Daily News from New York, New York • 142

oc mm. fa ops DclsCfl HI By Stark Sf evens Wins If af Buzzer in OT By Dave Hirshey It was too good to be true. This sort of stuff went out with Frank Merriwell and the fairj- godmother: Virginia Tech has won the NIT. In an incredible finish to a tremendously exciting tournament, little Bobby-Stevens threw in a 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer to give the Gobblers a 92-91 over-" time victory over Notre Dame before 13,103 hysterical fans at the Garden. Wee C5 I CM The team that people had called "too small, too white and too Virginian." had won four games by a total of five points and the player the Virginia Tech press brochure says "occasionally misfires on the sensational player," had scored the winning points in every Gobbler triumph- The ending could not heve been more fitting if it had been supplied by central casting.

The Gobblers had whirled into the finals before anyone knew who they were. They came out of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a bunch of guys no one had ever heard of, as obscure a team as the XIT ever had. "Yes. NIT, there is a Virginia Tech," read the banner Gobbler fans paraded around before each pame. They won their first game, a two-point decision over New Mexico and everyone called it a fluke.

Then came a one-point win over Fairfield. Another lucky break, the skeptics said. Alabama will run them back to the hills of Blacksburg, the reasoning went. But Tech spoils the script by beating the Tide by one. And suddenly no one is laughing.

"We may have surprised half the Western World by getting this far," said Stevens before yesterday's game. "But we haven't surprised ourselves." Confidence. The word describes Bobby Stevens best. "When the game's on the line, I like the ball," says Stevens. You might say the game was on the line when he got the ball yesterday.

There were 12 seconds on the clock when Ed Frazier took the ball at midcourt with the Gobblers trailing by 91-90 and passed to Stevens. "We wanted to give it to Lieder (Craig) but he was covered." said Stevens. "So I soloed on nay own, which the coach doesn't like." Stevens spun around at the top of the key and launched a jumper. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounded out to the right side. There was a mad scramble for the rebound as Tech's and Notre Dime's big men, arms flailing wfldly, jostled each other hard and the ball squirted free.

Stevens grabbed it with three seconds left, took two dribbles and let fly. The ball dropped olmly through the cords the buzzer souded and Tech is the 36fh NIT champion. "I just let it go naturally," said the 5-10 guard with the floppy blond hair and All-American good looks. "It felt good leaving my hands." Yeah. They're No.

1 It felt even better when the ball swished through end he was engulfed by Tech's rabid supporters in a mob scene out of Ben Hur. They lifted the little guy onto their shoulders, screams of "We're No. 1" ring the air. Dwight Clay was numb. He stood and stared at the spot where Stevens had made the winner.

"I had him tough on the first shot," said the Irish's little floor leader, "but I got caught in the scramble for the ball and he was all alone. It's a tough way to lose, man." For Notre Dame, it was indeed a bitter defeat to swallow, and unfitting end to such a storybook season. The Irish had come into here with a 15-11 record and a reputation as good ticket sellers. But they quickly emerged as a team to reckon with, knocking off USC, Louisville and North Carolina end had loomed as both the logical and sentimental favorite to take the title. Including the three NIT wins, the Irish won (Continue an pag 62) wrrs JIB ak.

wr I 7kEVe4LLV But ND's Shumate Is MVP. NOTRE DAME vs. VA. TECH W) NORTH CAROLINA (M) vs. ALABAMA (it) FTP 6 FTP TP TP 7" Hudson I 3 19 Jones 5 4 14 Shumate 10 8 Frazier 5 11 Douglas 7 5 Johnston 3 6 Novak 5 0 10 LMer 12 2 26 Odums 6 2 14 Stan! 3 4 10 Crottv 4 0 8 Bristow 11 2 24 Ellis 1 1 3 Karl 9 5 23 Clav I 2 Stevens I I 17 Cleveland 0 1 1 O'Donnell 7 2 14 Brokaw 10 3 23 Thomas 3 0 4 Dill 0 2 2 Kupchak 5 3 13 Townsend 2 0 4 Sensibavgh 10 2 Alford 10 2 Hoffman 0 0 0 Wade 1 2 Patrick 3 17 Bell 1 0 2 McKee BOO Knox 1 0 2 Waddell 1 2 4 otals 39 13 91 Totals 42 92 Totals 27 IS 69 I Totals 34 20 IS NEWS photo by Frank Hurler Notre Dame's John Shumate, toanuneiit MVP, cores over Craig LiedVr of Virginia Tech early in NIT final at Garden.

TJon't Bun With UCILA Tigers (Coach Promises Nets hp in 01 M-WS By Peter Vecsey It wasn't really all that difficult. Th ere was no excruciating- pain. No one keeled over, although there might have been some murmurs in the hearts of the charged-up Nassau Coliseum crowd of 7,522. And no on did anything; he wasn't being paid to do. All it took to outlast the Indi ABA Standings YESTERDAY ladiana at NETS.

ar Kentucky. Dallas at Denver. Carolina at San Oieoo. Utah at Memphis, night. WEST W.

L. Utah 53 23 Indiana 50 32 Denver 46 36 San Dteso 30 52 Dallas 27 54 EAST W. I Pet. Carolina 56 25 .491 Kentucky S3 29 .446 Virginia 41 41 .500 NETS 3 S3 Jtl feemvnis 22 60 -268 Pa. .454 .410 .561 -346 -333 TONIGHT Carolina at Dallas.

the extra session for 11 points. "It felt real good to play a running game out there. I think, after all the sitting around I've done this season, I'm almost in shape." Although Chones' overall game was once again impressive, as was Carter's and Taylor's, it was the spark Baum and Brans offered that really turned things around. No one really understands why Baum isn't entitled to more action or how Camesecca can overlook Brans following his excellent contribution when he was called up several weeks ago, Baum refuses to look for answers he just stays ready. "I don't look for anything special," said Bum.

"I've giuwa not to expect anything, so if it doesn't come there's no letdown. All I run game with UCLA and win. Not us, not the Celtics, not anybody." John Wooden, coach of UCLA, isn't so sure the Tigers won't come out running. I think they'll run more than us," says Wooden, whose club is aiming for a seventh consecutive NCAA title and a second straight undefeated season. Wooden said he was impressed by Memphis State and the way it handled Providence.

Kenon Looks Good "They're certainly a fine, strong Board team," said Wooden. "Kenon is better than I thought he'd be. He has a good touch. Robinson looked good, rebounded well and did a good job for Kenon had 28 points and 22 rebounds against Providence, while Robinson chipped in with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Both however, benefitted from an in- Sy to the Friars 6-9 Marvin rnes, who missed all but 11 minutes of the game with a sprained knee.

While most people shudder at the thought of playing UCLA for the championship, Bartow says his crab is welcoming the challenge. "I feel someone is going' to beat coach Wooden and UCLA. St. Louis, March 25 (UPI) Who's afraid of the Big Bad Walton? Apparently not Memphis State. Coach Gene Bartow says he plans to stick with the same style of play against UCLA in tomorrow night's NCAA championship game that the Tigers used Saturday in beating Providence, 98-85, in the semifinals.

"We like to jam it inside and that's what we do best," says Bartow. "And well not change a thing." That means the Tigers plan on challenging 6-foot-ll Bill Walton in the middle. Walton, college basketball's Flayer of the Tear, was his usual intimidating force against Indiana Saturday and has never been bested underneath in his two-year variety career. Bartow might prefer an alternate approach against the Bruins, but he feels it's too late now to change anything. His team's strength is inside with 6-9 Larry Kenon and 6-8 Ronnie Robinson and he has to sink or swim with them.

Can't Ron With Uclans Bartow is certain of one thing. If his team tries to run with UCLA like they did against Prov-idenre they're finished. ana Pacers. 118-115, in overtime yesterday in a great comeback win was some inspiration from two determined reserves and some all-out hustle on the part of the three remaining starters. The double hexes and triple whammies applied by Dancing Kany, who jumped leagues for an afternoon, probably were a determining factor also.

"We got a little spirit when JB (John Baum) and George (Brans) came in there and hit some points." said Brian Taylor, one player who happens to always put out. "Then the crowd got behnd us and we started to run. rebound and play some defense. It felt great out there." Banna, Brans Light Fire Baum. a sporadically used forward, and Brans, who didnt even make the trip to Kentucky Saturday night when the Nets tied their longest losing streak of the season at six.

charged up their club in the final minutes of the third period. The Nets had trailed by as many as 15 in quarter No. 2, and 90-76 with 2:33 remaining in the third stanza when coach Lou Car-nesecca inserted Brans. The S-ll full time math teacher, and high ixaik-but hardy used guard 'aecftedfft stven of fciistyiaft next nine points to cat the deficit to 92-83 with one period to go. But then, in the rapid-fire fashion, the Pacers enlarged their spread to 13 at the 9-minute mafk.

That's when the Nets usually fold. But Taylor threw in six points, Baum added four ana Carter hit for two, bringing New York to within 100-99. Sruns finally deadlocked matters minutes later at 105, via a free throw, and Baum's -2d point earned a 107 lie with :47 to go. Chones Just Misses Jimmy Chones, who connected on eight straight field goals during his 21-point, 15-rebound performance, nearly won it three seconds before the buzzer, but his jumper bounced out of the basket. "I tried to make it too tmt.

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