University of Virginia Library

Baby Terps Edge Yearlings

By JOHN MARKON

Virginia's basketball
Cavayearlings lost a mysterious
30 seconds as well as their
game last night as they
dropped a 75-73 verdict to the
Baby Terps of Maryland in a
University Hall contest.

A little-used rule providing
for the ending of freshman
games one half-hour before the
beginning of the varsity contest
caused the loss in time as the
thirty precious ticks ran off the
U-Hall clock before the
opposing coaches and officials
agreed to waive the rule. Like
the time mix-up the actual
defeat was a confusing one.

Maryland led 75-68 before
the clock trouble but the
Yearlings soon pulled to
within four at 75-71. A long
shot by Andy Boninti made it
75-73 Maryland with 1:12 left
and that's where the scoring
ended.

Both squads had ample
opportunity to add to that
tally before the final buzzer
but, somehow, just couldn't do
it. The Baby Terps blew two
one-and-one foul situations and
the Cavs missed a layup, were
called for charging and were
errant on several long-distance
shots.

Throughout the first half the
teams played on even terms,
with the visitors surging near
the end to grab a 39-36
advantage. Yearling spark plug
in that half, as well as ending
the game as Virginia's high
scorer, was forward Gus Gerard
who totalled 24 points on the
evening.

Other top Cavalier scorers
were guards Brian Tulley and
Andy Boninti with 14 points
each and center Dan Bonner
with 12. All but one of
Boninti's points came in the
second half as his frequently
hot shooting and key steals
made the Wahoo comeback
possible.

For the Baby Terps, leading
scorer was forward Owen
Brown, who topped all
point-getters with eleven
baskets and 27 points. After
him were guard Donny White
and forward Varick Cutler with
14 and center Tom Roy with
12.

Like Virginia's Tulley, Roy
left the game on fouls but
acquired the rather large
crowd's lasting enmity by
giving some sort of two handed
amalgam of Lefty Driesell's
"V" sign. His peculiar brand of
enthusiasm soon became
contagious on the Maryland
team.

All in all a better
preliminary couldn't have been
asked for, considering the
contest to follow. The loss
dropped the Cavayearlings'
record to 1-2 and 0-2 in the
ACC.

The team, however, has
faced two teams that rank
among the best anywhere in
Duke and Maryland and has
played them both virtually
even. Next Cavayearlings
opening will be Saturday
against Laurinburg Prep of
North Carolina. The game will
begin at 5:55, preceding the
varsity contest against
Baldwin-Wallace College.