University of Virginia Library

Triumph And Tragedy

Cavs Win In 'Blue Heaven' But Find Dave No Angel

By JOHN MARKON

It was a clear cut case of
triumph and tragedy for the
Cavaliers over semester break
as they split two games on a
Southern road trip, first
beating third-ranked North
Carolina, 84-78, and then being
upset by ACC cellar-dweller
Clemson, 64-63.

Against the Tar Heels last
Thursday night, the Wahoos

played what may have been the
greatest game ever by a
Virginia team. Beating the
Carolinians on a Carmichael
Auditorium court where they
hadn't lost in two years stands
as an accomplishment which
even the loss to Clemson can't
minimize.

First-year forward Wally
Walker and fourth-year
co-captains Barry Parkhill and
Jim Hobgood led the Wahoos
to the regionally-televised win,
each getting over twenty
points.

Walker, both shooting from
the outside and driving in for
layups on carefully executed
pass plays, hit an amazing 12
of 13 shots and finished with
25 points. Walker also hit the
boards well, netting a
game-high ten rebounds.

For his part, Parkhill
displayed a return to his ACC
Player of the Year form by
taking total control of the
game, doling out 11 assist
passes and scoring 23 points.

"Barry Parkhill was the best
player in the conference that
night," a wary Coach Tates
Locke admitted sometime
before his Clemson Tigers were
to upset the Cavs.

Virginia jumped off to big
leads early in the first half
against Carolina and was able
to weather blistering UNC
comebacks at the end of both
periods and at the start of the
second half to claim the
impressive victory.

Karl Stars

Carolina was rallying behind
the impressive play of guard
George Karl, whose 31 points
led all scorers. Karl was also
the heart of a very tight UNC
press that was to bother the
Wahoos all evening.

"If Carolina has a
weakness," Cavalier coach Bill
Gibson had said, "it's in their
outside shooting." Taking this
into consideration, Gibson
ordered up a strict diet of 3-2
and 2-3 zone defenses for the
'Heels, daring them to shoot
over the Virginia defenders.

Thanks to the
marksmanship of Karl (14 for
24), John O'Donnell (three for
three) and Bobby Jones (six
for seven), Carolina was able to
defeat even this strategy,
shooting 54 per cent for the
game. It remained, then, for
the Wahoos to simply outscore
one of the best teams in the
country.

This feat was accomplished
by a terribly effective mixture
of hot Virginia shooting (34 of

61 for the game) and some
ball-hungry Wahoo defense.
Carolina was forced into 16
turnovers with guards Parkhill
and Al Drummond coming up
with most of the stray passes.

Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith
opined that "Virginia was very
well prepared for the game.
They did a great job mentally
and physically. Our kids did a
good job but it wasn't enough.

Other than Walker and
Parkhill, Virginia scoring was
led by Hobgood, who had six
baskets and ten free throws for
22 points. Also scoring were
Drummond with six, guard
Stevie Morris with four, and
Gerard and forward Bob
McKeag with two.

Karl's 31 paced the Tar
Heels followed by Jones with
12, center Ed Stahl with 9,
guard Darrel Elston with 8 and
O'Donnell with 7. Stahl and
Jones each had nine caroms to
pace UNC rebounders.

Several times in the second
half the Tar Heels were able to
narrow the Virginia lead to as
little as one point but each
time the Cavs were able to
bounce back. A Drummond
layup off a Parkhill feed made
the score 81-78 with 26
seconds left and choked off
Carolina's last real threat.

Coming after superlative
performance like that, the Cavs
loss to Clemson was a real
shocker.

"Congratulations, fellows.
You guys are right up there in
the race, now," were Mr.

Locke's words when the
Clemson coach greeted the
Wahoos before their Friday
night practice in Littlejohn
Coliseum.

Against Clemson, the
Wahoos were done in by 6-10
Tiger center Dave Angel who
led his team with 17 points and
displayed total mastery of the
boards as he hauled down an
astounding 21 rebounds.

Angel, a young fellow
whose Bohemian lifestyle
had put him frequently at odds
with his coach, is a senior who
wasn't able to work his way
into the starting Tiger lineup
until seven games into the
season. Against the Cavs he
looked like All-ACC material.

After Virginia had run off
the game's first six points,
Clemson and Angel went to
work. The Tigers quickly
regained the lead and led by
30-24 at the half on their way
to building second period leads
as large as twelve points.

Midway through that period
Virginia began a comeback that
was to take them as close as
64-63 with a minute remaining.
It was then that the fates
seemed to conspire against the
Wahoos.

With the ball in Clemson's
frontcourt, Morris stole an
errant pass and raced in for a
layup, missing the shot but
drawing a foul in the process.

Morris' first free throw fell a
foot short of the basket while
the second barely touched the
rim before nestling in Angel's
grasp. Morris, incensed,
wrestled the ball away from
Angel and passed it back
outside. With 15 seconds left
the Cavs called time out.

The ball was worked
quickly to Parkhill, who was
immediately triple-teamed but
managed to fight off Clemson's
Van Gregg and put up an
off-balance jumper with eight
seconds remaining.

Parkhill's shot hit the rim
and bounced out to McKeag
whose follow-up 15-footer also
struck the rim. With three
seconds left Clemson's Ron
DiPasquale nailed the rebound
and closed out any Cavalier
victory hopes.

After shooting well in
UNC's "Blue Heaven," the
Wahoos found the Littlejohn
baskets somewhat smaller as
the team shot only 41 per cent
on the night. Still, the 'Hoos'
27 field goals were six more
than the number registered by
Locke's Tigers. It was at the
foul line that Clemson won the
game, their first ACC win after
four league losses.

Clemson was able to convert
22 of 26 foul shots while the
Cavs made only nine of 14.
Angel was again the chief
culprit as the big blond from
Rock Hill, S. C. hit on nine of
ten from the line.

Crushing Defeat

"We just can't stand
prosperity," was Mr. Gibson's
reaction after what, to him,
was obviously a crushing
defeat.

Parkhill Prepares To Pass, UNC's George Karl Defends

Parkhill led all scorers with
21 points and was followed for
Virginia by Walker with 16 and
Gerard with 13. Gerard fouled
out with over six minutes left
in the game and left Angel
further unchallenged under the
boards.

Third-string center Dan
Bonner hit two shots for four
points and was the next-highest
Cavalier point-getter. Four
Wahoos had two points while
starter Hobgood had only one.
Drummond, also a starter, did
not score.

Behind Angel for Clemson
were Gregg with 14 points,
most on long-range jumpers,
and forwards Mike Browning
and Jeff Reisinger with eight
points. Clemson out-rebounded
the Wahoos, 42-35.

Tomorrow night the
Cavaliers will try to get back
on their Carmichael
Auditorium form when they
host West Virginia at UHall.
Game time is 8 pm.