Manhattan Regional Semifinal

MANHATTAN, KANSAS (AP)- The University of Kansas' steal-and-run boys defeated Oklahoma City 73-65 as Gil Reich, the powerfully-built playmaker who led the Hawks to a victory, turned up with a rib injury which may prove more than just painful.

X-rays were ordered to determine if any of Reich�s ribs were fractured. If they are, may have to sit out the rest of the tournament. Kansas' chief scorer and pivot performer, B. H. Born, is wearing a cast on his right hand to cover a broken thumb.

Reich said he got an elbow in the ribs in the first half against Oklahoma City. He finished the game without disclosing the pain and wound up with a total of 20 points.

Oklahoma A & M, the nation's top-ranked defensive outfit this year, trampled Texas Christian University, 71-54, after trailing at the half. Bob Mattick poured in 35 points to crack open the rugged defensive battle.

The Regonal Final final will mark another chapter in a long rivalry between Kansas' Coach Phog Allen and the Aggies' Hank Iba. The stakes are high. The winner qualifies for the NCAA semi-finals and finals next Tuesday and Wednesday at Kansas City.

Here is how they will square off tonight in the other NCAA regional finals:

At Raleigh, N. C.- Louisiana State vs. Holy Cross

At Chicago- Indiana, king of the Big Ten, vs Notre Dame, last survivor of the Midwest independents.

At Corvallis, Ore.-Washington, Pacific Coast champions, vs. Santa Clara, an at-large representative

Manhattan Regional Final 

MANHATTAN, KANSAS (AP)- The Kansas Jayhawks, propelled by little Dean Kelley's 10-point explosion in the third period, trounced Oklahoma A&M 61-55 to advance to the finals of the NCAA basketball championship (video).

The Jayhawks go against the winners of three other regional events in the showdown phase of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament next Tuesday and Wednesday at Kansas City, where they will defend the crown they won last year. In a consolation game Texas Christian defeated Oklahoma City 58-56.

Young Kelley, team captain and the only remnant of last year's Olympic squad, broke open the dogged defensive battle by scoring 10 points in the last minutes of the third period.

Don Schlundt's record-breaking 41 points led Big Ten champion Indiana, the nation's No. 1 team, to a 79-66 title victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA Eastern Regional finals at the Chicago Stadium tonight. A throng of 14,337 saw Indiana avenge an earlier 71-70 loss to Notre Dame to gain a berth against Louisiana State in the NCAA finals starting at Kansas City Tuesday. Schlundt's 41 points broke the former Chicago Stadium mark of 37 points by George Mikan of De Paul in 1945 against Indiana.

Pennsylvania's smooth attack, hubbed around All-America Ernie Beck, crushed DePaul, 90-70, in the first game to give the Ivy League champion third place in the NCAA Eastern Regionals. Beck scored 22 points and received a rousing ovation from the crowd when he left just before the game ended. Last night, Beck scored 25 as Penn bowed to Notre Dame, 69-57. The victory closed the season for Penn with a 22-5 record. Bert Lach, who tallied 21 points, teamed with Beck to riddle the DePaul team which last night lost to Big Ten champion Indiana by only 82-80.

Louisiana State, the nation's seventh ranked club, forged an 18-point lead in the third period and then held off a last-minute Holy Cross rally to whip the Crusaders from New England, 81-73, here tonight to win the NCAA Eastern Regional basketball tournament. Six-foot 11-inch center, Bobby Pettit, a junior from Baton Rouge, racked up 29 points, several of them as the Tigers battled desperately to hold Holy Cross' last minute surge. The Crusaders, the New England independent, pulled to within five points with three minutes to play but lacked the necessary punch to overhaul the rangy Louisianians.

Wake Forest, Southern Conference champs, defeated Lebanon Valley, 91-71, to capture consolation honors.

All-American Johnny O'Brien closed his collegiate basketball career with 30 points tonight to lead Seattle to an 80-64 win over Wyoming. It was the consolation game of the Far West regional NCAA tournament, and the result gave Seattle third place.

NCAA Semifinal

KANSAS CITY (AP)- Audacious Kansas, coupling ball thievery with a porcupine defense, upset favored Washington, 79-53 , and classy Indiana smothered Louisiana State, 80-67, Tuesday night to gain the final round of the NCAA basketball tournament.

The two winners were scheduled to clash Wednesday night in the Kansas City Auditorium for the title which a bigger, older, but no more interesting Kansas team won a year ago and which Indiana captured for the only time back in 1940.

Dr. Phog Allen's brazen Jayhawks whipped the towering Huskies from the Pacific Coast with a relentless pressing defense that turned the normally poised Westerners into a confused, fumbling lot. The Huskies were helpless at the end (video).

Washington made a fight of it only in the early stages of the contest and their final hope of catching the speeding Hawks vanished when the All-America pivot star Bob Houbregs went out on personal fouls with 2:46 gone in the third period.

It was the first time in 57 games that the 6-foot-7 Houbregs, who only last weekend set a new tournament scoring record with 45 points against Seattle, had been ejected from a game for excess infractions.

But, harassed by the constant court pressure of the Jayhawks, he had to be content with 18 points Tuesday night.

Indiana, a cool and poised club, beat LSU on the shooting of the Hoosiers' "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside"- Don Schlundt and Bob Leonard. Although they played little more than half the game, Schlundt scored 29 points and Leonard 22.

The tenor of the Kansas-Washington game was set to the delight of the partisan crowd of 10,500 in the very opening minutes.

The Jayhawks, led by the 5-foot-11 Allen Kelley and Gil Reich, made four flagrant steals of the ball and with their tigerish, pressing defense forced the Huskies into three errors.

Kansas scored eight points before the Huskies could hit and from then on it was off-and-on running, although Washington managed to tie the score at 16-16 and at 19-19 in the first period.

Starting the second period, the Kansans, capitalizing on willowy B. H. Born's deft tip-ins, pulled away to lead 45-34 at the half. They were never threatened thereafter.

Born, a 6-foot-9 junior from Medicine Lodge, Kas., flipped in 25 points to lead the game's scoring but the story of Kansas' victory was the same that has characterized its recent surprising triumphs- press, steal, run and shoot.

During the game, they pulled 15 clean steals of the ball from the hands of the chagrined Huskies and forced the Washingtonians into a half-dozen errors.

Indiana stepped off to an 11-point lead in the opening period and won breezing.

Leonard drew his fourth personal foul late in the third period and Schlundt became a fourth offender early in the quarter. Both watched the latter part of the game from the bench.

The Southerners were absolutely helpless to stop the Indiana attack and they became so frantic in their efforts that they lost their peskiest guard, little Benny McArdle on personal fouls, with 6:32 left in the third period and saw a fourth called on their big scorer, Bob Pettit, shortly afterward.

Just to keep Indiana honest, however, Pettit, 6-foot-9 junior from Baton Rouge, tallied 29 points.

Indiana's win was its 21st in its last 22 starts. It was the first defeat in 20 games for LSU, which had a 24-1 record and 19 in a row.

NCAA Championship Game

KANSAS CITY (AP)- Indiana's hurrying Hoosiers proved their right to the title of the nation's No. 1 basketball team by annexing the 15th NCAA tournament of champions banner, 69-68, over Kansas University's fiery Jayhawks.

Coach Branch McCracken's Hoosiers did it in a furious running and shooting battle climaxed by Bob Leonard's winning free throw with 27 seconds remaining before 10,500 partisan Kansas fans in Municipal Auditorium last night. In winning, the Big Ten champions presented McCracken with his second National Collegiate Athletic Association blue ribbon. The first one came in 1940 by a 60-42 score against the same school and in the same arena.

It must have been a bitter disappointment for Kansas Coach Forrest (Phog) Allen, dean of the nation�s cage mentors, although he'd insisted all winter his Jayhawks didn't have any sort of a chance of repeating for their 1952 national crown.

Tempers flared late in the third period when a mixup in the official scoring had Kansas' only tall player, 6-foot 9-inch B. H. Born, committing his fifth personal foul. After Allen and the Kansas bench had stormed the scorers, and press and radio men backed his contention, officials changed Born's violations to four.

McCracken dashed into the controversy with the charge the fouls were on the official books and couldn't be changed.

"We are your guests and you have no right to take advantage of us this way," McCracken stormed. "You have no right to rob us." Actually, there's no such thing as a guest team in the championship tournament since it's played on a neutral court. The score stood 53-52 for Kansas when the rhubarb developed.

Indiana led 20-19 at the quarter, the score was tied 41-41 at the half and the Hoosiers were in front 59-58 at the three-quarter mark.

Don Schlundt led Indiana with 30 points. Born canned 26 for Kansas before finally getting his fifth personal foul with Indiana leading 62-61 and five minutes remaining.

The climax came when Dean Kelley drove in for a fielder that tied the score 68-all with a minute and five seconds to go. But seconds later Kelley fouled Leonard and the Hoosiers' great guard had two shots coming. Leonard missed the first, but dropped in the second try. Kansas' chances of pulling another out of the fire died when substitute center Jerry Albert's long one-hander from the side failed to connect with the time running out (video).

The Hoosiers 310 points in four games topped the 307 made by Washington in winning the consolation event. Illinois had the old record of 298 in 1951.

Indiana cracked the four-game free throw record with 108 successes and Schlundt made an individual free throw record of 49 for the tournament.

The Washington Huskies, who came into the semifinals as tournament favorites, took consolation honors, 86-69, over Louisiana State. Washington, upset 79-53 by Kansas in the semifinals, had little trouble beating LSU as All America Bob Houbregs found the bucket for 42 points.