The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 6

UMass, Duquesne Upends Villanova With 1" il If)' In Final By RUSS FRANKE Press Sports Writer PHILADELPHIA The first East Indies basketball tournament came awfully close to a Duquesne-West Virginia final as close as a clutch call by Norm Nixon and a questionable turn- over by West Virginia. Duquesne became a surprise finalist by upsetting Massachusetts last night, 89-82, while West Virginia lost a tough 83-75 overtime game to Villanova in the other half of the semifinals. Duquesne and Villanova will play for the East Indies championship at 9 p.m. tonight at the Spectrum and the winner will go to the NCAA playoffs to meet VMI next Saturday. You would have to admit that only a minority of basketball fans would have picked Duquesne to get this far after finishing the regular season with a 12-14 record, but now the Dukes are in position to salvage the entire season.

Merely getting into the final was an unexpected accomplishment. In whipping Massachusetts, which knocked tournament favorite Rutgers out of the picture on Wednesday, the Dukes played exceptionally gritty ball in becoming giant-killers themselves. One misplay near the end could have cost them their big win, just as it had in at least a half-dozen previous games. They were locked with the Minute-men at 69-69 with just over six minutes Dukes' Lonnie McClain launches high pass over UMass' Mike Pyatt (30) and Mark Donoghue (50). 0 Foxes Foul Up Beaver Bid By BOB BLACK When he's in the game, Beaver's Jerry Bellamy might best be described as "(the great intimidator." The problem -for Beaver last night in the second game of a WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal ulaubleheader at the Civic Arena wasiAoat he got in early foul trouble and Fox Chapel was able to take-advantage of it.

The Foxes (23-1) looked anything' but like the tournament's second-seeded teaiffifi the early going, while Bellamy was in the lineup. But after a slow the Foxes came back strong for a 76-57 victory over Beaver to move into Tuesday I Wit I IT Too Many Knights ho incnirorf nlav of the KSUITeCted Don Maser gave the Dukes a lift, and Jack Leamon, the UMass coach, noted 'as much. a "They're good people, Duquesne, uhn hae niuhMi curk Miu wwuvu, wmv good people as Julius Erving. "They're better than they were when we beat them up at Springfield. Maser makes a difference.

"I thought we played hard but not particularly well, in no way do I feel bad. We did not lose-Duquesne won. We were exhausted at the end and that's all I could ask of our team. We're qc annA ac rtnfliiocne hut we couldn't havp nlavprl annthpr two minutes." Mark Donoghue, the burly center, who burned the Dukes with a career high 35 points in the Springfield game, appeared to be on another binge with 16 points in the first half, but Cotten and coach John Cinicola, got together at halftime and did some "adjusting." "I iust made uo mv mind we had to win," said Cotten. "I was sick and tired of them (Donoghue and Jim Town) coming down the court and making those jump shots over me." Donoghue got only five points in the second half and that evened things up.

Neither team could get a workable lead until Nixon, McClain and Don Gam- bridge combined to give the Dukes a throat hold in the waning minutes. McClain and Nixon made the key free throw while the Minutemen were running out of minutes. "We set out to surprise some peo-; pie," said Cinicola, "and we did. ''We came here to win this tournament. I chewed them out at the half, but only for taking some bad shots.

We have to be patient, and our kids played a beau-i tiful game (nine turnovers). I like to think we're a little better team than we're supposed to be-and a little smarter." The Duquesne people in the crowd of 3,424 were rooting for West Virginia to do the same thing. The Mountaineers nA 7ilmti mantiA ft ianen mar that aim maiiu va nau a ivha. nai vuair could have gone either way. As it was, turnovers caught up with WVU.

The Mountaineers had just fought back to a 69-67 lead with 39 seconds left and had possession when Dana Perno was chopped down and had the ball knocked loose (no whistle). Villanova converted it into a 69-69 tie, creat-; ing the overtime. ine Mountaineers turnea over me ball four times in the overtime, making the difference. Prior to that, another big difference was the loss of center Maurice Robinson with five fouls at 3.41. Villanova lost Larry Herron shortly after, but WVU missed Robinson more than Villanova missed Herron.

Tnnv Rnhortcin haH annrher mi wm i i il lent game for WVU with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Keith Herron led the Wildcats with 21, two above his average. TOURNEY NOTES West Virginia and UMass match 18-10 records in tonight's consolation. Mountaineers may have accidentally done the Dukes a favor during the overtime when Russell Chapman sent Keith Herron sprawling. Herron limped badly when he tried to plan, and it's unkown, how the ankle will affect him tonight. Don Gambridge, Jesse Hubbard and J.

T. Thomas alternated in place of injured John Moore, who may be ready to play for the Dukes tonight Gam-bridge said the key was shutting down the fast break and back-door plays UMass had used in upsetting Rutgers UMass was favored by four points, Villanova by four. I Duquesne-Massachusetts MASSACHUSETTS Pvatt- Mm- reb 27 21 4 Town. Donoghue. 2 uaioome, Eldrldge Morrison.

Kolhaas. Totals U-70 10-14 35 ououesNE Cotfen Maser Nixon tgm-a 9-20 6-11 a reb Baldwin 3-ft 1' 8 TjMtU 1A I A 1A Gene Steratore and Hal Grossman. Mass 41-40. FG shooting: Duquesne t. Turnovera: Mmi 11.

nuoiijwM, 0. Assist leaders: Eldrldge 9, Nixon and Oafborne 8. Totals Include team rebounds. Officials: Steratore eno Grossman. Anenoance: 4424.

Villanova-West Virginia VILLANOVA L. Herron I 0-0 16, K. Herron 3-4 11, Sparrow I 5-9 21, Olive 4 6-6 8, Cowan 0 0-0 0, R. Robinson 3 4-4 10, Under- 1 1-1 Rigsoy man 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 23-29 83.

WEST VIRGINIA tl8' -1 Rlnson 5 3-4 13, Robertson 10 8-10 28, Hugglns 9 4 20, 0 0-0 0, Lewis Worst Manager Chuck Tanner has Scherman scheduled to pitch in the Pirates first intra-squad game Monday and their first exhibition game Thursday. He's going to get his early look. And when he does, Fred Scherman might be the only baseball player in Florida who'U say to himself before he takes the mound: "I hope I do mv PIRATE NOTES Several Pirates are overweight, including Frank Tav-eras by 10 pounds and Dave Parker by 15, but Tanner insists he's not worried. 1 "I'm not overly concerned with any of them," he said. "They'll all be at the weight we want them when we leave Florida." The Pirates are taking less batting practice than previous springs, but again Tanner says he's not worried, "They'll be time for the hitting," he stated.

"There are other things we have to get on ngnt now. The Pirates were shocked and sad-1 ded by the death of Post-Gazette sports columnist Al Abrams. Al Oliver plans to fly to Pittsburgh for Abrams' funeral on Monday. A-6 March 5, 1977 to play and suddenly they, threw in a full-court press. Rich Cotten intercept' ed and scored and UMass never led after that.

"Nixon called for the press in a huddle before Cotten made two free throws," explained Duquesne assistant Bill Chamberlain, "and we got two turnovers out of it. Norm does things like that." Nixon's 20 points were just part of a total performance by the Dukes' and some pretty cagey coaching. It seemed that almost every move the Duquesne bench made got results against a Massachusetts team which appeared ready to blow out the Dukes any moment. Nixon, McClain and Jeff Baldwin made the difference in backcourt play, combining for 46 points compared to a total of eight by the UMass guards. Thus, the damage done by the Minutemen's inside game was neutralized by the Dukes' balance.

Once again Hopes For me to honor the contract so there's nothing I can do." Scherman only wishes he had it to do over again. "It was getting late, al-, ready December, and I figured I better get my contract in," he said. "I guess IN should have waited until after the Winter Meetings were over." Scherman, who was 2-2 with Montreal last season and is 34-29 lifetime, can only continue to participate in the Pirate workouts and, well, nope to get released. "Being realistic there's no way I can make this club," said Scherman. "Not the way it's presently constituted.

If they made a trade or someone got hurt, I might. But you learn not to count on those things." The Pirates are not entirely heart- ss in this matter. "I can't blame them," said Scher-' man. "They've got to think of their ball club. Besides, we have an agreement that they'll take a look at me early and try to make a decision.

"I'd like to leave here early enough so that I cafl still make another club." Eddie Plank and Paul Koslewski. "I'm not saying Fox Chapel wouldn't have won it anyway, because they're a heck of a team. But it just gets my goat that they gave him those three fouls in the first quarter." While Bellamy was playing in the first quarter, Beaver opened a surprising 12-8 lead. "That was the coldest we've shot all season," said Fox Chapel Coach Rick Keebler, who's accustomed to seeing his team hit around 52 per cent for the game. "I'm sure Bellamy was part of the reason, but I'm also sure we weren't playing loose out The guys were stopping to think instead of just playing the game naturally." By the second quarter, however, while Bellamy was sitting on the bench with three fouls, Fox Chapel started finding its offense, scoring 25 points and opening a 33-26 margin.

Upon Bellamy's return in the third quarter, Beaver again got hot, reducing the margin to three, 37-34, before the 6- 5 senior got hit with a reaching foul and Fox Chapel was off to the races. "Honest, we didn't plan our offense around scoring when their big man went out," Keebler said. "It just looked that way We had a couple periods where we got hot while he was in there, too." Nevertheless, as soon as Bellamy left with his fourth foul, the Foxes hit six straight points and had opened a 53-40 margin Dy the end of the third quarter. When Bellamy came in at the start of the fourth quarter, however, the Foxes had adjusted and "the great Intimidator'" became just another player before fouling out with three and a half minutes remaining. Usual Fox Chapel leading scorer Stu Lyon, who fouled out with 4:53 remaining, managed just 14 points, while Dave D'Amico, who also had a good night against Uniontown in the Foxes' tournament opener, managed just four points on a cold shooting night.

Gene Thorpe, however, turned in his usual performance, getting 22 points, while Chuck Hall led Beaver with 18. "It wasn't one of our better performances," Keebler said of Fox Chapel's 35 per cent field goal shooting. "Maybe we were guilty of underestimating them. We knew Bellamy would be a factor." As it turned out, however, foul trouble plagued Bellamy as much as he bothered the Foxes. Foi Chpl FT PTS 6-7 14 Beaver Bellamy Hall Steffen IW Yost Mabln 3 FT PTS 0-4 ft Rocco.

Thorpe Ury. 2-3 .7 4-4 18 .5 O-l .1 OH) .9 4-4 1-2 Miller Nnpoll Nypaver Morgan. El 00 2-2 Totals. 21 57 29 18-23 76 Totals 21 15-21 57 Fox Chapel. neaver.

.12 23-74 17-57 Attend- Officials: Eddie Plank. Paul KimKukI nee: MM. Buc Wants Relief, Early night's semifinal against Norwin, last night's other winner. It was the second time in as many tournament games that Bellamy got in early foul trouble, and the reaction from Beaver Coach Gene Schleiger was "They always hit him with those-cheap fouls early and then we have to go without him and the other team does a number on us," Schleiger said. "I'm 1 not saying he doesn't foul, because all players do.

But why do they call them on him and then ignore them for everybody else? Those jerks took us out of it," Schleiger said, pointing toward officials our big man, I knew they'd give us a lot of trouble." How much trouble Norwin had became apparent when Wilkinsburg's sophomore playmaker, John Ryan, hit three straight jumpshots midway through the final period to give the Tigers a 63-60 lead. It was the Tigers' first lead since early in the second quarter of a game which never had more than a six-point margin until the final seconds. But after Atkins canned a couple more baskets in between driving layups by Norwin's Bailley and Tom Savage for a 67-66 lead, the Knights came back (Continued on Page A-7) Press Photo by Michael Chikiris REACH OUT Norwin's Tom Savaeje just avoids Wilkinsburg defender to score on fast break during Knights' 74-67 wip. Atkins 't 11- vwv'- i MMS' uMgM 1 1 F-i mm 9 tigers n. By BOB BLACK He put on one of the most outstanding performances ever in a WPIAL tournament game, but Wilkinsburg's Bruce Atkins swears he'd have chucked it all for a victory over Norwin.

Because now Atkins, who finished with 34 points and 26 rebounds, has to sit on the sidelines with his teammates and hope Norwin can win the WPIAL tournament to put Wilkinsburg back in the state playoffs. Last' night's 74-67 Norwin victory over -Wilkinsburg in front of 8,067 fans at the Civic Arena was packed with nearly as much excitement as Baldwin's two-point win over General Brad-dock Ihe night before. "Sure 'I'm glad I had that kind of a game," said Atkins, a good-looking 6-6 lunior who plays even better than he looks. we came into this tournament as a team, so no matter what I did, it really doesn't matter since we 0 He might have a tough time telling that to numerous college bird dogs who were drooling all over themselves watching his performance last night. "Asduto think he's just a junior," said Norwin Coach Rich Polczynski.

"Nobody ever looked that impressive against, us. If he'd had more help, we'd have been in real trouble tonight." Asitj was, Norwin got 28 points from 6-J senior Ben Bailley and another 18-Mrom 6-7 junior Doug Arnold, which "was more than enough to offset AtkinsHper effort. "Everybody's talked about Beaver Falls and. Fox Chapel's balance," said Wilkinsburg Coach Ed Fleming, "but that Norwin beat us. were able' to get more points out of more people than we were." It was 'also the third time in recent history that Norwin and Wilkinsburg met in thi; WPIAL playoffs.

In all three cases 1963 when Norwin won the WPIAL fitje and was the state runner-up, lastear and again last night the Knights came out on top. "I was. really worried about this game," Pjpjczynski said. "Since we beat them last and with Atkins having a year experience at the Arena on Wknsbrg tg Aftins 4-6 Bowyer 1 1-2 Burton ..6 0-0 31 0-0 0-0 -V pts Norwin 34 Bailley 3 Arnold 12 6 Yarosik 12 Kovalcln Mawn Cooper pit 28 18 8 7 8 1 4 Totals 31 3-t 67 Totals. 1-15 74 Norwin .17 15 21 22 13-47 20 18-74 Officials: Torn Adams and Harp O'Toole Sports On The Air TELEVISION TODAY San Francisco vs.

Notre Dame, basketball, 12 0 p.m. -'6, 7, 11. Citrus golf, 2:30 p.m. 6, 7i-Pro bowling, 3:30 p.m. 4.

ECAC basketball, 4 p.m. 6, 7. East Indies final. Duquesne vs. Villanova, 9 p.m.

-7 RADIO TONIGHT Robert Morris vs. Cleveland State, basketball, (1410). East Inifgs final, Duquesne vs. 9 p.m.-WWSW (970). For Press Ptioto by Michael Chlklrk ON THE BALL Fox Chapel's Stu Lyon (40) and Dan Brudnok (42) combine to crowd out Beaver's Chuck Hall (15) in battle for rebound.

Fox Chapel went on to crowd out Beaver in a quarterfinal of the race for the WPIAL Class AAA title, 76-57. Pirates' Scherman Cut him to pack his bags tomorrow, it won't be too soon. 1 It all began last fall when Scherman wrote letters to just about every major league club seeking employment. Many replied in a positive nature, including the Pirates. Scherman than sat down, looked over the rosters of all the teams interested in him and determined the Pirates were his best bet.

They didn't even have a left-banded reliever on the roster. Scherman sent in his contract, assigning him to the Pirates' Charleston farm club, just before the Winter Meetings began in early December. He then sat back, read the papers and got very 111. By mid-week the Pirates had picked op lefty reliever Grant Jackson, and by the end of the week another lefty, Terry Forster, along with righthander Rich Gossage all belonged to the Pirates. The following Tuesday, Fred Scherman was on the telephone to Pete Peterson.

"I wanted out of the contract," he related. "Mr. Peterson agreed that it would be difficult for me to make the club, but he still wanted By BOB SMIZIK Press Sports Writer BRADENTON, fla. It happens every spring. The veteran pitcheron the down side of his career seeks out the Pirates for one last Though the word is out that his arm is dead, he insists it never felt better.

But the hitters don't believe him. Once it was Wayne Simpson, another time it was Sam McDowell and a third it was Jim Ray. All had been successful major league pitchers once during their career. Only McDowell made it, and he not for long. The story continues this spring.

Almost. The pitching-poor Montreal Expos had no use for Fred Scherman last July and asked him to go to the minora. When he refused, Scherman, a 32-year-old lefthanded reliever, was cut. Now he's at Pirate City and this is where the story turns bizarre. Fred Scherman is not busting his back to make the Pirates.

He's busting his back to get cut. Fred Scherman wants out fast. If Chuck Tanner tells.