The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 29

KiflTPlI fell Fairfield's Tom Coff ing is the cheerleader here, urging brother Chris to victory over former LaSalle wrestler Neal Neyer in Olympic regional trials at UC's Armory Fieldhouse. Page C-12. SCBtiOD Sunday, March 23, 1960 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Lack-Lester Iowa Finds Louisville Too Much trJ Dynamite Darrell IOW FC PGA FT FTA I Braakins a I Boy 0 10 9 7 Krafclsln 4 4 4 I I Laitar 4 4 2 2 1 I Arnold. 2 2 3 Watt 4 4 112 I Hanson 2 I 3 4 4 Gannon 0 0 0 0 0 Hanry 0 0 Totals 2 MM 5 mil uniiod awwuvn mmm mim miiummBal I' I tpts -) Si, Griffith Makes Believers OfHawkeyes INDIANAPOLIS He had the basketball again, and all bets were off. Only the Good Lord above knew what Darrell Griffith was going to do this time.

It was BY CINDY MORRIS Sports Reporter INDIANAPOLIS-For a good part of Saturday afternoon, Iowa was a one-fisted boxer in the ring with All. Twelve minutes into the game, Iowa's Invaluable Ronnie Lester, who had scored his team's first 10 points, went down for the count after a fast break ended In a collision with Louisville's Roger Burk-man. And as Lester limped off never to return-he left his teammates on the court against awesome Louisville and the greatest college player In the country, Darrell Griffith. But despite Louisville's dominance in shooting and rebounding and Griffith's dazzling connections from right and from left the Haw-keyes stayed on their feet until the final minute. Louisville, a playful, frolicking team In practice Friday, had to Jab and counter Its way to an 80-72.

victory In the NCAA semifinals before a crowd of 16,637 at Market Square Arena. Iowa had already played 15 games this season without Lester, who severely bruised his right knee Saturday and wouldn't talk about it later. But they had won only seven of them. LOUISVILLE (32-3) will play UCLA (22-9), a 67-62 victor over Purdue in Saturday's other semifinal, for the NCAA championship at 9:15 p.m. Monday.

Iowa (23-9) will play Purdue (23-9) for third place at 6:07 p.m. Iowa coach Lute Olson had said anything could happen to his team -anythlng-and his kids could deal with It Saturday, they proved It "We had to do without Ronnie the last half of the season," said Iowa center Steve Krafclsln, who had 12 points. "We couldnt think about It" The Hawkeyes were without Lester because of an unrelated Injury to the same knee. But the battered fighters, who have been knocked down so many times this year, hung in until the end, with flu-bitten forward Kevin Boyle playing as In a daze and going 0-for-8 and with assistant coach Tony McAndrews watching from the bench for the first time since he was critically injured In a plane crash Feb. 19.

TWICE THE Hawkeyes were Enquirer photo BY MICHAEL E. KEATING court action, Louisville's Darrell Griffith (right) and Wiley the bench. "We will be back Monday," Olson added. "I think you'll see what kind of class this team has. Even after a disappointment" pusned down, Dy iu points with 1125 to go and by 11 with remaining.

And both times they clawed back, within five. "As bad as things looked, they would not quit," said coach Olson. "They did not quit" Sophomore guard Kenny Arnold, who took a beating while trying to guard Griffith In the early going, rallied himself and, with a broken bone In his shooting hand still healing, finished as his team's leading scorer with 20 points. The Hawkeyes never led after Ttwn rtboundi 0. LOUISVILLE FG FGA FT FTA Brown 1 3 0 2 5 Smith 3 7 7 1 1 McCray 7 4 4 Eavti 2 4 4 4 Griffith 14 21 4 OS Wright 1 2 0 0 3 Burkman 2 3 3 4 2 Branch 0 0 0 0 0 Doumt 0 0 0 0 0 I Ckvtland.

0 0 0 0 0 Pvlllwi 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 20 47 24 31 3a Taam raboundt 0. Iowa Lautivllkt 34 Fautatf Out-Brook kit, Krafclsln, WaHt. the midpoint of the first half, but they were not out of contention until the final 36 seconds when Griffith sank two free throws to put Louisville ahead, 76-69. Former Iowa starter Mark Gannon, his entire right leg strapped In an unwieldy brace, entered the game at that point. Now he can say, someday, "I played In the Final Four." The Hawkeyes could not win because Louisville was too good for them.

The Cardinals shot 59.6 during the game to Iowa's 43.8 and outrebounded Iowa, 36-26. Griffith, the 6-foot-4 all-America senior guard who had not planned to put on a "Darrell Griffith Show," did Just that In an awesome performance that comprised 14 of 21 shots from the field, six of eight from the free throw line, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. "I THOUGHT we played very well," said Louisville coach Denny Crum. "We ran the delay well at the end when we needed It Our defensive rebounding was very good. We had good discipline and took good shots.

"But what has carried us all year and hasn't gotten much attention Is our defense. I'm tired of hearing that Louisville Is a run and gun team." Another aspect of Crum's team, virtually blotted out by Griffith's ink, Is 6-foot-7 freshman center Rodney McCray, who led Louisville in rebounding Saturday with nine and who made five of seven field goal attempts for 14 points. "I know Al McGulre has his all-Amerlcan freshman team, and Rodney Isn't on it" Crum said. "But there aren't too many teams that have won 32 games with a 6-7 center. Rodney was very instrumental for us on the boards." McCray, who broke Into the starting lineup when his brother, 6-8 sophomore forward Scooter McCray, tore knee cartilage In the third game and was lost for the year, also was Instrumental In Louisville's man-to-man defense and press.

In the second half, he helped spur Louisville to a 53-43 lead accurate, Is that UCLA is back," said silver-haired Lee Rose, the Purdue coach who for the second time in four years found frustration In the round-of-four. The first time was when he was coach at North Carolina-Charlotte and lost a 2-polnt heartbreaker to Marquette, which eventually win It all. UCLA, the stoned Bruins who-won 10 national championships under John Wooden, not only whipped the Boilermakers at their own game defense but their speed, quickness and ability to keep the ball away from 7-foot-l Billy Joe the floor to meet his players following APFTP in IS 14 00 Enquirer the middle of the second half, and Griffith had already spun and leaped and twlzzled his way to 25 points and several standing ovations. But Just when everyone In Market Square Arena figured Griffith had used up his entire wardrobe of moves, he went to the closet and yanked out another new sports coat. Two men from Iowa were guarding Griffith at the top of the key.

They both went up in the air when Griffith turned to his left and started to shoot. They both stayed up In the air when Griffith pulled the ball back, whirled the other way, and found himself wide open for an easy Jump shot When the ball dropped through the net, Griffith and Louisville had a 55-45 lead In the NCAA semifinals, and Iowa never came closer than four points after that. Later, all the Iowans agreed. The pump-whirl shot at the top of the key was Griffith's best moment In his nationally televised special. "I HOPE he goes all the way, because he deserves It," said Bob Hansen, the third of three men who spent Saturday afternoon trying to guard Griffith.

The other two were Kenny Arnold and Kevin Boyle, and they were Just as respectful. "I was lust trying to deny him the ball and play him tight, but he was getting his shots off and they were Arnold said. "There's not much you can do about that." There was not much any Iowa player could do about Griffith, except stand back and applaud like the rest of the country. No other college player has received such sustained publicity over the last four years than Griffith has, and by now every adjective In Funk and Wagnalls has been pasted beside his name, but It was as If he truly had trained his entire life for this Instant. For one afternoon, he led college basketball In points (34), and In assists, too.

He had six of those, two of them in the final two minutes of the game when Louisville was tightening the cinch for good. Arnold, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, drew the 6-4 Griffith as his starting defensive assignment But when Griffith made seven of 1 his first nine field goal attempts-none from closer than 12 feet- i Iowa coach Lute Olson went to Plan which was Boyle. A 6-6 sophomore known as a defensive specialist Boyle held Griffith to Just two points In the last nine minutes of tne first half. But in the second half, he was worn Into a dlshrag and was removed from his Job. Boyle, who averaged 12.2 points per game this season, didn't score at all Saturday, because he was too busy with Griffith.

"You can get really tired guarding him," Boyle admitted. "You're Just concentrating so hard. I wanted to do It though. I stole the ball from him once. I tried to keep a hand in his face when he shot, but one time he made It even though I had a hand right there.

That's disappointing." Hansen, the final Hawkeye player who had a crack at Griffith, planned to stay skintight with him and go up after his shots. But that tactic failed, too. Early In his career, Griffith was known primarily as a thunderdunking banshee, but now he has learned that his 48-inch vertical leap gives him a virtually unstoppable-and unblockable Jump shot. "I PLAY against a lot of guys who Jump high," Hansen said. "But they all come down.

Darrell floats up there and moves around. The only way to stop a man like that is to keep him from getting the ball." None of them did. They all knew who the day belonged to. When Griffith left the lineup with four seconds remaining, he ran to the Iowa bench and slapped hands with all of the players sitting there. Boyle said he didn't think It was a hot dog move, and he didn't mind It Why would he? Finally, he wouldn't have to worry about guarding Griffith any more.

index Sports Editor FRANK HINCHEY Telephone 721-2700 ext. 240 (After 4 P.m.) Scores 721-0600, 721-0616 (24 hoifs) KEEPING WARY eyes on last-second Brown exchange the "high five" along with by twice snaking a long arm Into the path of an Iowa pass. IOWA HAD held even, however, until Lester was Injured. Both teams started slowly with the exceptions of Griffith and Lester, who accounted for 26 of the game's first 35 points. Iowa took Its first lead, 15-14, with 11:32 left In the first half, but led only once again, at 17-16.

Moments later, Lester went down. Carroll made the difference In the end. ROSE ADMITTED to the Purdue frustration. "It was difficult to get the ball to Carroll because of the outstanding defense by UCLA," Rose said quietly. "We ran through all the offenses we had." Indeed, Carjoll was held to 17 points ana jusi seven in tne last nair when the Bruins, intimidating the monster Boiler senior, hacked, gouged, pushed, shoved In a way more fitted for the National Basket- UCLA Pounds Purdue, Literally, As Big Ten Sinks in.

ii ii mi. iiaiin.i.iiu jinnwini i ni nmm mumjimm I The collision did not appear vlo-lent, although Burkman was charged with a foul. "I was moving, and when he sprang, I think he punea a muscie," uurKman saia. "it could have happened if he had been wiae open. But Olson's account differed: "As he went up, he got hit hard on the side of the knee.

The doctor was concerned that there might be swelling if he had played. And we expect him to play Monday. ball Association. Or the National Football League. What the Bruins did to him bor- dered on criminal, but they got by with it and in the end neutralized Carroll to the point where he was never really a factor.

Needing help from outside, Car- roll didn't get It Keith Edmonson, who led the Riveters with 23 points, tried mightily In the second half when he threw In 16. But the rest of the Purdue offense that had to come through simply was not equal to the task. Arnette Hallman, scoreless in the first half, finished with exactly two. Drake Morris got only four points In the second half for a total of 12. Purdue, as It had all season until reaching the playoffs, shot Just 25 of 58 from the floor for 43.1.

"WE DIDN'T stop Carroll with any one guy," said Larry Brown, UCLA's first-year college coach. "I truly believe Just played with what got us here in the first place. We have good athletes who love to play defense man-for-man, and on offense they like to take it to the hole." Neither Purdue nor UCLA did anything well In the dull, sloppily-played first half that ended with UCLA holding a 33-25 lead. Except for a couple of Purdue leads, each by a point, UCLA led "throughout the game. The first-half difference was UCLA's deceptively quick forward Kikl Vandeweghe, who hit on 7 of 10 field goals and both free throws for 16 points.

The Riveters restricted him to eight in the second half, but the damage was done. Vandeweghe seemed to glide through the air on his drives, right past Carroll, for four hoops In the first nine minutes. "I was trying to take it to him explained. "I knew if I slowed up and threw up something fancy, he would block it "I took it right at him to challenge him. I think that's the best way to do it when you're facing a great shot-blocker.

I pitched the ball out a few times when he came out, but I wanted to get the ball as close as I could to the basket." "Vandeweghe surprised me the way he could go to the hoop," Rose admitted later. Oil lilB. IDSISB UCLA's Kiki Vandeweghe and Louisville's Darrell Griffith live up to All-America billing. Page C-5. tSrums iSrewm7 PUBOUE PO Xr TG 2 Jus i 3 1 2 23 I II I I ln" 1 0 1 1 25 nil wJs 2 F2 7 "0 A vandawagiw 12 2 1 7 2 3 1 't Hotton 1 31 21214 I 30 03010 Pnm JwrnRaa-i'''' 23 pur 25 37- UCLA 33 rfrx-UMi.

EDMONSON BANGED In two quick ones as Purdue opened the second half, narrowing It to four, and momentarily stunned th Bruins. But they seemed to recover when James Wilkes, with one of only two baskets, slammed home a ripping dunk after a UCLA steal. UCLA twice mounted 10-poirit leads as time wound down, and the crowd turned flat, hardly believing what It was witnessing. But slowly the Boilermakers fought back. A 6-polnt run cut it to 47-43, and as UCLA got Into foul trouble (two Bruins eventually fouled out) Purdue cut It to one point, 59-58, on Carroll's turnaround Jump.

A moment laer it was 61-60. But never could Purdue ahead, then change Its game plan. In the end, outscored from ths field by two baskets, 25-23, UCLA won It at the free throw line, sink ing 21 of 25 to Purdue's 12 of 17. Each team had 21 personal fouls. "They not only hit those free throws, but they hit 'em when they were crucial," Rose said.

Twice in the closing 41 seconds, Vandeweghe went to the line on 1-and-ls and scored UCLA's final four points. "It seems like in this tournament, our free throws at the end havewon it every time," Vandeweghe said. "It was a problem early in the year, but we've worked and practiced them, and now we go BY DICK FORBES Sports Reporter INDIANAPOLIS-In the heart of Big Ten territory, in the headquarters of basketball, In Hoosler country where The Game Is a religion, it was shocking almost beyond belief. But the truth Saturday was the mystique of Big Ten basketball was destroyed, first by Louisville over Iowa, and then the worst blow of all for Indlanans-by UCLA's 67-62 victory over Purdue in the second semifinal game of the NCAA championships. "All I can say, and I think it's UCLA COACH Larry Brown dashes onto im ii.

ikiii ii ii in photo BY MICHAEL E. KEATING BASEBALL C-2J BOWLING C-15 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS C-8-12 HORSE RACING C-18 AAONTGOMERYjXJTDQORS C-17 their NCAA semifinals victory over Purdue. to tne line witn a lot of confidence.".