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Kansas and the NCAA Tournament
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Regional Semifinal
Brigham Young University, striving for basketball's double crown, sputtered to a 68-61 victory over much-maligned San Jose State in the second game. The two games opened the Western NCAA playoffs. With the final period half gone, Coach Jack Gardner pulled his first team and inserted his reserves. The score was 54-33 at the time. Before he could get his stars back into action the Border Conference team had cut the margin to 59-45.
Driving constantly, the Arizona team, first round victim in the National Invitational Tourney at New York, slashed the deficit to only three points, 60-57, on Bob Honea's basket with about three minutes remaining. Roger Johnson looped in another for the Far Westerners to make it 60-59 with 90 seconds left.
Kansas State repeatedly refused free throws in those stirring last seconds to keep the ball, and just before the gun Ernie Barrett sank the first of two gratis shots for the final margin
The eight team Western field will come up with a champion Saturday night who will move on to Minneapolis for a meeting with the Eastern king Tuesday to determine the NCAA titleholder.
Until the final Arizona spurt, the game was all Kansas State with Ed Head, a brittle senior from Los Angeles, the hero.
Four times during his career at Kansas State, Head had been sidelined by injuries, but last night he was sound as a pre-depression dollar. He poured in 13 points, and starred under both backboards. He was the victors' leading scorer.
Honea and Roger Johnson each collected 15 points for Arizona.
Arizona's dying gasp was in sharp contrast to its spotty play in the first 30 minutes. Kansas State had built up an 11-1 lead in the first five minutes and left the floor at intermission with a 36-20 edge
That bulge was brought about when Arizona was shut off for five full minutes while Kansas State was hitting sharply. The Big Seven kings kept right on having their fun at the start of the second half and when Kansas State's lead went over the 20 point mark Gardner sent in the reserves. Then, came the fireworks.
Regional Final
KANSAS CITY- Big Mel Hutchins, BYU's All-American center, is a doubtful participant in Saturday night�s NCAA consolation battle with Washington University. The Cougar star injured his ankle against San Jose on Wednesday and irritated it further against Kansas State Friday night, according to Hack Miller, Deseret News-Sports Editor, covering the Cougar tourney games.
By HACK MILLER Deseret News Sports Editor
The Cougars will play Washington, 61-57 loser to Oklahoma A. & M. in the other Friday night tussle, in the Saturday preliminary.
Kansas State is no better than the Utahans in our books. It was just the way the game went.
The Wildcats went completely mad at the front of the contest with a scoring rampage that saw them sink 47 per cent of everything they threw. They made 18 field goals in the first half to seven for BYU. The winners had 38 shots to BYU's 34. There's where the game was won.
Not given a chance by anyone at halftime, the Cougars went on a lark, after slowing the game down in the first part of the second half, that saw them scare the daylights out of half of Missouri and all of Kansas.
Joe Richey opened the second half with a jumper. Hillman, in for Minson, who was resting with four fouls hanging over his shining pale, went berserk with four baskets and, before the third quarter was over, Kansas State was ahead only four points, 49-45. It was right then that the Cougars had proved their mettle and it looked like drapes for the Kansans.
Stone, Head and Rousey went to the foul line and before BYU could get in the point columns again, they were behind 10 points with six minutes left.
Romney and Hutch came up with a foul and tip in, but the Wildcats started a stall that tore up the chances for the NIT champions.
BYU fought to the last but couldn't beat that first half advantage.
The story is best told in the shooting percentages. K-State shot 26-59 for 44 per cent. BYU had 22-68 for 32 per cent.
Height paid off, for the winners had 27-19 edge in defensive rebounds and a 19-11 margin on the offensive side. BYU trailed in assists, 4-6.
Many other factors played their ugly roles. Hutchins was benched early because his game ankle was obviously slowing him up. Minson sat out most of the game again when four fouls had him cornered. He didn't play the first 14 minutes of the second half. Even then, the Cougars came up and almost kicked over the dope bucket.
Scoring honors were spread all over both rosters with little Rob Rousey, a substitute guard, getting the most with 13.
Hutchins held big Lew Hitch to three field goals, two of them made when Hutch was on the floor.
The long days of travel, tournament play, hotel lobbies showed on the Cougars in this game. They were playing a team that had just left home for this meet, a club that was virtually at home in the hall and a club that, despite some opposition from hundreds of BYU rooters, was overwhelmingly the idols of the patrons.
The Cougars were defeated by a great club. That is not to be denied. But the Cougars were mighty sweet again, even in defeat,
BYU got itself in a terrific hole the first half when the Wildcats ran up a 39-21 half-time edge.
There was a reasonable explanation for it. The Wildcats were sensational at the hoop and were running red hot.
They shot 47 per cent- 18 baskets out of 38 against 21 per cent for BYU- seven out of 34.
The Cougars, if they made any mistakes, made the error of running with the K-Staters. By half time the NIT champs had learned this wouldn�t work.
Stan Watts benched Hutchins to give him a look at the game and hustled him back in when BYU had watched a four-point deficit jump to 14.
Four fouls on Minson put the Cougars in a touchy spot as the second half opened. Watts chose to save Minnie for whatever emergency that arose.
National Semifinal
By Jay Simon (Dally Oklahoman Sports Writer)
A standing-room crowd of nearly 11,000 fans watched the finals of this 13th annual tournament in Municipal Auditorium here Saturday night.
Coach Jack Gardner will send his Wildcats against Kentucky in the national finals at Minneapolis Tuesday night in a bid to give the Big Seven conference its first NCAA cage title.
A&M also goes along to Minneapolis to play for national consolation honors against Illinois, a 76-74 loser to Kentucky at New York City Saturday night.
Not only did the Aggies go down to one of their most ignoble defeats since coach Hank Iba came to the Stillwater school in 1934, but they also were deprived of the services of stellar guard Keith Smith in the first three minutes of play.
The little black-haired scooter suffered a shoulder separation when he collided with the Cats' Jim Iverson as they dived after a loose ball.
Smith was taken to St. Joseph's hospital here and he will miss the trip northward. It was learned after the game that Smith's injured right shoulder would be placed in a cast.
It was the third loss for the Cowboys in three starts against Kansas State and also ended their tremendous run in western NCAA competition which had seen the Punchers win eight games in a row since the first appearance here in 1945.
The Aggies had one of their coldest nights of the season, hitting only 16 of 52 shots for a 31 percent average. Kansas State, meanwhile, was filling the bucket full as Jack Stone, Lew Hitch and sub center Dick Knostman led the way.
Stone, the big 6-3 Wildcat forward who sparked an early burst that left the Pokes reeling, hit five goals in five attempts from the floor.
Don Johnson and Gale McArthur, the Aggies top scorers throughout the season, did a complete about-face from their brilliant shooting against Washington in the semifinals.
National Championship Game
That's also a description of Lew Hitch, Kansas State center, Tuesday night in the NCAA title-deciding game which Kentucky won, 68 to 58 with a rousing last half rally.
For the first half, Hitch, 6-foot-7 inch center, made 7-foot Bill Spivey, his Kentucky rival, look almost inexperienced.
Then came the second half.
Spivey kept right on going, Hitch all but stopped. And when Spivey took command of the rebounding, Kentucky wiped out a two-point half-time deficit to saunter to its third NCAA title in four years.
Hitch snagged nine rebounds during the entire game but only one came in the second half. Spivey split his 21 rebounds almost down the middle with 12 coming after the intermission, which found Kansas State ahead 29 to 27.
The big fellow's efforts brought a successful close to the second year of Coach Adolph Rupp's current three-year plan. He started almost from scratch some 17 months ago with a band of sophomores and incidental upper classmen. His aim was to win the 1952 NCAA crown and a possible trip to the 1952 Olympics.
But he has the big title a year early. Nine of the ten men on the squad return next season. Only exception is Roger Layne, third string center.
After the title conquest, Rupp gave most of the praise to Spivey's amazing second half effort but he also singled out Cliff Hagan for bouquets. Hagan, who missed the final practices because of flu, entered the game when it was almost 15 minutes old and with Kansas State ahead. Within minutes the score was tied only to have Kansas State edge ahead again and remain two points ahead at the recess.
After the intermission, Shelby Linville potted a free throw and then Spivey tipped in a two pointer to put Kentucky ahead. The blue grass Wildcats never again trailed.
Midway through the last half, with Spivey a demon under the baskets, the Kansans went eight full minutes without scoring. That, combined with Spivey, meant the ball game.
In addition to his defensive work, Spivey was the game's leading scorer with 22 points. That lifted his total to 72 for the four NCAA tourney games.
While the big center was getting the praises of his coach and the congratulations of his teammates, Coach Jack Gardner of the losing team thought some of the Kentucky credit should go to Bobby Watson, stubby guard.
"He is faster than Ralph Beard, guard on the Olympic team," moaned Gardner.
Spivey was the game's leading scorer with 22 points. That lifted his total to 72 for four NCAA tourney games.
Kentucky, replacing City College of New York in the NCAA top spot, was rated the No. 1 team in the Associated Press basketball poll.
In a foul-marked consolation game, Illinois defeated Oklahoma A & M, 61 to 46. Fifty personals were fouls were called, 31 on the Aggies.
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KANSAS
CITY- The long hard grind to the 1951 grand slam basketball championship
has ended for Brigham Young University. Kansas State, living on an
18-point, 39-21, halftime lead, staved off an amazing BYU comeback to
win 64-54 and move into the finals of the western division playoffs.
KANSAS
CITY, March 24- Kansas State's Big Seven champions, playing relentlessly
throughout, caught Oklahoma A&M on one of its coldest nights, routing
the Cowpunchers, 68-44, to win their first western NCAA basketball
championship in history.
MINNEAPOLIS
(AP)- Ever start your car up a long hill only to have it stop halfway to
the top because it ran out of gas?
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