University of Virginia Library

Late Turnovers Foil Cagers
In Making Trip To Finals

By Hugh Antrim
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - "Either
team could have, or should have
won," commented a relieved State
coach Norman Sloan. But from the
Cavaliers' point of view, only
Virginia was on top. The Cavaliers
went ahead 66-65 on a pair of free
throws by Chip Case, but lost the
lead and eventually the game on Ed
Leftwich's jumper with 41 seconds
left.

Those last 40 seconds were
plainly catastrophic, and until the
game films are carefully reviewed,
the facts are shrouded in the
mystery of the silent whistle.

Behind 66-67 but in possession
of the basketball, the Cavaliers
strove to regain the lead. Joe
Dunning managed to get in the way
of a pass and its recipient, Bill
Gerry, and State got the ball back.
Kevin Kennelly immediately fouled
Leftwich; and with 14 seconds left
in the game Coach Bill Gibson
called time, letting the Wolfpack
soph think about his shot. Leftwich
thought about it and missed.
McCandlish rebounded and got the
ball downcourt to Tim Rash. Rash
was moving in the corner when,
amidst several Pack aggressors, the
ball dribbled from his foot out of
bounds. With only four seconds left
McCandlish fouled Williford.

Williford, who had been a
problem to the Cavaliers all evening,
went to the line to ice a one
point (four seconds left) advantage.
The State captain missed on the
front end, and McCandlish grabbed
the rebound. McCandlish turned
and took a dribble before colliding
with Leftwich, both players going
to the floor. The buzzer went off as
the ball trickled out of bounds -
the noise of the capacity 11,666
was frenzied, but the silence of the
whistle was deafening.

As much as the Charlotte press
and patrons would hate to admit it
those "upstart" Virginians took the
tournament by storm. A lot of talk
about only six effective basketball
programs in the ACC, and that the
tourney could be won by any of six teams, went into the shoe and back
into the mouth.

The Cavaliers sat in a 2-1-2 zone
and let the Pack shoot from the
outside. Ed Leftwich had 13 points
and Joe Dunning 14, but it was the
ten of 18 shooting of Van Williford
that saved State. Williford scored
25 points and led the Pack with 11
rebounds.

Baskets by Rash and McCandlish
sent Virginia ahead in the early
moments 10-5, but State caught up,
and the lead changed hands several
times before the Cavaliers took a
30-28 lead into intermission. Gerry,
McCandilsh, and Case paced the
Cavaliers into a nine point lead,
46-37, with 14 minutes remaining.
But Virginia proceeded to go some
six minutes without benefit of a
field goal. Rash had put Virginia up
52-51 with 7:54 left, but neither
team could increase an advantage of
more than one point once Rash
later tied the score at 57, with less
than five minutes remaining.

A poor 39 per cent field goal
accuracy in the first half kept the
Cavaliers from breaking it open
early. Virginia did hit 11 of 19 in
the second period, but 11 turnovers
in the last twenty minutes were
costly.

One interesting note: Paul Coder
flattered onlookers with six points
and three rebounds, while Bill
Gerry had 15 points and eight
rebounds. Coder has All-ACC
status; Gerry does not.

Virginia, by virtue of the weekend's
performance, has dented the
Carolina's concept of the ACC, and
that's a considerable accomplishment.