1957: Tar Heels Tip KU in Third Overtime
Carolina Nabs NCAA Crown, 54-53 Victory

By DICK SNIDER
Topeka Daily Capital

KANSAS CITY, MO. -- The National Collegiate title and the No. 1 national ranking fit North Carolina like the cover on a basketball here Saturday night after the tremendous Tar Heels defeated Kansas in three overtime periods, 54-53, in the finals of the NCAA playoffs.

This may have been the greatest collegiate match in history, and when it was over Carolina had a record winning streak of 32 straight games -- longest ever compiled in a single season -- and the biggest prize the collegiate game can offer.

Another sellout crowd of 10,500 in Municipal Auditorium saw Carolina finally win it in the third overtime -- its second in as many nights -- when Joe Quigg blocked a pass intended for Wilt Chamberlain on the post in the final three seconds.

Tommy Kearns, the smallest Tar Heel of all but owning one of the biggest hearts, grabbed the ball after Quigg deflected it an threw it high in the air. When it came down, time had run out and North Carolina was basketball's king.

The regulation game ended at 46-46 and the first overtime at 48-48. Not a point was scored in the second overtime, but the Tar Heels quickly took a 52-48 lead as the third extra session opened. Kansas overcame this and gained a 53-52 lead with 31 seconds left, but with six seconds to go, Quigg -- the Tar Heel hero -- sank two free throws to put his team back on top to stay.

Kansas immediately called time out, and when the ball went back in play, there were five seconds left. The ball went to Ron Loneski at the top of the circle and he tried to lob a pass to Wilt under the basket. Quigg, a Subway Southerner from Brooklyn, batted the pass away and Kearns grabbed it.

Carolina not only had to battle through three overtimes for the second night in a row here, but also had to survive two near-brawls on the court and had to play the last 1:45 of the game and all three overtime periods without All-America Lennie Rosenbluth, who went out on fouls.

In the second overtime, Chamberlain and Quigg wrestled with a loose ball and bob Cunningham came in to help and fouled Wilt. The KU seven-footer exchanged hot words with Tar Heel players, and KU coach Dick Harp stepped to the court to say something to Cunningham.

When that happened, Carolina coach Frank McGuire stormed to the Kansas bench towrd Harp and had to be restrained. It ended with everybody shaking hands.

Players from both benches ran to the court again in the third overtime when Kearns was called for an intentional foul on Gene Elstun. Again, everybody shook hands.

None can say Carolina doesn't deserve its title. The Tar Heels simply had what it took, even with Rosenbluth on the bench.

The Tar Heels out-rebounded the Jayhawks, 36-25. KU had been out-rebounded only twice before this season, and both times by only two. It was one of the biggest factors of the Carolina victory. The Tar Heels led all through the first half, once owning a 12-point lead at 19-7 before going out at intermission with a 29-22.

Kansas went ahead for the first time with nine minutes gone in the seond half when Maurice King's shot built a 36-35 lead. The Jayhawks then went into a 40-37 lead with 10:20 left, and still owned a 40-39 lead with just 4:05 to go.

Pete Brennan shot Carolina into a 41-40 lead with 2:45 left, but KU again went back in front and was on top, 46-43, with 1:15 to play. Quigg's basket with 1:05 left and Kearns' free toss with 20 seconds left tied it, and Carolina also missed the last two shots of the game.

Bob Young hit a layup to give the Tars a 48-46 lead to open the first overtime, but after Carolina missed two free throws, Chamberlain hit a layup with 1:45 left to tie it. Wilt also blocked the last shot of the period, put up by Kearns.

In the second five-minute overtime, Kearns missed a free throw for Carolina and Wilt missed one for KU after the near-riot. Loneski got the last shot of this period, and missed. That set the stage for the final five minutes in which Quigg, 6-9 junior, donned the hero's mantle.

Kansas opened with a four-man zone and King guarding Rosenbluth man-for-man, but changed to a five-man zone and then to a strict man-for-man. Carolina started in a zone and switched to man-for-man.

The Tar Heels hit a sizzling 65 per cent in the first half to 27 per cent for Kansas, and for the game Carolina shot 47 per cent to 32 per cent for Kansas.

The Jayhawks were coldest in the overtime periods when they needed a clutch shot the most. Despite his long absence, Rosenbluth led the winners with 20 points, and led cheers from the bench after he went out of the game. Chamberlain, effectively bottled up by a three-man screen most of the time, got 23.

In the consolation game, San Francisco whipped Michigan State, 67-60.

The lead changed hands 11 times in the opener before Frisco, which won the national title the past two years, pulled ahead to stay 16 minutes before the game's end. The Dons had owned a 33-30 halftime lead, but Michigan State pulled into a 36-35 lead in less than four minutes of the second half.

Shortly after Frisco went back in front, 39-37, Spartan center John Green fouled out and the Dons had things pretty much their own way the rest of the game.

There was 15:25 left to play when Green departed.

Michigan State hung on and cut the lead to two points at 52-50 with 6:30 left and Frisco led by only three at 58-55 with four minutes to play.

But the Dons then pulled away again and won with plenty to spare. It was their 21st victory against seven losses for the season.

Sparkplug of the victory was Gene Brown, who hit 13 straight points for the Dons in one stretch in the second half while the winners were building their cushion, and fighting to hold it. Brown hit 22 points to lead the Dons and Mike Farmer added 16. For the Spartans George Ferguson led the way with 14 points.

As an experiment the game was played under the Big Ten rule which allows only one free throw for the first six fouls in each half, except for fouls committed on a player who is in the act of shooting.

The result was that there were no bonus free throws until the last four minutes of each half.