The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 33

CM TRIUMPHS 71-70 IN CLOSING SECONDS BmSm mm limm Mam (S(EgJ(B and was awarded two points when W1 Imhoff was called for goal-tending, Imhoff Tipin Provides The Points That Won With California trying to freeze the game, West tied up Imhoff to set up a jump-ball. The big Cali fornia center got the tap and took a return pass, missed his shot but tapped in the rebound for what proved to be the winning basket Mountaineers to set up a pattern offense. This paid off by holding West Virginia without a field goal for more than eight minutes before West finally broke the spell with a rebound 39 seconds before the first half ended with California ahead, 39-33. During that stretch, West Virginia committed five straight errors, offsetting its blistering 56.5 shooting average in the first half. California trailed, 25-18, when it put the clamps on, but Jack They showed the crowd of 18,498 that defense still has a place in basketball and so does courage and poise.

Cincinnati captured third place in the tourney by beating Louisville, 98-85, in the first game of tonight's twin bill at Freedom Hall. Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati tallied '39 points to set a new two-year collegiate record. With the pressure off in the consolation game, both teams were shooting loose and easy but Louisville's Roger Tieman and Don Goldstein couldn't keep pace with Robertson and Ralph Davis. The game was played under experimental conditions, with the LOUISVILLE, Ky. (UPI) A California team playing old-fash-iored basketball with old-fashioned courage last night beat down West Virginia's late rally on a tap-in shot by big Darrall Imhoff to score a 71-70 victory for the N.

C. A. A. Basketball Tournament Championship. It was defense that won the game for the Bears but it was courage and poise that saved it when West Virginia, led by all-America Jerry West, came from 3:36 to go.

West missed his first free throw but made his second. Dalton then aank a corner shot to make it 67-62. Ronnie Retton, West Virginia's pint-sized guard, came in and sank two free throws but Bill McClin-tock retaliated with a rebound and the Bears still had a five-point lead, 69-64, with two minutes to go. The poise which carried the Bears into the finals cracked a little under West Virginia's pressing tactics and Denny Fitzpatrick with 18 seconds left. Willie Akers stuffed in a basket for West Virginia with five seconds left to make it 71-70 but Bolyard fouled Fitzpatrick with two seconds left.

Fitzpatrick missed the free throw, but 'time ran out then on West Virginia. The barbed-wire man-for-man defense with which California lim Grout's set shot and a free throw and set shot by Fitzpatrickk made it 25-13. Substitute Dick Doughty then clock being stopped whenever an official blew his whistle. This al came in to sink two straight shots from the same spot, 15 feet out, pushing the Bears ahead for the six points behind in the final three minutes, and nearly pulled it out. West Virginia, trailing 65-61, began its late charge when West was fouled by Bob Dalton with fouled Bucky Bolyard, who sank both free throws with a minute to go.

California's pass-in went astray, West got the ball under the basket first time at 27-26, with five minutes left in the first half. Imhoff and Fitzpatrick, catching West Virginia's zone defense in the switches with lay-ups and hooks, ran the lead out to 57-44 in the first nine minutes of the second half. Fitzpatrick led California's scoring with 20 points, including eight field goals. Dalton had 15 and Grout 10. The Bears, who came over the mountains known only as the team that led the nation's major colleges in defense, this year, proved fflffiAAUM EFFORT ited Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson to 19 points in Friday night's semifinals gave up 28 to West, although the West Virginia star sat out three minutes of the second half after drawing his fourth personal foul.

California held a 13-point margin midway in the second half as its defense forced the fast-running Mountaineers into repeated errors. West Virginia nearly ran California off the boards in the opening stages, taking a 23-13 lead in the first nine minutes as West sank four baskets. The Mountaineers were solving California's defense simply by beating it down the floor and feeding West under the basket. The Bears, with all the head and heart in the world, broke this up with a three-quarter press that! held up the ball and forced the lowed more playing time and partly accounted for the high score. Robertson's 39 points gave him 1,962 points for his two years of varsity competition, topping the old record of 1,947 set by Frank Sivy of Furman in 1954.

The 38 points West racked up to lead West Virginia to a 94-79 victory over Louisville in last night's eastern final won't overawe a rock-solid California crew that held Robertson to five field goals and 19 points for a 64-58 victory over Cincinnati in the western finals. If the "big O's" showing was a disappointment to the 18,169 fans who jammed Freedom Hall for the NCAA semi-finals, West's performance was a revelation as he poured cold water on Louisville's i 1 If i I I jr -t "Jit V. fiS A I I 1 s.f 'f i "vV V'' I V-I rmitiir iimt maiimti'irt nrfwr'iilitiii -f i inrr-i if kr, rAtufrtti WIDE. last night they could run with the-fast-moving Mountaineers, could rebound effectively and play nearly flawless floor game on the! attack. I I The Press Democrat Thoughts on Watching Oscar Robertson One of the charges that basketball's many critics frequently make about the game is that it, less than almost any other, is a team sport.

One super star, they claim, can carry a school's name to fame and honor on the strength of his own genius. It's not like football, they add, where the greatest back will get nowhere without the crisp and timely blocking of those mules in the line. I must confess to having sided with these voices of criticism on more than one occasion. Friday night I got my comeupance. In spades.

California's Golden Bears proved that five good, albeit unspectacular, men can clip the wings of even the best of the super stars. It was my first opportunity to watch the highly-touted Oscar Robertson, the "Big 0" who has made 1 SPORTS dreams. The kid from Cabin Creek did more than shoot, although he did that exceedingly well, hitting 12 of 21 shots from the floor. He also pulled in 15 rebounds, outbattling a lanky Louisville front line that had outrebounded Michigan State and Kentucky in regional play. Friday night this same rock-ribbed defense held Robertson, the nation's top-rated college basketball player, to just five field goals as the Be ars came from behind in the closing minutes to dump Cincinnati 64-58 to set up last night's glorious win.

California, first Pacific Coast Conference team to reach the NCAA finals since Stanford won the crown in 1942, beat Cincinnati I SANTA ROSA, SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 1959-PAGE 9C I UPI Facsimllt HOW THE BEARS WHITTLED 'BIG O' DOWN TO SIZE Bob Dalton (Left) and Darrel Imhoff Hamstring Basketball's Best Player on defensive strategy, never giving the Bearcats a chance to set up Robertson for effective shots. California (71) 6 McClintock 4 0118 Dalton 3-4 4 15 Ferrari Imhoff 4 2-2 3 10 Buch 0 2-2 3 2 Fitzpatrick I 4-7 1 20 0-0 2 Simpson 0 2-2 1 10 0-0 3 6 Grout 4 Doughty 3 bring Totals 29 13-18 18 71 West Vir9inii (70) 6 10 8-12 4 28 West SEBRING, Fla. (UPI)-A power Akers 5 0-1 0 10 2-3 4 10 ful Ferrari, its brakes glowing red, 4 2 1 0 Clousson Smith Bolyard Retton 1-1 4-4 22 net car driven by Paul Armagnac and Gerald Laureau, both of France, won the index of performance championship. An estimated 40,000 spectators, who sat through an hour of rain at 1 Finishing third was a reliable Porsche driven by Count Wolfgang Von Trips of Germany and Joakim Bonnier of Sweden. It was brilliant victory for the slight, sandy-haired Hill, who last 1 2-2 Ritchie roared to victory in the 12-hour Florida International Sports Car Endurance race last night under the iron hand of fast-rising American star Phil Hill.

Patrone 2 1-2 1 year was second man to Collins but was the key man in this Fer It was the second straight win at Sebring for Ferrari and for Hill, who shared driving honors in the winning car in 1958 with the late rari win. Hill of Santa Monica and Gen-debein did it in a "borrowed" car. jThe car they started with, one of Peter Collins of England. His part three entered by Ferrari, dropped ner this year was Olivier Gende- dusk, saw Hill and Gedebein cop the $3,000 first prize. Oddly, Hill got a boost from a motor scooter.

Englishman Stirling Moss in a Lister-Jaguar had captured the lead earlier but ignored a signal from his pit crew and ran out of gas. He borrowed. a motor scooter from an official and scooted back to his pits a rules violation as grounded drivers are supposed to make it on foot. Then Moss compounded his trouble by pitching a ride back to his car-s- bein of Paris. uut in me iuui in iiuui nun mechanical trouble.

The Ferrari team captain bumped Chuck Daigh of i Hollywood, and Dan Gurney of Riverside, from their car and substituted Hill and Gendebein. They drove the car on to win. In fVip pffifipnrv rafpfnrv of the Another Ferrari finished second and the double victory gave notice that the Italian factory is out to repeat its 1958 feat as world's sports car champion. Hill's Ferrari factory teammates Jean Behra of Paris and Briton Oliff Allison drove the second UPI Facsimile THE BITTERNESS OF DEFEAT Bradley Cheerleader Bursts Into Tears After Loss St. Johns Wins Third MT Title in Overtime Cincinnati University a national basketball power, ana I caught him on a very cold night.

Still he was easily the best player on the floor. But when you got past Oscar, there was little in the Bear Cat squad to tax the adjective vocabulary of a writer. Robertson had hit on about 50 per cent of his shots before Friday, but against the Bears particularly in the last half he was as cold as a Siberian deep freeze. Still the brilliance that made him almost everybody's first choice for All-American honors was evident. "Big proved that he is more than just another basket hanger, a la the once famous Beva Francis, who can do nothing but camp in the forecourt and dump in field goals.

This was something of a revelation since all of his publicity had been hinged on the fact that he was the nation's leading scorer. But Friday Pete Newell's Bears double and triple-teamed Oscar and gave him next to no good shooting opportunities. So Robertson took over the duties as his team's playmaker and rebound threat. It was in the latter capacity that Robertson performed his greatest service to the strongly favored Cincinnati squad. The Bears clearly won the game on the backboards, dominating the rebounding to a degree seldom seen in major college ball.

On those relatively rare occasions when Cincinnati came down from the boards with the ball, it was almost invariably Robertson who had snagged it. The remainder of the Bear Cat squad was so inept at rebounding that I got the impression they were loafing on defense saving their precious energy for shooting. Only Robertson, through most of the game, seemed willing to extend himself for this important, but relatively unpublicized, facet on the game. Except for Robertson's rebounding the game would have been a Bear runaway. Defense, of course, is the long suit in the wardrobe of the boys from Berkeley and they gave one of the most graphic illustrations since the Battle on Britain of how to win without taking the initiative.

But what the University of California standard bearers showed to best advantage is that basketball is truly a team sport. There isn't a player of Robertson's stature in the bunch, but, conversely, there isn't one man on the team you can leave unguarded without placing yourself in jeopardy. Double team Imhoff and Fitzpatrick will murder you. Concentrate on these two and Buch will make you see the error of your ways. And so on.

Out of necessity this was written before last night's NCAA championship game between the University of California and the University of West Virginia and maybe Jerry West has made a mockery of everything I've said before this appears in print. But on Friday night the best team won and the best player lost. Five good men showed that on at least one occasion they could make a falling star out of the super star. Five good men proved they make a better team than one great man and four guys named Joe. Five good men showed that Eastern sports writers have been living with their heads in a barrel in rating California no better than ninth in the national ratings.

And five good men showed that as I have been so often on so many things, was wrong in my basic beliefs about basketball. another violation and getting 9 teammate to push in his stalled gruelling 12-hour ordeal ot men and machines, a Deutsch and Bon- racer still another. His car was disqualified and the Lister-Jaguars lost their only chance. Their other Totals 25 20-27 14 70 Cleveland Downs Giants TUCSON, Ariz (UPI) The Cleveland Indians defeated San Francisco, 7-5, yesterday to square the current series with their perennial springtime rivals at 2-2. Gene Leek, who opened the week at third base for the University of Arizona Wildcats, closed it by doubling home a tie-breaking run in the sixth inning.

It was the fifth straight game in which he has hit safely since signing bonus contract with the Indians. The Indians cemented victory with three runs in the eighth when more than enough to hold up against Bill White's two-run homer in the ninth. Rookie Jim Perry and Bob Allen, sharing the pitching for the Indians, were rapped for 12 hits to eight off Curt Barclay, Stu Miller and Shipley. The Giants pitchers, however, walked four, hit two batsmen, had a wild pitch and a balk, and were further handicapped by four fielding errors behind them. NEW YORK (UPD-Tony Jack I I two cars, one of which Moss latef son, spectacular sophomore jump- St.

John' sthus became the first team ever to win the N.I.T. three times during the 22-year history of drove, finished far back in the Doby Goes to Tigers For Tito Francona LAKELAND, Fla. (UPI) The standings. the event. The Redmen previously shooting star, scored four crucial points in overtime yesterday to lead St.

John's to a come-from-behind, 76-71 victory over Bradley and a record third National Invi-tation Basketball Tournament championship. Detroit Tigers yesterday traded outfielder John (Tito) Francona to the Cleveland Indians in au won in 1943 and 1944. All three champions were coached by Joe Lapchick. A crowd of 14,376 at Madison Square Garden and a national television audience St. John's battle back from an eight-point, first-half deficit to tie the Olympic Club Walloped in AAV DENVER (UPD-The US Army All-Stars exploded for 58 points in the second half last night to down the San Francisco Olympic Club, 102-79, and win third place in the National AAU Basketball Tournament at Denver Jackson, a 19-year-old from straight player swap for veteran Brooklyn, scored 21 points and grabbed 27 rebounds to climax a superb, four game performance "We know Doby can hit the long score at 55-all on Jackson's jump that won him the tournaments ball and we" feel he still has some i most valuable player award.

Jackson also was named M.V.P. for his party in helping St. John's win um. The Phillips Oilers and Wichita Vickers met in the championship good baseball left in him," said Tigers Manager Bill Norman. Doby, 34, appeared in only 89 the Holiday Basketball Festival (game.

ST-, 1 title last December. shot with six minutes left to play. A jump shot by Al Seiden minutes later put St. John's ahead for the first time in the game and the Redmen from Brooklyn appeared home free when two free throws by Seiden gave them a 61-57 lead with 1:36 to play. However, Mike Owens drove in for a lay-up and Bobby Joe Mason stole a loose ball under the goal to tie the score with 1:14 to go.

Gus Alficri's two free throws put St. John's into the lead again, only to have Al Saunders toss in a jump shot with 39 seconds re San Franciscan Tract Team Head NEW YORK (UPI) Harold games with the Indians last year and batted .238 with only 13 home runs. These figures almost matched his 1957 marks of and 14 homers with the White Sox but prior to that he hit over 20 home runs per season for eight straight years. Francona. alsd a left-handed The Olympic Club from San Francisco battled the Army All-Stars on even terms during the first half, holding the winners to a one-point, 44-43, margin at intermission.

But the All-Stars, behind the shooting of guard Ted Savage and forward Jack Adams, exploded in the second half and after seven minutes of play held a 61-51 lead. The Army built up the lead to 21 points with 3:55 rcmaininc in ths New Yorkers Will Hear Giants NEW YORK (UPI) Local "die hard" Giants fans will be able to hear re-created broadcasts of all San Francisco home games this season over radio station it was announced yesterday. LARRY DOBY Swapped Again Berliner of San Francisco and Frank Potts of Boulder, will direct the United States men's track and field team in its return match with Russia at Philadelphia, July 18-19. The United States took part in a two-day dual meet in Moscow last year. swinger, came to the Tigers i year in the huge June 15 deal average with Chicago and maining and send the game into overtime.

vclving Ray Boone. The 25-year Detroit of .254. game..