Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page 6

Slow Start Ag Ohio to NCAA By AL GRADY Sports Editor Iowa still is co-champion of Big Ten basketball for 1968. But the Hawkeyes' travels are over. The Scarlet and Grey banner of Ohio State, and not the Black and Gold of Iowa, will represent the Big Ten in the NCAA Mid- east Regional Tournament at Lexington, Friday night. The Hawks, perhaps i somewhat stunned by the emotional backwash of their big failure against Michigan Saturday night, made a miserable start against the Buckeyes in their playoff game at Purdue Tuesday night, played a gallant game of comeback all the way, but couldn't quite get the job done in an 85-81 loss. Perhaps these figures tell the story as well as any: Iowa made an incredible 20 points in the last three minutes and 15 seconds.

But the same team did not score a field goal, and made only five points, in the first eight minutes of play. Those agonizing opeaing mil- utes of the game, from the Iowa standpoint, were all too reminiscent of the Michigan debacle, and, in the final analysis, the slow start proved fatal against an Ohio State team which buckled many times under the stress, but never quite broke. Iowa tied the score twice, once in each half, but never got the points it needed to go ahead. Iowa Coach Ralph Milter, while obviously disappointed, gave credit both to bis team and to the Buckeyes. "I don't think these young men of ours have anything to hang their heads about," said the Hawkeye coach.

"Back in December, I don't think anyone in the state thought we'd come this far. We still are co-champions of the conference. "I'm sure many Iowa fans are very disappointed. But those who are disappointed have no idea how disappointed those young men are in the dressing room right now. They battled all the way.

I'm very proud of them. I am only sorry we are not getting to make the trip to Lexington. "We got beat tonight by a better team. Ohio State played better than we did. They were a little more steady than we were and they deserved to win.

We congratulate them and we wish them well in Lexington. "It is true that we made a poor start, especially from an offensive standpoint. The missed free throws in the first a tmissing seven of 19) hurt. We were nervous at the free throw line. Had we made a better start and been able to get the upper hand along the way, there'd have been less pressure at the finish.

It is tough to play 'catchup' basketball and hope to win. "But I'll say this: If we had played defense as well against Michigan as we did here tonight, we'd never have had to play this game. "We were hurt in one area of our defensive play and I am at a loss to explain it. For some reason, our guards tonight refused to stay off the backboards. I suppose this was because we got off behind and we needed points so badly there is a natural tendency to sneak in there hoping to get a rebound and get a basket.

"But what this did on five or six occasions was give Ohio State a wide open basket on the plain, old-fashioned cherry- picker play. I don't think we had that pulled on us a single time in 24 previous games this season." The "cherry pickers" that hurt the most, no doubt, both came by guard Bruce Schnabel shortly after Iowa had battled back to a 50-50 tie with 12 minutes to go in the game. With the score at 53-50, Ohio State's big men hauled the ball off Iowa's offensive board, wheeled and found Schnabel racing down the court alone. They fired him the ball and he layed it in easily and Iowa was down 57-50. It didn't kill the Hawks, but they were two big nails in the coffin.

Iowa, with that cold start, fell behind 9-1 and it was 13-5 before Chad Calabria hit Iowa's first goal with 11:58 to go in the first half. The Hawks once came on to a 24-24 tie, but the Bucks went back in front and led 38-32 at the half. Iowa pulled to within a point at 47-46 early in the second half and tied it 50-50 when the two aforementioned "cripples" gave the Bucks a 57-50 cushion. Still, the Hawks battled on, led by Super Sam Williams, who had a 23-point second half after making only one basket and six points in the first half. Iowa's incredible flurries at the finish almost saved a game that seemed long gone.

Hawks trailed by 11 points at 72-61 with just 3:15 to go, but made five points in one span of five seconds and pulled back to 72-66. The Bucks made their lead 10 again at 80-70 with only 1:40 to go, but Iowa's pressure produced a sudden run of eight straight points and it was 80-78 with 22 seconds left when Denny Meadors made a pair of free throws for the Bucks that put the thing out of reach. Ohio State's five starters all finished in double figures, led by Bill Hosket with 24. Follow ing Williams' 29, plus 18 rebounds, for Iowa were Calabria with 17, Glenn Vidnoyic with 16 and guard Chris Philips with 12. The latter, as he did against Michigan after sitting on the bench during most of the Big Ten season, played much and played well.

The box score: Howell, Hosket, Sorenson, Meadors, a Schnabel, Finney Smith TOTALS OHIO STATE--85 FG FT PF TP 8 64 4 22 8 8-10 4 24 5 2-3 4 Williams, Breedlove, Jensen, McGrath, Norman, Calabria Vldnovlc Philips Aanew TOTALS Score at half: Ohio 1 0 IOWA--81 FG 0 3 0 0 6 5 6 0 28 Slot, 5-7 0-0 1-2 1-2 23-30 FT 13-17 0-1 0-0 0-1 1-2 58 6-8 0-0 0-0 25-37 38, 11 23 85 PFTP 2 29 0 6 0 1 17 16 12 0 0 22 81 iwa 32 City High Faces Ottumwa in Bid for State On the Issue of TV Again Iowa's drive for the Big Ten basketball championship last week resulted in two decisions by Athletic Director Forest Eva- shevsM the board in control of athletics regarding the telecasting of home Iowa basketball games. One of the decisions I agree with, one I do not, and I'll tell you why. First of all, as you probably know, the Big Ten, through Sports Network, wanted Saturday night's game with Michigan shifted to afternoon and made the regional TV "Game of the Week." Iowa declined, primarily, according to EvashevsM, because it was felt it would not be fair to many fans who had purchased tickets for a night game to be told only a week in advance that the event would be held in the afternoon. I agreed with that thinking then and I still do. People who buy a ticket for a performance at a given time have a right to expect it to be at that time, or be given considerable advance notice of change, or be given a refund.

A change of time in that case would have made it an awkward situation all the way around. BUT THEN CAME THE REQUEST of a couple of Iowa stations to televise the game, which had been sold out for a week, and the ensuing rejection of that request by Iowa athletic department officials. I do not agree with their thinking in the latter case. The heart of the matter was not just last Saturday night, and I think the athletic department should have said so, if it felt compelled to make a public statement. The heart of the matter is revenue, attendance, television and the future.

As sports fans, you're all aware of "over-exposure" on television and what it can, and has, meant to some sports, some teams, some schools. If sports events are televised indiscriminately, and fans are allowed to sit home and watch for free, the bottom can fall out in attendance and in income. The National Football League, perhaps the hottest spectator item in sports these days, is certainly aware of this. That's why they "black out" large areas around the spot where the home team is playing. You can see your team play on the road.

Okay, that's great for everybody. But if you want to see it at home, you should help pay the freight. We can't run a ball club on peanuts. That's the thinking in the NFL and it almost has to be the thinking with any commercial venture. FINANCES, AT THIS TIME, are becoming a critical issue in the Big Ten, as you surely know if you have been reading the papers recently.

Big Ten schools need gate receipts to keep their programs alive. Iowa has been pretty fortunate in many ways at keeping in the black financially. There has not been, yet at least, much of a pro influence in Iowa. Nor is there apt to be since there are no large cities in the state. Iowa is one of the few schools in the conference, perhaps one of three this year, In which basketball is a money-maker, and a pretty good one at that.

That's because Ralph Miller's teams play an exciting brand of ball and they've usually been contenders, at least until very late season. There are some spots around the Big Ten where basketball games have been televised, home and away, pretty much as a matter of policy. As a result--and this is particularly true when the team has not been a contender--crowds have dropped way off. Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, to name a few, have played many games this year before crowds ranging from 3,000 to 6,000. The only reason the Big Ten set a basketball attendance record this season was because of a good title race and sellout crowds for almost every game at Purdue and Iowa.

Elsewhere, attendance was down. SO THE IOWA ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, and with good rea son, does not want the Iowa public to get the idea that it can see every home game on television every time the team gets involved a title race. If this happens, fans won't pay the freight because they know they can see it for free. With this long-range thinking, I have no disagreement. I think it is sound.

Nor do I think, as some fans claimed, they had "a right" to see the game on television. Seeing games on television is "a privilege," not a right. Anyone in the commercial entertainment business does not have to give away his product. BUT, I HAPPEN TO THINK last Saturday night's game was an exception. And I think rules should always have room for exceptions of a reasonable nature.

The game was sold out. It was a game for the championship, the first such in Iowa City for 12 years. A lot of fans who would willingly have paid money to get in couldn't. And I think the fans and followers of University of Iowa sports throughout the state should have been allowed to watch the excitement. I think public relations are Important, and I think the fans should be considered.

I'm glad they were mad. It shows they were interested. And as long as Iowa fans have that intense interest they've always had, the athletic department is in business. I don't see that there was any danger of setting a precedent for next year or any following years. It wouldn't have meant "open television," or a move towards that.

It would have meant that a game was sold out, then put on television. That way, nobody comes out a loser and everybody comes out a winner. Iowa City High puts its basketball show on the road again tonight and the Little Hawks hope the long trip to Ottumwa is just a stop-over--not the end of the line. Recognition as one of Iowa's top eight prep teams and a shot at-a possible state championship is on the line tonight when Coach Bill Holmstrom's Hustlin' Hawklets take on Ottumwa High School in the Class AA sub-state finals. The battle is slated for a 7:30 p.m.

starting time in the Evans Junior High gymnasium at Ottumwa. The winner gains a berth in the eight-team Class AA state basketball tournament at Des Moines next week. For the loser, it's all over. Ottumwa (9-12) will be the third straight Little Six Conference team City High (14-7) has faced in the district and sub- state tournaments. The Bulldogs finished the regular season tied with Davenport Assumption for fifth place in the league standings with a 2-8 mark.

Last week, the Little Hawks surprised Little Six Champion Muscatine, 75-62, and blitzed the league's third place team, Keokuk, 86-54, Monday night. Iowa City High opened tourney play with a big 70-55 win over city rival Regina. Meanwhile, Ottumwa over Oskaloosa, 83-70, Albia, 89-65, and Fairfield, 76-70, to gain tonight's sub-state finals. Ottumwa and City High are comparable in overall size, al- though the Little Hawks' guards are taller. Top offensive threats for the Bulldogs are forwards Bill Farrington and Jeff Cameron.

Farrington is a 6-1 senior with a 15.1 scoring average through 21 games. Cameron is a 6-3 senior with an 11.7 mark. Rounding out the Bulldog lineup, plus their scoring averages, are: 6-2 Lonnie Franklin at center and 5-9 Stan Blew (7.4) and 5-11 Roger Miller (9.6) at guard. Coach Bill Kramer's quintet likeg to run as much as possi- ble and use a variety of defenses. On an average basis, 6-3 forward Steye Piro is the Hawk- lets' leading scorer with a 17.7 average for the regular season, although he was out more than half the campaign with a knee injury.

In the three tournament games so far, six-foot guard John Heitshusen Is Iowa City's top scorer with a total of 61 points. Piro has 59 points in the three tourney games, while 6-1 guard Kevin O'Rourke has 36, 6-2 center Gary Smothers 29 and 6-2 forward Ward Stubbs 23. One of the strong points for the Little Hawks in tourney play has been rebounding. They have out-rebounded the opposition in each game, holding a 42-37 edge over Regina, 36-32 margin over Muscatine and dominating the action under the boards, 42-28, against out-manned Keokuk. Top individual rebounder for the Hawklets in the tourney games has been Stubbs with a total of 36 grabs.

A SHOWER FOR TAYLOR--Ohio State basketball coach Fred Taylor whoops it up with members of his team In the Buckeye locker room Tuesday night at Lafayette, after the Buckeyes had nipped Iowa in the tournament playoff game, 85-81. The Ohio State players tossed Taylor into the shower fully dressed. His Ohio State teams had never beaten Ralph Miller's Iowa teams in six previous meetings. (AP Wirephoto) Four College Tournaments In Spotlight By The Associated Press Ohio State's Buckeyes hung on after blowing most of a 12-point lead and won their playoff game from Iowa 85-81, at Lafayette, Tuesday night, i i them the 23rd and last berth in the NCAA tournament as the Big Ten representative. That was the only major college game Tuesday night but plenty more are on tap later this week.

The National Invitation Tournament gets under way in New York on Thursday and 16 more teams swing into action Friday in the NCAA's four regional pairings. The eight-team NCAA college division tourney opens today at Evansville, with Kentucky Wesleyan, the nation's second- ranked small college team, favored. The Panthers, 25-3, play American International, 21-4, in the opening round. In other games, Cheyney, State, 22-6, faces Ashland, Ohio, 22-5; Indiana State, 21-7, meets Nevada Southern, 22-6, and Evansville, 20-7, plays Trinity of Texas, 21-6. Eight games were played Tuesday on the second day of the 32-team NAIA tournament at Kansas City and there were plenty of surprises.

Top-seeded Guilford, N.C., lost to Oshkosh, State 80-78 and second- seeded Stephen F. Austin of Texas was eliminated by Eastern Michigan 82-80. College Basketball NAIA TOURNAMENT Flril RMIIMI NtntMati. okM. Attitm, Eatl.

Midi. SftfMn Austin, Tix. Monevcr, 1(7, OsMcnh, Wit. Ovltferd, 71 Ctnt. Wash.

St. AUxautrqm 72 onw, st. Mimmn, M.D., 7t, WBrtibuni, Mount Best Soph Scorer In Big Ten Cage History CHICAGO (AP) Purdue's Rick Mount reigns today as Big Ten basketball scoring champion and best sophomore point- maker in conference history. Mount, a deadly gunner who stands 6-4 and weighs 177, fulfilled his promise as a Lebanon, prep phenom by shooting a 29.7-point average against heavy defensive pressure in his 14-game conference debut. That gave him the eighth highest scoring average in the Big Ten book and eclipsed the previous top average for a sophomore, 27.4, by another Purdue star, Terry Dischinger, in 1960.

Mount finished well ahead of runnerup Sam Williams of co- champion Iowa, who averaged 25.6 for the regular season, according to final Big Ten official statistics. Third place went to Wisconsin's talented Joe Franklin with 24.4. The dethroned champion, Minnesota's Tom Kondla, wound up fourth with 24.0 after a poor start that crippled his title defense. Dave Scholz of Illinois finished fifth with 23.0 and Ohio State's brawny i Hosket was sixth with 21.3. An evenly matched trio of shooters for Michigan, which derailed Iowa's last-game bid for the clear-cut conference title, took the next three places.

They included Dennis Stewart, seventh with 18.93; Rudy Tomjanovich, eighth with 18.68, and Jim Pitts, ninth with 18.7. Ohio State's Steve Howell rounded out the top ten with 17.2. Individual rebound leader was Exhibition Baseball Philadelphia 9, St. Louis 0, (5 Innings,) rain Cincinnati 8, Houston 7 New York (N), 5, Los Angeles 4 Oakland 6, Baltimore (11 Innings) Washington 7, Atlanta 2 Pittsburgh 14, Detroit 5 Chicago (A) 10, Boston 5 Minnesota 8, New York (A), San Fran. 12, Chicago (N), 2 California 4, Cleveland 3 Ask us about the New "Golden Guarantee" Now EASY offers the original purchaser a full 10 year protection plan on the transmission of the automatic washer.

EASY will re- 'place transmission parts free that are returned to the authorized dealer or distributor and found defective in material and workmanship. Easy Washers $199.95 as low as FINK'S TV APPLIANCE CENTER Open Monday and Thursday 'til Highway West 337-7251 Badger Franklin with a 13.9 average. Co-champion Ohio State not only was the top offensive team with an 86.9 per game average, but also set a conference record for field goal accuracy. The Buckeyes posted a .516 percentage, shattering the former mark of .497 set in 1960, also by Ohio State. Final defensive leader was Illinois, yielding only 66.4 points per game, despite winding up in a three-way tie for sixth place in the title race.

Fourth-place Northwestern was the rebound leader with an average of 46.3 retrieves and the best recovery percentage, 53.2. The regular campaign also produced a conference attendance record with a total of 667,081 fans and a 9,530 per game aveage. The former record was a 641,139 total and 9,159 average in 1964. PRESS-CITIZEN March 13, 1968--Iowa City Press-Citizen-- fj To Complete AA Tourney Field Tonight DBS MOINES (AP) Top- ranked Storm Lake goes against Sioux City Central at Spencer this evening in one of six games that will determine the rest of the field for the Class AA high school basketball tournament here next week. Storm Lake Is the state's only unbeaten big school with a 21-0 record, and one of those conquests was an 85-73 decision over Central early in the season.

Central has a 15-6 mark. No. 8 DuBuque Wahlert takes an 18-3 record against tenth- ranked Davenport Central, 14-7, at Clinton. No. 7 Cedar Falls, 16-5, meets strong Clear Lake, 20-1.

at Mason City, Waterloo East, 15-6, tangles with Cedar Rapids LaSalle, 19-2, at Waterloo, Iowa City, 14-7, tests upstart Ottumwa, 9-12, at Ottumwa and Shenandoah, 20-1, plays Harlan, 17-4, at Council Bluffs in other games. Two other Class AA teams- Mo. 2 Des Moines Koosevelt and No. 5 Fort Dodge--qualified for the state meet Monday night with sub state championship victories. The entire Class A field for the tournament March 20-23 also was determined Monday night.

Iowa Winter Teams Won 70 Per Cent Winter sports teams of the University of Iowa won 70 per cent of their contests during the regular schedule and took 65 per cent of their Big Ten dual events, a summary showed Tuesday. The record was 60 wins, 25 losses and one tie for all events and 30-16-1 for Big Ten only. EWERS 1 Men's Store 28 S. Clinton 4 Floors ATTENTION GOLFERS! Come on in and join our GOLF TEE CONTEST Nothing to buy just guess the number of golf tees in our SIZE 34B HUSH PUPPIES. And while you're at it -check the group of golf shoes REDUCED Over 75 Pairs To Cheoie From Optn Men.

Thiirs. 'til 9 P.M.; Mondane and Wieczorek in NCAA Track University of Iowa athletes in the NCAA indoor track champ, ionship meet at Detroit Friday and Saturday will be a Wieczorek In the two-mile run and Mike Mondane, 600 yard run. Mondane Is the Big Ten 440- yard champion of 1968 and Wieczorek won the two mile in the conference meet. In 1966, Mondane was the Big Ten indoor 600-yard champion and this distance is well-suited to him. Wieczorek in early March set a new Big Ten meet record for the two mile run with the time of 8:54.3.

Last Saturday he ran second in the one mile Hi tha U. S. Track and Field Federation indoor meet in Milwaukee. This meet marks the final competition of the indoor season for Iowa athletes. First of nine outdoor meets Is April 13 against the University of Arizona at Tucson.

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