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.