
year Virginia turns the corner
in the ACC. Already the
football team has racked up
two conference wins and
Saturday night the basketball
team rolled to a 86-77 win over
Duke in a game played in
Durham.

The failure to win a single
league contest away from
UHall last year was the main
reason the Cavs ACC mark was
only 6-8. Now the Wahoos find
themselves atop the league
standings and undefeated
overall, boasting a 2-0 mark.

Although the 'Hoos carved
out a 20-point lead late in the
second half the game was close
for quite a while. The Blue
Devils, not possessed of their
usual powerhouse this season
and bothered by an ankle
injury to star guard Gary
Melchionni, responded well to
the urgings of their boisterous
fans and shaved a ten-point
Virginia lead to a 43-42
halftime advantage.

Hobgood Top Scorer

Unquestionably the main
weapon in Coach Hoot
Gibson's arsenal was forward
Jim Hobgood as the
Uniontown file hit on 10 of
14 shots, many from
somewhere in the vicinity of
the main quad of the women's
campus, and led all scorers
with 25 points. Barry Parkhill
was second among all
point-getters with 19 big ones.

An opening hot streak by
Parkhill gave the Cavs an early
lead that they never lost. Seven
points by The Pistol and one
by Frank DeWitt made the
score 8-2 Virginia at the 17:35
mark of the first half. Rugged
rebounding and good foul
shooting, however, enabled the
Devils to keep it close
throughout the initial period.

Gan Big Lead

Gibson substituted freely
throughout the half but made
his moves more judiciously in
the second as the edge Virginia
had in raw talent began to
show up. The Cavs turned the
ball over only six times to
Duke's eleven after
intermission and rallied to grab
that big 82-62 lead.

By that time all the
screaming fans, brassy pep
bands and good looking
cheerleaders in the world
couldn't have saved the Devils.
In the game's last six minutes
they closed the final margin to
nine but this was due mainly to
Gibson's decision to go to a
"four-corners" stall and the
team's inability to work it
correctly.

'Northern Dancer'

Other Wahoos in double
figures were DeWitt with 10
and Scott McCandlish with 12,
McCandlish tied with Duke's
Richie O'Connor for game
rebounding honors and his
scrappy inside game led some
on press row to dub the
Poughkeepsie, NY
fourth-yearman the "Northern
Dancer", another entry, I
guess, in the voluminous file of
Cavalier nicknames.

Farther down the list for
Virginia, guard Tim Rash had
six points, fellow backcourter
Chip Miller five, Al Drummond
four and Bob McCurdy three.
A fifth guard, Steve Morris,
sunk one basket on his first
offensive play. Parkhill was
second to McCandlish in
rebounds with six and led in
assists with three.

Shaw, Redding Lead Duke

Alan Shaw and Chris
Redding led Devil scorers with
18 and 16 points respectively
with Melchionni, who had a
10-point game, pacing
everyone in assists with five.
Leading rebounder was, of
course, O'Connor who suffered
through his second straight
poor shooting night but wound
up with 13 points.

Duke is a team with a few
problems. Melchionni's two
partners at guard, Jeff Burdette
and Robbie West, are simply
not threats and the Devil big
men, especially Redding, pick
up fouls at an alarming rate.
Many fans are also on the
Coach Bucky Waters' back and
Bucky could seldom substitute
without a wave of
second-guessing boos emanating
from the crowd, listed at
7,800.

Flashes Of Brilliance

For the Cavaliers, their
occasional flashes of extreme
brilliance should be most
encouraging. Shooting was
good (51.5 per cent) and
defense was always adequate,
often better. Hobgood's
marksmanship at times
transcended belief.

Next ACC action for the
Cavs will be at UHall on
Wednesday night against
Maryland, a big Saturday
winner over George
Washington. Gibson, who is, as
you know, "playing 'em one at
a time" this year should have
his team ready to go and not
looking beyond the Terps to
Saturday's big contest with
Baldwin-Wallace.

Virginia	43	43 — 86
Duke	42	35 — 77

Attendance—7,800

Forward Jim Hobgood Led Cavaliers To Win Over Duke

Third-Yearman Scored 25 In Saturday Victory At Durham