The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 39

IS SEC WEAK IN BASKETBALL? ports Ijc Times section Tage 9 SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1908 Powers 94-78 UK Past Vandy Hot-Shooting UK's 58.1 per cent shooting for the entire first half 26 baskets out of 43 attempts was only one of the things that turned the contest into a rout-Kentucky's rebounding and man-to-man defense were topnotch, too. "They completely licked us on the boards in the first half," Vandy coach Roy Skinner. "They were screening us out on every shot. "Why, I don't think we got one of- missed on a twisting shot under the basket. But Kentucky came right back and made four more shots in a row to surge ahead 22-9 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

The margin kept growing. Opens 30 Point Gap Twice Kentucky opened the gap to 30 points at 49-19 and 51-21 before settling for a 55-33 edge at halftime. a comfortable 16 (81-65) with 6:08 to play. That spree wrapped it up. "Our kids got very tired in the second half," said Rupp, explaining Kentucky's momentary scoring lapse.

"But Vandy was also tired." Skinner said: "You can't get 22 points behind in the first 20 minutes and expect to come back, but our subs came through during that one stretch. "Then, the next thing I knew, we were behind by 16." The players most responsible for Kentucky's eighth victory in nine starts were: Argento, who wound up with a career-high total of 25 points all See L'K BOMBARDS Page 4, Col. 3 fensive rebound, but they were getting two or three at a time. "And their defense forced us out of our patterns." All of that the Kentucky shooting, rebounding and defense left only one question to be answered in the second half: Hew great would UK's final margin be? Vandy Cuts Lead to 9 Vandy, suffering only its second loss in 12 games, made one mildly threatening gesture. With substitutes manning most of its positions, Vanderbilt reeled off eight straight points and cut Kentucky's lead to (74-65).

Then, however, UK scored seven points in a row four of them by Argento and the margin was back to By GARY SCHULTZ Courier-Journal ft Times Stiff Writer NASHVILLE, it can be said: This University of Kentucky basketball team is for real. Such an assessment was somewhat open to doubt when, in its first eight games, UK won seven times but lost to the only nationally ranked team it came up against North Carolina by an 84-77 score. But last night, before a capacity audience of 11,094, Kentucky convinced everybody. It humiliated Vanderbilt, rated No. 3 in one poll and No.

4 in the other, by 94-78. And afterward, Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp hit the nail directly on the head when he said: "Never have I seen a bunch of boys go up and down the floor and shoot the way we did tonight." Indeed, Kentucky's knack for finding the basket bordered on the phenomenal at times. It did not, for instance, miss a shot from the field until the game was almost five minutes old. And in the first 10 minutes, Kentucky connected on 16 of 19 shots for a fantastic 84.2 per cent. The battle of Southeastern Conference powers began with Vanderbilt's Tom Hagan sinking two free throws, giving the home team its only lead of the night.

Then Thad Jaracz hit for Kentucky Phil Argento connected Mike Casey found the mark Mike Pratt put one in and so on and so forth. UK had made its first seven shots and was on top 14-6. Finally, the string ended when Argento VANDERBILT 78 Player fq ft fta reb. 7 6 5 0 1 4 5 I 2 2 6 39 Wvendandt 6 Warren 7 Wallace 1 Hagan I Campbell 3 Lockvear 0 Bundy 3 Due 1 Welhoelter 3 Bartch 0 Team 15 15 4 18 10 2 6 2 6 0 Totals 12 78 14 14 78 Halftime Kenlur Shooting percentases Kentucky 3.2. Vanderbilt 41.0.

of Beats Adversity And North Texas 66-52 By DICK FENLON Courier-Journal ft Times Staff Writer DENTON, Tex. Perhaps John Dromo i installed a survival course as part of his practice regimen when he took over this season as University of Louisville basketball coach. At any rate, his Louisville Cardinals survived a little bit of everything last night in coming up with a 66-52 victory over North Texas State their third suc KENTUCKY 94 Player Is fsa ft fta. reb. pf to Casev 12 19 3 Pratt Issel 3 Argento 10 Jaracz 3 LeMaster 4 Clevenser 0 Porter 0 Gamble 0 Berser 0 13 12 20 7 7 0 0 0 0 10 22 7 5 1 0 0 1 0 3 Team Totals 41 77 13 23 52 II Attendance 11,904.

and scored 13 points was tossed out of the game by referee Dan Watson with 14:52 remaining for flagrantly fouling Wendel Hart when the North Texas guard twas attempting to score on a And, at that point, it looked like it might be the end for Louisville. After building an 18-point lead late in the first half, Louisville had seen it dwindle to seven when King got the gate. Shortly afterward, North Texas twice reduced the gap to four points, at 42-38 and 48-42. Then Louisville regrouped, scored five straight points to boom its lead to a safe 51-42 with 8:14 left, and switched from a man-to-man defense into a tough 1-3-1 zone that kept North Texas at bay the remainder of the way. Denny Deeken was one of the reasons Louisville survived.

Team Has Matured, Dromo Says Deeken replaced King, his old teammate at Flaget High, at forward and came up with two key steals and two important defensive rebounds that averted any trend that Louisville might have had toward pushing the panic button. "I didn't believe we could handle them so easily, especially under such atrocious conditions," said Dromo, who pointed out that assistant coach T. L. Plain viewed the game with his topcoat on as did almost all of the fans. "I just can't get over it," continued Dromo.

"Why, we're just not the same ball club that we were earlier. We've grown up on the road." Just as in its 65-59 win at Tuba Thursday, Louisville was a sure-handed team. It cut its floor errors to nine as against 12 at Tulsa and had only three in a first half in which it took quick See of BEATS Page 4, Col. 1 NORTH TEXAS 52 Player Stephens Huff Hazelton Winfleld (9 1 0 7 1 fta reb. to 3 0 14 11 3 0 4 15 2 0 2 7 3 17 12 2 1 4 14 1 0 Adams Taylor 0 Cutter 2 Hart Ford 1 Baker 0 Team Totals 23 40 11 36 16 LOUISVILLE 66 Player Slevy King Unseld (9 fga ft fta 1 9 3 0 0 reb.

pf a i 0 3 18 1 4 1 2 3 2 1 4 35 II 6 6 4 7 12 10 4 13 6 5 beard Holden 3 Deeken 1 Team Totals 27 50 Halftime: Louisville 36-26. 12 II 4 WiimMsmm' Associated Press Hillman (2). Controlling the puck for Montreal are Jacques Laperriere (left) and Dick Duff. Montreal won National League game 5-2. (Page 8.) THE ACTION IS FURIOUS near the Montreal goal as the Csnadiens regain the puck from the New York Rangers' Ron Stewart (12) and Wayne Bishop Hero in Seneca Nudges Thomas Jeff mi 66 65 Win By JIM BOLUS Courier-Journal Times Staff Writer A record player was blaring forth with a rock-and-roll tune and members of the Seneca basketball team were doing the shimmy and limbo in the dressing room.

Head coach George Unseld almost had to shout to be heard in the din. Across the way in the Thomas Jefferson locker room, the players dressed quietly, a few of them sipping soft drinks. And the words spoken by a disappointed coach John Reuther were made only in a whisper. Those were the two contrasting scenes last night after Seneca pulled out a 66-65 win before an overfow crowd of 2,400 at Thomas Jefferson gym. It took a couple of clutch plays by junior guard Daryl Bishop for Seneca to preserve its unbeaten record.

He sank two free throws with 18 seconds left to put the state's seventh-ranked team ahead 66-65. And Bishop helped to keep Seneca in front by blocking a Thomas Jefferson shot in the final seconds. Thomas Jeff Led 65-64 Thomas Jefferson now has lost three games two to Seneca by a total of five points. But with 34 seconds to go in the rivalry game, Thomas Jefferson appeared to have the game under control. The Sixth Region power, rated No.

9 in the state, had the ball and a one-point lead at 65-64. Reuther called a timeout and gave instructions to "hold the ball." Meanwhile, Seneca coach Unseld was telling his team which was then minus two starters, Roy Simpson and Mike Lawhon, who had fouled out to get the ball. "I told them to double-team the ball and take a gamble when it came up," Unseld said later. That gamble came when Seneca guard Maurice Crawford alertly deflected a TJ pass. Bishop, who moved in quickly cess in as many starts in defense of their Missouri Valley conference title.

Louisville survived a gym which was almost as cold as the weather outside it was in the 50-degree range inside when the game began as well as the ejection from the game of starting forward Jerry King and the ire of the wild North Texas fans in sweeping to its third straight victory. King, who had made six of 10 shots United Press International Louisvillian Willie Woods providing the spark, came from behind to beat Austin Peay 88-83 at Clarksville, and defending champion Western Kentucky ran up a big lead and then held on to put down Tennessee Tech 78-72 at Bowling Green. Chumblcr, Cunningham Star Billy Chumbler and Dick Cunningham, the only two lettermen back from last year's team, led Murray to its triumph over Morehead. Chumbler had 22 points. Cunningham had 21 points, and his 23 rebounds helped Murray outrebound Morehead by a whopping 59-37 margin.

And Morehead went into the game as the nation's second best rebounding team with an average of 64 a game. Lamar Green, who was tied for seventh in the nation collected only four against the muscular, 6-foot-10 Cunningham, who was No. 1 a year ago and is third so far this season. Murray boosted a 41-25 halftime lead See MURRAY Page 3, Col. 3 for the ball, was fouled by Mike Gilbert.

Bishop made two free throws on a bonus opportunity, and Reuther signaled a timeout with 17 seconds to go. "We wanted to get the ball to (Ron) Thomas," Reuther explained. "We wanted him to take the shot under the basket." Instead, the 6 foot-4 Thomas took the in-bounds pass, dribbled down the court and fired away from about 20 feet. The ball caromed off the backboard to teammate Joe Sullivan, but his follow shot from the side was batted out of bounds by Bishop. Seneca Leads by 8 With six seconds to go, another Thomas Jefferson's in-bounds pass went astray, and Thomas fouled Bishop in a scramble for the ball.

The Seneca guard mussed his free throw with two seconds showing, but it didn't matter. Victory No. 9 was wrapped up for Seneca. The battle was a rough one, with three TJ players Thomas, Gilbert and Elmore Stephens also fouling out. With his team ahead 13-6 late in the first quarter, Thomas picked up his third personal foul.

Seneca then gained momentum. It scored nine straight points to in front and build eight-point leads of 41-33, 43-35 and 47-39 in the third period and 58-50 with 5 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game. Then, Thomas Jefferson spurted for See BISHOP LEADS Page 3, Col. 1 SENECA 66 Player FG THOMAS JEFFERSON 65 FT TP 2-5 8 7-10 21 7-10 19 2- 4 12 3- 5 3 0- 0 2 1- 2 1 Plaver FG Stephens 6 Thomas 3 Unseld 0 Gilbert 2 FT TP Mitchell Lawhon Simpson Bishop Crawford 3 7 6 5 0 3-4 15 6-7 01 3-5 3-3 2-4 6-6 Sullivan 5 4 Farrell I Bowens Summers Riles Totals Eaves 0 0 21 0-0 Totals .22 22-31 66 SENECA THOMAS JEFFERSON 23-10 45 13 II 20 IS 66 11 17 It 17 45 A Far Cry From Green Bay TACKLE JIM KANICKI of the Cleveland Browns, awaiting today's Playoff Bowl meeting with the Los Angeles Rams in Miami, is about to throw his wife, Sandy, into the pool at their resort hotel. With them is Linda Fichtner, wife of Browns defensive back Ross Fichtner.

Fair, sunny weather is predicted for the game. (Story, on Page 2.) Sports on the Air Staff Photo by Warren Klosterman JOHN REUTHER Thomas Jefferson coach advises someone 3:30 p.m. Pro Bowlers, las Vegas Invitational, Channel 32. 6 p.m. Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Channel 32.

9 p.m. of L-Bradley, Channel 32. NEXT SUNDAY 3 p.m. Super Bowl, Packers-Raiders, Channel 11. 6 p.m.

Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Channel 32. Radio TODAY 1:45 p.m. NFl Playoff Bowl, Rams-Browns, WHAS. Television TODAY 2 p.m. NFl Playoff Bowl, Rams-Browns, Channel 11.

WEDNESDAY 9 p.m. of l-Memphis State, Channel 32. SATURDAY 1:30 p.m. National Hockey league, Pittsburgh Penguins-Toronto Maple Leafs, Channel 11. 1:30 p.m.

MVC basketball, Memphis State-Wichita, Channel 32. 3 p.m. SEC basketball, Kentucky-Florida, Channel 3. I Eastern, Western Win I Murray Jolts Morehead, Takes the League Lead "We've got to win one or two of these games at home or we'll be out of it before we get started." That's the way Murray State University basketball, coach Cal Luther last week summed up the start of the Ohio Valley Conference race for his team. Well, Murray sure isn't out of it.

In fact, Murray is leading the conference with a 2-0 record after a 77-74 victory Thursday over Middle Tennessee a-nd a surprising 83-67 shellacking last night of Morehead. Murray plays host to Eastern Kentucky Monday before hitting the road. And while Murray fooled some people by whipping Morehead so easily, it was only one of the night's surprises. East Tennessee, rated with Morehead as a co-favorite before ths season began, lost to Middle Tennessee 72-63. Elsewhere, Eastern Kentucky, with Ruby's Report Courier-Journal Sports Editor Earl Ruby is on vacation.

His Ruby's Report column will be resumed when he returns. Stall Photo by Jim Harlan thoughts: "What's wrong?" "Wow, she's gonna win" "Oooh, c'mon" "I just can't watch anymore." (Story on Page 8.) WHAT GOES through the mind of a Sacred Heart Academy girl watching the Westport Invitational Swimming Relays? The faces tell the.