Regional Semifinals

BULLETIN

Oklahoma State, the Big Eight champion, swept to an easy lead and defeated Houston 75-60 in the late playoff in the opening encounter. Bob Johnson scored 25 points to lead the Cowboys into tonight's Midwest Regional final against Wichita

Manhattan, Kan (AP) Kelly Pete scurried and scrambled around Southern Methodist 86-81 and Wichita advanced to the finals of the NCAA Midwest regional basketball championship.

Oklahoma State, champions the Big Eight, ousted Houston, 75-60, in the nightcap to also gain a spot in the finals.

The Shockers parlayed their fast breaks, hurtle and full court press into a 12-0 scoring spree late in the second half giving them a lead that stood up the rest of the way. SMU, dominating the boards in the early going, had a 35-25 lead before the Wichita spurt. That gave the Shockers a 37-35 lead that was threatened continuously but never overcome.

Wichita led 43-41 at the half.

The Missouri Valley Conference champions, now 20-7 for the season, abandoned the fast break for a time-consuming stall with a 57-56 lead and 10 minutes remaining. From that point on they merely waited for the good shots and forced SMU to foul. But, it almost backfired.

The Mustangs, down 79-72, scored eight points in 49 seconds and cut the margin to 81-83 with 10 seconds remaining. Then Pete stole the ball and drove through for a clinching three-point play.

Pete, a 6-1 junior backcourt man, led all scorers with 31 points.

Charles Beasley and Carroll Hooser each had 18 points for SMU and Bob Begert added 16.

SMU is now 16-10.

Regional Final

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP)- Kelly Pete and his Wichita Shockers teammates turned the tables on Oklahoma State with their own slow-down offense Saturday night and captured the NCAA Midwest Regional, basketball championship with a 54-46 triumph over the Cowboys.

The Shockers thus climaxed a comeback season in which they lost all-American Dave Stallworth when his eligibility ran out and starting center Nate Bowman because of scholastic difficulties.

Sophomore Charley Beasley dropped in two free throws after time had expired and brought Southern Methodist University an 89-87 victory over Houston in the game for third place.

Pete, a 6-1 jumping jack, who jumped center for the Shockers and took over the team leadership when Stallworth departed, was the guiding force behind the Wichita triumph.

The junior backcourt man with the shaved head scored 19 points, time after time, took down key rebounds and directed Wichita's attack. The Shockers started off in what seemed to be a standard form of play- their usual bustling offense and pressing man-to-man defense.

They hit the first five shots they tried, and quickly established a 14-7 lead with five minutes gone. Oklahoma State, long noted for its stern defense; its careful, slowdown offense, appeared to have an unusual case of the jitters. The Cowboys were called for walking violations three times in the first five minutes. Wichita improved its lead to 17-7, then, to the howling delight of the fill-up crowd of 12,500, went into their own stalling offense.

They interspersed it with occasional fast breaks and held the lead the rest of the way, 31- 22 at halftime.

Four times in the second half, the Cowboys closed to within four points but each time the Shockers responded to the threat.

Pete converted two free throws to end one threat, grabbed off rebounds to squelch two more and John Criss came up with a big steal to end another.

The last Oklahoma State threat was at 41-37. Pete picked off a rebound and moments later Vern Smith dropped in two free throws then followed with a layup only seconds after and the last Cowboy drive was ended.

Smith packed nine of his 12 points into the last seven minutes- including seven consecutive free throws- as the Shockers stayed out of trouble.

Pete's 19 points was high for the game and he also topped all rebounders with nine. Wichita now takes a 21-7 record to Portland, Ore., for the national semifinals next weekend. Oklahoma State, 20-7, was led in scoring by Gene Johnson and Gary Hassmann.

SMU and Houston struggled through 14 ties and 11 lead changes before the steady 6-foot-4 Beasley settled it.

Houston's Jack Margenthaler tied it for the last time on a jump shot with six seconds left. SMU brought the ball down and, as the gun sounded, Jim Smith hit a field goal.

The officials ruled, however, that Beasley had been shoved a split second before the basket, did not allow it and sent him to the free throw line with no time left on the clock. He hit both on a one-an-one situation for SMU's 17th victory against 10 losses.

Houston closes out the season with a 19-10 record.

The game was a little on the wild and ragged side with first one team and then the other moving ahead, then cooling off. Each had a lead of seven points at one time or another, but was unable to hold it.

SMU's Carroll Hooser led all scorers with 27 points and Joe Hamood topped Houston with 23

National Semifinal

PORTLAND, Ore., (UPI)- The Michigan Wolverines will get the chance tonight they have waited more than a year for- a shot at UCLA and the NCAA basketball title.

Coach Dave Strack's Big Ten musclemen overcame Bill Bradley and the Princeton Tigers, 93 to 76, and UCLA's defending champions waltzed past Wichita, 108 to 89, in semi final games last night.

Michigan was knocked off by Duke in the semifinals last season in its quest for its first national cage crown.

UCLA was at its fast breaking best against Wichita despite a pulled leg muscle suffered in a Thursday workout by forward Keith Erickson.

Gail Goodrich and his California speed boys ran up a 65 to 38 halftime lead and coasted home. Goodrich sat the last 12 �  minutes, but still led the Bruin scoring with 28 points- 23 of them in the first half.

The Bruins' full court press forced the Wheatshockers into numerous ball handling errors.

Wichita Coach Garry Thompson said later "the blame rests on my shoulders. . . because we tried to run with them too long."

Wichita guard Kelly Pete fouled out early in the second half after scoring 17 points. Wichita's Jamie Thompson salvaged scoring honors with 36 points.

It was the third straight time UCLA has gone past the century mark in scoring.

Michigan- which outweighed Princeton by 27 pounds a man in the starting lineup- had its hands full in the first half against the Tigers.

Bradley gave Oregon's largest basketball crowd ever- 13,197- all it expected of him during that first 20 minutes. He scored 19 of his 29 points and Princeton once had a five point first half margin.

But Michigan pulled ahead, 40 to 36, at intermission and, when Bradley got his fourth foul a little over a minute into the second half, it was only a matter of time. He fouled out with only five minutes to play and Michigan promptly scored 10 points in a row.

Cazzie Russell had 28 points and 6-7 Bill Buntin 22 for Michigan.

Bruin mentor Johnny Wooden said the Michigan-UCLA showdown "should be a fine ball game.�    

"It is hard to imagine such a physically strong team," he said of Michigan, "I feel we must keep them from dominating the boards. . . we'll have to use our quickness and speed."

Michigan's starters also outweigh UCLA by 27 pounds a man.

Wooden said he was surprised by Erickson's leg injury. "He apparently hurt the left leg in a drill Thursday. He kept it from me until we were ready to start tonight�s game. It bothered him, but I let him play to see if he could run it out. We think he�ll be all right tomorrow night, but we really can�t tell.�

Strack said the turning point in Michigan's win over Princeton was when the Tigers were forced from a zone defense after Bradley�s fourth foul. Princeton also lost its tallest regular, 6-9 Robinson Brown, with 13:38 left.

UCLA now is 27-2 on the season and Michigan is 24-3. Tonight's title game will be nationally televised and starts at 7 PM. The Princeton-Wichita consolation starts at 5.

National Consolation Game

PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) - Bill Bradley's record-shattering 58 point effort led Princeton to a 118-82 victory over Wichita State and third place in the national collegiate basketball championships Saturday night (video).

Bradley broke the NCAA single-game record of 56, set by Cincinnati's great Oscar Robertson in 1958. His 175 points in five tournament games also set a new tournament record. The old mark of 160 was held by Jerry West of West Virginia and Hal Lear of Temple.

The college basketball player of the year received a one-minute standing ovation from an estimated 13,000 fans at Memorial Coliseum when he departed with 35 seconds still to play.

Almost lost in the sensational performance by Bradley was the fact that the Ivy League champions established a new single game record with their 118 points. Oklahoma City scored 112 in a regional consolation game a week ago.

Princeton never trailed. The Tigers jumped off to a 16-4 lead in the first four minutes and led 53-39 at halftime.

If the Shockers had any hope of catching up in the second half, Bradley ruined it by hitting his first five shots after intermission to give Princeton a 19-point lead.

After that it was just a matter of how many points the six-five senior from Crystal City, Mo., would score.

His teammates began feeding him with about five minutes to go when it became obvious the records were in sight. At one point, he waved off a pass from a teammate with a small grin.

Coach Bill van Breda Kolff shouted to his star to keep shooting and Bradley responded with seven field goals in the last four minutes and 45 seconds. Bradley also hauled down 17 rebounds.

The next highest Princeton scorer was Don Rodenbach with 16. Junior guard Kelly Pete canned 21 points for Wichita and Wheatshocker sophomore Jamie Thompson, who hit 36 against Michigan Friday night, had 16.

Princeton shot a fabulous .623 from the field with 48 out of 77. Wichita, although badly clobbered, had a good .439 shooting percentage with 29 for 66.

National Championship

Sports Illustrated

March 29, 1965

Frank Deford

Last Thursday afternoon at the Portland Memorial Coliseum, Wichita State, the Midwest regional champion, was out on the court for its last practice session before the final rounds of the NCAA championship began. The Shockers were going at three-quarter speed, scrimmaging against their own full-court press. The next night Wichita was to play UCLA, the defending national champion and, by acclamation, the exemplar of the press. Edgar Lacey, UCLA's star sophomore forward, ambled by with the rest of his team, on the way to the locker room. Lacey paused for a moment. Then, neither to his teammates nor to the Wichita players in particular but loud enough for both, he said very affectionately, as if talking about a good friend, "Watch the press, baby. Watch the press."

Lacey's regard for his team's fearsome weapon is well-founded. The press has made UCLA basketball famous and has brought Coach John Wooden inquiries from 700 other coaches, all of them anxious to learn how the Bruins do it. This year it has turned up in countless variations around the country, but apparently John Wooden does not answer his mail as well as he coaches. No one runs the press like UCLA.

The press is really a fairly simple response to an urgent need, a tactic analogous to that of a boxer who finds himself up against a slugger in a small ring. The more of the ring the boxer uses, the better chance he has to win. So he keeps the action moving all around the ring, counting on his speed and quickness to overcome his bigger, more powerful opponent. That is what the press does in basketball. The smaller, quicker team forces the bigger, slower team to play from one end of the court to the other, to the latter's disastrous disadvantage. That is what UCLA does, and that is the way it beat Wichita on Friday and Michigan on Saturday and won the NCAA championship for the second year in a row.

Wichita was no match at all for UCLA, but powerful Michigan was, and in the first few minutes of the final game on Saturday night the Wolverines were in command. Their big men- Cazzie Russell, Bill Buntin, Oliver Darden- controlled the rebounds, and the whole team shot with remarkable accuracy from all over the court. With eight minutes gone, they led 20-13. UCLA was tense, and its All-America guard and floor leader, Gail Goodrich, was missing his shots. Co-captain Keith Erickson had to leave the game because of a leg injury, and Lacey was playing Erickson's safety man position on the press.

Then came a typical UCLA explosion. Kenny Washington, Fred Goss and Lacey hit jump shots. Goodrich sank a free throw. The Bruins took charge on the boards. Russell managed one basket for Michigan in the midst of it all, but Washington and Doug McIntosh came flying out of nowhere to block other Michigan shots. And triggering it all, making this offensive display possible, was the press. Suddenly, twice within a minute, the Wolverines could not even get the ball upcourt. They struggled to break through, and the blocks and interceptions followed. "The crowd was yelling louder and louder each time we did something," McIntosh said later. "But this one time I wasn't able to really put any pressure on Cazzie. Then I looked, and I saw the ball just dribble off his leg. I just watched that ball dribble off his leg, and all I could think was: 'Isn't this sweet? We're going to win.' "

UCLA was still behind at that moment, but McIntosh's hunch was correct. The tempo of the game had changed completely. In a three-minute period just before half time, UCLA scored 10 points and held Michigan to one. At intermission the Bruins led 47-34. Against perhaps the best rebounding team in college basketball, they actually were ahead in rebounds 19-17 and continued to control the playing style of the game throughout the second half, as Goodrich put on a superb display of ball handling. ("That little devil," Michigan Coach Dave Strack called him, admiringly.) Time and again Goodrich slithered through a maze of tall Wolverines to score with twisting hooks and layups. He hit long one-hand jumpers. He led the UCLA fast break. And with his teammates he hounded Michigan mercilessly on defense. But despite his individual brilliance, it was the UCLA defense, and especially the press, that won this game as it had won virtually every game for two successive championship teams.

John Wooden first used his zone press when he was a high school coach years ago, but for a long time he felt that it could not succeed in college competition. He decided to take a chance with it two years ago when he had what he thought was the right material. ("All I am asked about," Dave Strack said last week, "is the UCLA press. But anybody can press. To make it work you need the personnel. The UCLA press is mostly the UCLA players.")

UCLA's win over Michigan was especially impressive because Erickson's contribution was relatively minor. Erickson has often been described as the most valuable man in the press because of his size and mobility. Last Wednesday, however, he apparently pulled a muscle in his left leg, and aggravated it on Thursday and in pregame drills Friday. He scored only two points in the Wichita game (as compared with 28 and 29 in the regional the previous week), and he limped noticeably. On Saturday morning he had ultrasonic treatment and he was determined to play, but in the game he was bothered more by a tight bandage than by the injury itself. By the time he had loosened the bandage on the bench (after playing only the first five minutes), his substitute, Kenny Washington, had taken charge on the court.

Washington (no kin to his great namesake, a UCLA star of the '30s) is a pleasant young man who specializes in jumping higher than Valeri Brumel and in coming off the bench to star in NCAA championship games. Last year in the final against Duke, he left the bench to score 26 points. This year he scored only 17 (seven for nine from the floor), but he grabbed five rebounds and did a good job of harassing Cazzie Russell.

Russell made 28 points and played well as always, but the Wolverines had a hard time getting the ball to him in close. As in the previous night's semifinal game against Princeton, there seemed no pattern at all to the Michigan offense. Only once in each game did Michigan even run the play that opponents refer to as the Wolverines' "bread-and-butter." This calls for Russell to slide off Buntin at a high post, move underneath and look for a pass. If he has not been able to shake his man, he breaks out for a quick little jumper behind a screen set by Oliver Darden. The one time Russell tried it against UCLA was early in the game, but Darden was called for blocking and Michigan never repeated the maneuver. Instead, the Wolverines depended almost entirely on their muscle and the long shot. Both worked against Princeton; neither of them was reliable after the UCLA defense took hold.

One coach described what happened as a tag-team match between "five matadors and five bulls," and when Strack refused to alter the character of the contest, he left himself open to some second-guessing. He never abandoned the bulls, even when it was obvious that they were being cut into hamburger while still on the hoof.

Poor ball handling and playmaking betrayed Michigan the most, and this was just as true the night before against Princeton. In that game, the Michigan power was more than sufficient compensation, however, and Princeton was routed on the boards, 56-34. Still, it was the only game of the weekend that was close- until Bill Bradley, in foul trouble for all of the second half, fouled out with five minutes to go. When Bradley picked up his fourth personal barely a minute into the second half, Princeton was forced to go into an unfamiliar zone defense to protect him. Michigan tore through it when Princeton threatened to close the gap, and the Tigers were never able to challenge seriously.

Bradley finished his career the next night with a marvelous performance against Wichita. The score, 118-82 for Princeton, set all kinds of records, and so did Bradley. He made 58 points (22 for 29 from the floor, 14 for 15 from the free-throw line) in as satisfying a climax as could be hoped for in a consolation game. Referee Bob Korte, who had called most of the fouls on Bradley both nights, visited the Princeton locker room after the game. He sought out Bradley and shook his hand. "I wanted to tell you," he said, "that that was the greatest exhibition I ever saw. It was a pleasure to watch, and I wanted to thank you."

The game that followed was, in its way, an even more superb team performance by UCLA. The Bruins, confident to the edge of cockiness, were as poised a team of collegians as ever has been assembled. Goodrich was even composed during the ritualistic cutting down of the nets once the game was over, as if UCLA had practiced that, too. At least part of the reason for such cool demeanor and calculating efficiency can be credited to the UCLA players' long association, individually and collectively, with victory. They find it more familiar than surprising. Goodrich, Goss, Washington and McIntosh all played on championship high school teams. Lynn, playing on three levels of competition in the last three years, has been with teams that lost only four games in this period.

Erickson is more of a Johnny-come-lately winner, but he is making up for it. Neither he nor his high school team was much of a basketball success, and in junior college at El Camino he played against the UCLA freshman with so little distinction that Goodrich had no recollection of Erickson when the latter showed up as a varsity teammate the following year. But Erickson is a volleyball ace, a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic team, and they play volleyball, with two-man teams, all up and down the Southern California beaches on weekends. Many of the teams always have the same players as partners, but Erickson switches around. And they say that the winning team, at San Diego or on up the coast, is usually the one with Erickson. Volleyball, like basketball, is a game of precision leaps and bounds.

Finally, there is Edgar Lacey, the sophomore who suddenly began to realize his great potential in the last few weeks. "I really wanted this one," he said, smiling and gratified but quite calm after the Michigan game. "The thing is I've always been a loser. In high school we blew the big game, the finals, two years in a row, and I didn't want that again. I stayed awake till 3 o'clock last night, not just thinking, but really worrying, worrying that somehow I'm going to blow it again. I'm glad I've got a big one now."

UCLA, Johnny Wooden and the others have two now. And one of the first things Assistant Coach Jerry Norman said to Wooden after all the players assembled back at the bench, net cut down and in hand, was: "Well, all we have to do now is get to the finals next year, and then just bring in Kenny Washington to see that we win a third one."