J A I N T P E T~" E R 'J C O L L E Ci E NIT · NIT EXTRA PAlJ WOW EXTRA

Volume XXXVI April 4, 1968 Number 14 St. Peter's Places Fourth In ''Greatest'' N.L T. Ever .,!> Notre Dame Cops Third In 81-78 Consolation Coach Don Kennedy' s Award. Notre Dame's Bob Arnzen " Greatest Team" finished its led all scorers with 23 points at 1967-68 season on a low note halftime. with an 81-78 loss to Notre The Peacocks made a bid at a Dame in the consolation game of comeback at the start of the the Nat i onal I nvitation second period when t hey Tournament at Madison Square outscored the Irish, 5-1, to move Garden, Saturday, March 23, at within one , 52-51. 12 noon. But Johnny Dee's scrappers It could have been called a came back to outpoint the disappointing end to the season, Peacocks, 13-2, during the next but it was by no means a six minutes. They boosted their disappointing season . The lead to 65-53, with 12:47 Kennedymen finished the year remaining in the game. with a new school record of 24 Both clubs matched baskets for wins and oflly four losses. the next five minutes, making the No one expected the Peacocks score 76-64 in favor of Notre to go as far as they did. People all Dame. over the country were surpnsed to Webster ( 4 ), Leckie (2) and learn that the Peacocks finished O'Dea (2) gave the Peacocks eight fourth in the NIT but everyone straight points to cut the deficit said that they deserved it. to four points, 76-72 with 3:52 TOAST OF THE COAST-Members of St. Pete's team surround the Madison Square Garden St. Peter's played determined left to play. court on which they won the hearts of New York and East Coast fans. ball in the fight for third place After Dwight Murphy gave ND against the Fighting Irish but another two points, the somehow they couldn't fit all the Kennedymen scored four straight. pieces together. In that spurt, Leckie and Laurie Peacocks Upset Duke Notre Dame broke to a 2- 0 each netted two points, with O' lead on Bob Whitmore's chippie, Dea scoring the other one. With but the Peacocks turned on their 0:46 remaining, the Irish led by fast break to take over the lead. two, 78-76. By the time 9:53 had passed, St. Twenty-six seconds later In THE Perfect Game Pete's held a 33- 25 edge. Laurie fouled Arnzen, who made Duke Coach Vic Bubas, in a pre-NIT interview, gave his impression of St. Peter's basketball team. Notre Dame , also a determined one to move the Irish "I always thought St. Peter's was a church." ballclub, came on strong to shut out in front by three points. During the March 18 NIT quarter-final contest between the Peacocks and Duke, Bubas probably felt the Kennedymen out for the next With 12 seconds showing on as if he was in that church named St. Peter's-attending the Blue Devil's requiem. five minutes. During that time, the clock, Harry Laurie fade a At about that time, the Peacocks were in the process of recording the biggest collegiate basketball the Irish scored 16 straight points fatal mistake. Instead of driving in upset of the season-and possibly one of the biggest in history-as they knocked-off Duke, the 10th ranked to regain the lead, 41-33. for a lay-up, and possibly picking team in the nation, by a convincing 100-71 score. The Peacocks never recovered up a foul for a three-point play, By so doing, the hitherto unknown Peacocks leaped into the nation spotlight and finally emerged as a and trailed at halftime, 51-46. Laurie uncorked a jump shot. The major college basketball power. didn't mean too much once the Duke's Joe Kennedy and St. Senior center, Pete O'Dea, led shot missed, Jim Derrig grabbed WINS-Radio sports announcer, game started. Pete's Pete O'Dea each missed free the Peacock point parade at the the and everyone knew Dan Ingles, reported, "Veteran Duke Wins - The Tap throws, Elnardo Webster picked halfway mark with 16 points, but that the season was just about basketball observers called it the The 6-foot-7 Lewis gave the up where he left off against Elnardo Webster only had three over. greatest exhibition of college opening tap to Duke, but that's Marshall by tapping-in Harry markers. Up until this time, Web Derrig was almost immediately basketball in Garden memory." just about all Duke won. After (continued on S-2) was seriously considered for the fouled by Sam DePiano, and made The key to the whole contest V • NIT's Most Valuable Player (continued on S-3) ::~/~~~f,,in three words, "Run, ~an sa s Ki 11 s N I T Junior Tom Schwester majestically wrote those words on 1·1 tie Tr 5 8 46 . a blackboard in the No. 3 dressing y f - room just before _he and his teammates bolted out to meet the The toughest opponent the Peacocks faced all year was not Calvin Blue Devils. Murphy. It was Ted Owens. That's just what the Peacocks Ted Who? did. They ran ... and ran ... and It just so happens that Ted Owens is the coach of Kansas ran. Meanwhile, Duke ran ... and University. And it was Owens who Watched And Learned walked . .. and stopped. stopped the Peacock's fast-break Owens sat in the stands while Duke entered the game as cold. the Peacocks dished out almost unbeatable 11 ½-point Thanks to Owen's strategy and punishment to Duke earlier in the favorites because of its some classy back-court work by week and took some notes. He overwhelming size, its national All-American , Kansas turned those notes into a concrete ranking and because it also had ousted St. Peter's from the NIT plan which completely stifled the title race with a 58-46 victory in second team All-American Mike Peacock attack. AHEAD OF THE FIELD-Tom MacMahon (24) streaks ahead of the semi-final round of the NIT, Lewis, not necessarily in that In several pre-game interviews, the field for fast-break lay-up against Duke. Elnardo Webster (30) Thursday, March 21, at Madison order. Owens stressed the fact that the and Bob Leckie (10) close in to make sure Mac's attempt is good. But size, ranking and Lewis Square Garden. (continued on S-2) (Photo by New York Times.) Page S-2 PAUW WOW April 4, 1968 EDITORIAL ILetter To The Editor I On behalf of the entire St. Peter's College community, the PAUW WOW extends its congratulations to Coach DQll Kennedy and his basketball team for their outstanding showing in the 31st annual Congratulations National Invitation Tournament. Not only did the Peacocks put St. Peter's on the map, but it also To: The Basketball T•m. Coaches and Students of Saint Peter's helped to identify Jersey City as something more than "New York's College Congratulations: neighbor." Therefore, on behalf of Jersey City, the PAUW WOW again The events of the past two weeks havy kept our heads spinning. offers its congratulations. But now our eyes are back in focus. The double-overtime upset victory over Marshall in the opening Marshall down to defeat in overtime! Duke run out of the game erased the haunting memory of last year's loss to Southern Illinois Garden! The cyclone fence of Kansas! The rush at Notre Dame! and served notice to the collegiate basketball world that St. Peter's is Tickets! Tickets and more tickets! ready for the bigtime. We want to congratulate all of you and state how proud we are to ToJHeeded Duke "had the misfortune of the draw" and became be part of you. The name of Saint Peter's now in Durham and St. Peter's next victim. That victory made everybody sit up and take Huntington, in Missoula and Bangor-throughout the nation. You have notice. carried our name as courageous men, as hard-working students, as Losses to Kansas and Notre Dame dimmed the picture slightly representatives of a city and cou!lty. but not enough to make anyone forget the four days of exciting So-we didn't go all the way! This team spirit and courage we fast-break basketball provided by the Peacocks. Harry Laurie (14) looms hail. Also, we hail the students who won the "battle of the stands." Win It was a team effort and our thanks go to each and every one of ov• cent• Pete O'Dea (22) or lose, the team and the fans proved why and how we are proud of the team members. Especially to Coach Kennedy, who made it all and Marshall's Bob Allen (50), Saint Peter's College. possible with his coaching prowess. as the pair tumble to the May we congratulate all who played the games, watched them, To the four seniors, our good luck and thanks. To those who will Garden floor in battle for lose cheered them on! Saint Peter's College is great because you are such return next year, thanks and keep up the good work. ball (UPI Telephoto) great people. We're happy and fortunate to be associated with you. Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Edmund G. Ryan, S.J. four Game N.I. T. Cage Statistics Calvin Mu111hy President Executive Vice President G FGM FGA PCT. FTA PCT. SMD RK■ AVG. PF DIS P'TS AVG. Webster 4 42 90 .467 18 27 .667 57 56 14.0 13 o 102 25.5 O'Dell 4 32 76 .421 22 35 .629 57 42 10.5 10 o 86 21.5 No. 1 Opponent White, Owens Nip NIT Laurie 4 22 47 .468 10 16 .625 31 20 5.0 12 I 54 13.5 MacMallon 4 17 37 .45.'! 4 5 .800 21 14 3.5 14 1 38 9.5 Grant 4 8 Ill .444 o 0 .000 10 7 1.8 6 0 16 4.0 To the surprise of no one, Ex .. V n k Leckie 4 4 8 .500 4 5 .ROC 5 3 0.8 9 0 12 3.0 Niagara's Calvin Murphy was .L' I 4 6 1.000 ess or .reacoc s Scll-ter 4 .250 6 3 6 1.5 3 0 8 2.0 P• Dffw 4 2 7 286 0 1 .000 6 4 1.0 ?. 0 4 1.0 chosen St. Peter's No. 1 opponent DePlano 4 I 5 .200 :? 2 1.000 4 10 2.5 7 0 4 1.0 (continued from S-1) O-C-ell 2 1 I 1.000 O o .000 (l 4 2.0 2 o 2 1.0 of the year and Kansas Coach Ted Jayhawks, 9- 7, during the last six Wilk 1 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 Cl I 1.0 I O O 0 .0 minutes of the half, but trailed at Fln!Mlglln 1 O O .f.00 0 O .000 O O 0 .0 O O O G.O Owens was named Opposing worse thing his team could do was Tw)I- 1 0 1 .OCIO 'l O .000 1 O 0 .0 11 O O 0 .0 Coach-of-the-Year, in an election to try to run with the Peacocks. halftime, 28- 19. MacMahon and Own TotalU J:10 2!14 .442 66 PS .673 196 2(;5 51.2 8:i 2 326 81.5 OIIP Tetals 4 123 283 .435 ;;7 95 .600 209 229 57.2 87 3 303 75 .8 held by St. Peter's basketball He told them not to run under Bohnenstiehl led their respective players. any circumstances - even if they teams with eight points in the first were behind by a ridiculous score. half. 1967 -68 Season final Statistics Murphy, a 5-foot-10 soph who G FGM FGA PCT. FTA PCT. SMD RE ■ AVG. PF DIS PTS AVG. Owens also said that he would The closest the Peacocks came scored 50 points against the Wellster 28 279 477 .585 142 1.'16 .724 152 380 13.6 95 3 700 25.0 not "stall" but that he would play during the second half was seven O'Dell 28 201 386 .521 135 227 .595 277 409 14.6 75 2 532 19.0 Peacocks, garnered nine first place Laurie 28 170 340 .500 96 143 .671 217 203 7.3 79 4 436 15.6 his slow, methodical type of points. With 17:07 remaining, MacMallon 28 151 262 .576 77 116 .664 150 84 3.0 7l 4 379 13.5 votes for a total of 125 points. He OL~t 28 98 221 .443 42 55 .7i4 136 90 3.2 58 I 238 8.5 ballgame as opposed to ttie Harry Laurie scored on a driving ...... 28 28 56 .50(1 30 36 .833 34 28 1.0 52 0 86 3.l beat out Kansas' JoJo White, who sctawester 27 33 65 .508 311 ;15 .857 37 72 2.7 24 o 96 3.6 fast-break style. lay-in to make the score 30-23 in Drew 23 27 52 .5l!J 17 24 .708 32 39 1.7 25 1 71 3.1 had a pair of first place votes and Owen's Jayhawks were in favor of Kansas. DePlllno 23 10 26 .385 13 18 .722 21 19 0.8 25 o 35 1.5 102 points. These two ballplayers O'Connell 10 7 17 .471 3 7 .429 14 14 1.4 7 G 17 1.7 control of the game from the Kansas' height and brute force Wilk 12 3 13 .231 2 9 .222 10 13 1.1 9 o 8 0.7 join Bob Arnzen (Notre Dame), ~ 11 6 14 .429 4 7 .571 12 7 0.6 4 Cl 14 1.3 opening tap to the final basket. underneath disabled Pete O'Dea .,...... _ 10 7 11 .-6:16 I 5 .200 5 5 0 .5 3 0 15 1.5 Manny Leaks (Niagara) and Larry Own ,...... 28 1019 1953 .522 592 875 .677 1221 1360 48.6 536 15 2630 94.0 Kansas jumped to a quick 3-0 and Webster from grabbing their Opp Totals 28 2131 76.l Newbold (L.1.U.) on the lead and led all the way. White, a usual share of rebounds. Add to All-Opponent first team. 6-foot-3 senior All-American that the fancy press-breaking Named to the second squad guard, worked the ball around ball-handling of White , and you Peacock's Fast-Break were : Norm Vanlier (St. Francis, beautifully, keeping it away from can imagine how little the Pa.), George Stone (Marshall), the Peacocks. Peacocks handled the ball during Roger Bohnensteil (Kansas), Dan the game. Blisters Blue Devils D' Antoni (Marshall), and a tie The biggest move Owens made was to place two defenders at (continued from S-1) between Bob Whitmore (Notre many as 32 points. That total Dame) and Luther Green (L.1.U.) each halfcourt corner to shut off Laurie's missed shot for the first came 4:08 to play with the score for the fifth spot. the outlet pass on St. Peter's two points of the ballgame. And 92-58. With each basket, the fast-break. The keys to a the Peacocks were off and running Peacocks thoroughly erased the Owens received all but two fast-break attack are rebounding from then on. opening round loss to Southern votes in the balloting for the and the outlet pass. Owens took With 3:26 gone by in the game, Illinois. coaching post. Roy Rubin of care of both. L.I.U. and Chet Selleto of Wagner the Peacocks led the Blue Devils, With the Kennedymen leading The Peacocks had a good split the remaining votes. 15-3, sending the highly partisan 98-62, Gene O'Connell entered chance late in the game to stage a capacity crowd of 19,500 into a into his second NIT game. He had The voting: Calvin Murphy , comeback, but a once-in-a-lifetime frenzy of happiness and disbelief. the privilege of scoring the Niagara, (9) 125 ; JoJo White , collapse at the foul line by Laurie By halftime, the Peacocks had Peacock's 100th point on a Kansas,(2) 102; Bob Arnzen, throttled the comeback attempt. built up a 50-29 lead, the largest squirming, twisting lay-up with 42 Notre Dame , (l) 99; Manny TED OWENS With the score 42- 34 in favor Duke faced all season. The Devils seconds to go on the clock. Leaks, Niagara, 76; Larry of Kansas at the 5 :38 mark, Harry usually led their opponents Fourty-two seconds later, the Newbold, L.I.U., 51 ; Norm White's passes usually resulted was fouled by Harmon, while in midway through their games and Peacocks were sitting atop the Vanlier, St. Francis, Pa. , 44; in points, but when the first the act of shooting. Laurie's first at the finishes, too. sports world. The largest crowd George Stone, Marshall, 36; Roger attempt at a bucket failed by the freethrow attempt bounced off At the start of the second ever to see a basketball game in Bohnensteil, Kansas, 29; Dan Jayhawks, big 6-foot- 6 Rodger the back rim. His second went in period, Lewis, Kennedy and New York City, 19,500 strong, D'Antoni, Marshall, (l) 27; Bob Bohnenstiehl was right there to but came right out. went wild. Elnardo Webster was Webster each had four fouls, while Whitmore, Notre Dame, 20; grab the offensive rebounds. Sloan fouled Laurie 35 seconds MacMahon and Duke's Steve swept off his feet by a mob of Luther Green, L.I.U., 20; Larry Bohnenstiehl also worked jubilant Peacock rooters. later but again, both foul attempts Vandenburg each had three. Lewis, St. Francis, Pa., 14; and forcefully under the defensive failed. So instead of being down Nev• Stopped Running Elnardo Webster could be Terry Hill, American U., 13. boards and finished with a total of by only four points •with five The Peacocks countered heard miles away, "They ain't Other players receiving votes: 11 rebounds. Greg Douglas, minutes to play, the Peacocks against Dulce's height with blazing laughin' anymore. They used to Ray Hodge, Wagner; Jim Hayes, 6- foot-8, tied with the Peacocks were down by eight. speed, which they didn't let up laugh and say, 'Who is St. Peter's?' Morris Harvey; Dave Nash, Elnardo Webster . for the game White took care of the rest by for a single moment. They kept but they ain't laughin' anymore. Kansas; Jim Davidson, Marshall; honors with 13 rebounds apiece. successfully going over, under, running right through the halftime We showed 'em." Wandy Williams, Hofstra; Art· The combination of White's around and through the Peacock's intermission and poured it on Horan, Stonehill; Dwight Murphy, dribbling and ball-control kept the pressure defense to relegate the during the second half. Bubas took the loss well, never Notre Dame; Larry Snodgrass, St. Peacocks at bay throughout the Kennedymen to the NIT With 16:45, Lewis fouled out complained and had only praise Francis (Pa.); Bill Brownbill, first half. Tom MacMahon moved consolation game. of the game after fouling Pete for the Kennedymen. Hofstra; Bill Jones, Fairfield; Bob the Kennedymen to within a O'Dea, who laid the ball in for a McMahon, Iona; Dennis Cesar, point, 11-10, on a driving lay-up, bucket. O'Dea converted. the free As a parting comment, Georgetown; Ron Richard, but then Kansas took command throw for a three-point play to someone asked Bubas to · make Stonehill; Ron Vandenburg, of the ballgame. Led by Phil make the score, 62-38, in favor of reference to his "I always thought Duke; Charles Alfred, East Harmon, who scored six points, the Peacocks. Lewis was the only St. Peter's was a church" Carolina; and Joe Sherry, F.D.U. the Jayhawks ran off a streak of Win... player to foul out of the game. comment. Coaches : Ted Owens, IO straight points for a 21 - 10 Duke, which never led in the "It's a pretty damn fast Kansas-12 ; Roy Rubin, L.I.U.-1 ; lead. ballgame , nor tied, trailed by as church," he answered. Chet Selleto, Wagner-I. The Peacocks outscored the April 4, 1968 PAUW WOW Page S-3 THEWEEVE Kennedy Calls O 'Dea (continued from S-4) Critics called that game, "the greatest exhibition of college ''My Greatest Player'' basketball in the history of the Garden." That made two games in Peacock Coach Don Kennedy paid Pete O'Dea one of the highest which the Kennedymen received ultimate praises. After the Marshall tributes the senior center will ever receive. upset, CBS-TV commentator called the game, "the most exciting in Kennedy called him, "My greatest player." NIT history - and perhaps the most exciting in the history of college O'Dea received that compliment shortly after the final game of basketball." the season against Notre Dame had finished. Explaining why he picked But once again people were also impressed with our fans. After O'Dea over the likes of players finally found himself and emerged the Marshall game, Father Boland and Father Yanitelli met in the such as Pepper Dooley, Hank as the frosh's top scorer. lockerroom. Neither of them said a thing about the game itself. Morano, Tom and Bill Smith, "Weren't our fans great?" the Dean of Students asked the College John Kennedy Jr., and Harry ln his three-year varsity career, President. "We beat em' on the court and we beat em' in the stands." Laurie, Kennedy said, "When Pete Pete set several school records, Howard Cossell, ABC's outspoken commentator was amazed. A first came here, he did so without both for scoring and rebounding. few hours before the semi-final game against Kansas, Cosell announced much publicity. But he was a on radio, "If little St. Peter's can produce a replica of the team that great student of the game. He His 409 rebounds this eason beat Duke Monday night, Kansas is in trouble. And if the St. Peter's worked and worked and worked broke his own former records. He partisans produce a replica of noise they made while the Peacocks were at anything I've ever told him. He grabbed a total of 1,055 rebounds handing out that thrashing, we'll all be going home with vertigo." never quit. He made himself the in his career, also a new school A City Gone Wild great player he is today." record. It seemed that the Peacock fever was not convinced to just the O'Dea entered St. Peter's after College campus. People everywhere were talking about "that . · tie playing an unheralded career at In the scoring department, team." PETE O'DEA Bergen Catholic High School. O'Dea netted a total of 1,394 Little paper-boys in the Greenville section of Jersey City caught Don Kennedy's Greatest In his freshman year, Pete points, second only to Bill Smith's the fever. Wednesday, the day before the Kansas game, a few of them 1,612 points. were peddling their papers. · "Extree, extree, St. Peter's game on theatre TV," they repeated Peacocks Rope Herd; His single game total of 26 the banner headline on that afternoon's Jersey Journal. rebounds, 13 in each half against The Journal didn't come out with an extra edition but those kids Siena last season, is still a school must've watched "The Untouchables" or some other show where the Web Sinks 51 Points mark. paperboys yelled, "Extree, extree" on streetcorners. It didn't matter to (continued from S-4) them. They had the fever. One half-minute later, El took A house on Montgomery Street, between the Boulevard and a shot from the right corner which Bergen Avenue proclaimed, "Beat Kansas" with a bedsheet hung across missed. But Web electrified the its front porch roof Thursday afternoon. crowd by coming out of nowhere, An outside the Stanley Theatre, hundreds of people lined up fought through a forest of arms around corners to buy tickets to the closed circuit telecast of that and tapped in his own shot to give evening's ballgame. the Peacocks a two-point lead. ROTC cadets and their dates hastily remade plans so that they Davidson tied the game for could see the game at the Garden and then walk across 7th Avenue to fifth time with a lay-in at the 2:00 attend the Military Ball in the Statler Hilton. mark. Webster struck again with a Unfortunately, the t>eacocks ran out of luck and their bubble tum-around jumper from the left burst. It happened about an hour after Garden organist Virginia of the key to put the Peacocks Thomas played "Up, Up and Away" on the giant Garden organ before out in front by two, but George the game. Stone converted a pair of free A two-barbed arrow, JoJo White and Coach Ted Owens of throws to deadlock the game Kansas, burst that bubble which had been sailing right along, carrying again. thousands of fans with it. With 1 :02 left to play, Although the Peacocks lost-out in the semi-final round, they still Webster, who had been hitting on had a chance to salvage third place in the NIT. long and short jumpers at will, But somehow, Lady Luck smiled the other way. No longer could missed his second straight jumper Coach Kennedy's sprinters run their opponents into the floorboards. but this time O'Dea crashed the No longer did Peacock shots stay in the hoop; they came right out boards to tap the ball in for again. Meanwhile, all of Notre Dame's attempts, or almost all, found a another two-point lead. home within the nets. Stone committed an offensive Many people, Boby Leckie in particular, wished that St. Peter's fouls, his fourth, with 0:56 on the had been out in front of Johnny Dee's Fighting Irish during the game. clock but made amends by stealing Bob Leckie's in-bounds PEACOCK STUFFIN'-Elnardo Webster (30) saves the day for It would've been interesting to see if the Irish played for a tie, the Peacocks as he is about to stuff Marshall's Bob Redd on fast according to Leck.s, pass and converting it for the tying 83rd Marshall tally. break. Web also contributed 51 points to the Peacock's 102-93 Almost everybody who can read a newspaper knows about the victory. (Photo by New York Times.) famous or infamous - Michigan State-Notre Dame grid contest in After scoring on that play, which Ara Parsgeian "played for the tie." It's the second most famous Stone came right back to a Gene O'Connell in to replace jumper. The shot missed, sending Irish tie in the world, next to a "green" tie. long pass by O'Dea and called for Harry. the game into a second overtime But not too many people know something else about Notre a time out. There were 32 seconds Nearly everyone in the stands with the score tied 89-89. Dame's ties. Way back in 1936, when Notre Dame was the nation's No. left at that point. went dumb with amazement, but 1 basketball team, it had a good record. The Irish, under Coach George When the ball went back into O'Connell turned Kennedy's move The second overtime, for all Keogan, compiled a ledger of 22 wins,-two losses and ... yep ... one play, Marshall waited for the good into a masterpiece by pulling practical purposes, was over tie. shot. At 0:05, Davidson shot from down a pair of key rebounds. almost as soon as it began. After Notre Dame defeated the deflated Peacocks in the the key but the ball bounced right Webster took the opening tap and consolation game, Coach Kennedy and his players felt mighty glum. back off the rim. Stone was right With IO seconds remaining in scored on a lay-in but Davidson That was just after the final buzzer had sounded. there to tap it in, but his attempt the tied overtime, Marshall took a quickly tied it at 91-all. Then the But a few hours later, when they realized what they accomplished also failed. So the game went into time out, then brought the ball in Kennedymen scored eight straight during the long, hard, wonderful season, their spirits rose. overtime. bounds from D' Antoni to Bob to take their victory-clinching Their record of 24-4 is the best in the school's history. That's one Webster scored all six of the Redd. Redd threw the ball back lead. thing they accomplished. They were the last East Coast team to remain Peacock points in the first to D' Antoni but Leckie stole the After D' Antoni scored on a alive in any tournament. That's another thing they accomplished. They overtime period, while Davidson, ball right out of the Marshall bucket, Leckie scored on a bucket defeated Marshall in double-time. That's another. Stone and D' Antoni each netted a guard's hands. Bobby called for a and Webster sank a foul shot to Most of all, they defeated Mighty Duke in an overwhelming bucket for the Thundering Herd. time out, which he received with close out the story with a 102-93 one-sided game. That's still another. Add to those, the fact that they With 3 :54 remaining, Laurie 0:05 showing on the clock. victory. won the hearts of the Metropolitan area. committed his fifth personal foul. Leckie's inbounds pass was In that final overtime period, Some people still can't believe that Little St. Pete's really did beat Coach Kennedy was right on top stolen back by Davidson, who Web scored seven points while those two cage giants. But they did. It's on film, it's on audio and video of the situation and sent soph. took a desperate long one-handed Leckie added four. tapes, it's in the record books, and it's in our memories. Yessir, March 14 (Marshall) and March 18 (Duke) were red-letter days for St. Peter's College. But so is the fact that the Peacocks finished Irish Capture Third fourth out of a 16-team field in the National Invitation Tournament. (continued from S-1) Run, That one helluva week was our Camelot. two free throws on a one-and-one O'Dea scored a total of 28 Where once it never mined situation to move the Irish in points in the finale to give him a Till after sun-down, front, 81 -7 6. tournament total of 86 points. Baby, By 8 a.m. the morning fog had flown, O'Dea closed out the scoring Webster netted 11 points to raise Don't let it be forgot, with a driving jumper from the his tourney net to 102 points. That once there was a spot, left of the lane to make the final Web gained All-Tourney first-team Run For one brief shining moment, score read: Notre Dame 81, St. honors, while O'Dea gained a That was known as Camelot. Peter's 78. second-team berth. Page S-4 PAUW WOW April 4, 1968 Web, Laurie & O'Dea On "Alf' Teams Elnardo Webster's triumphant return to the New York Metropolitan area has been completed. Since the end of the season, the 6-foot-5 junior has been named to the All-NIT, All-State, All-Met, and THEWEEVE All-Met Conference teams. . By Pete Wevurski Pete O'Dea and Harry Laurie joined Webster on both the All-Met THE WEEK THAT FINALLY WAS Conference and All-State squads, and Laurie was also named to All-Met "Ask every person if he's heard the story, team. named to the All-Met area squad. And tell it strong and clear if he hath not. Joining Webster on the All-NIT While the above teams are all That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory, squad were tourney MVP Don selected by coaches, opposing Called Camelot. " May and Bob Hooper of Dayton, players also showed their respect It's over now but it won't ever be forgotten. Be sure of that. It Jo-Jo White of Kansas, and Bob for the Peacocks as they selected was one helluva week. To be more precise, it was a helluva IO days. Arnzen of Notre Dame. O'Dea sPveral St. Peter's players to their And it was a long time coming. was an All-NIT second team • espective All-Opponent teams. From March 14 to March 23, the sun shone brightly upon St . selection. Peter's College. Oh sure, there were a few showers on the 21st and Joe Heiser of Princeton and Elnardo Webster was chosen to 23rd, but we'll look upon them as mere sun-showers. Bill Somerset of Seton Hall joined the first squad of the American During those IO days, St. Peter's basketball team sat on top of the three St. Peter's stars on the University nemeses, while Pete the sports world. The Peacocks had the heartstrings of thousands tied All-State team. O'Dea and Harry Laurie were to their fingers. And nobody wanted the Peacocks to let go. Two LIU players, Larry picked for Stonehill's all It was a period that students and fans of St. Peter's had been Newbold and Luther Green were opponent squad. selected along with Webster, hoping for since St. Peter's first basketball game in 1930. Finally it came. And it proved to be the biggest thing ever to happen around here. O'Dea and Laurie as the top In addition, Laurie was named The Siege players in the Met Conference. the most valuable player to face ELNARDO WEBSTER The carousel starting turning just after the last exam answers were Webster and Laurie were also All-Everything Peacock Stonehill's Cheiftans this season. hastily scribbled in blue books, Thttrsday afternoon, March 14. Late-comers scurried to find any unsold tickets for the opening game of the 31st annual National Invitation Tournament. Peacocks Give Them El Those fans who already held the valuable ducats departed from the campus in the direction of the massive new $4.3 million Madison Square Garden Center. There, said the oddsmakers, the Peacocks would In 102-93 NIT Victory lose by three points to the Thundering Herd of Marshall, who finished fourth in last year's N.I.T. St. Peter's had the honor of opening the 31st annual National Invitation Tournament, and responded By car, by bus, but mostly by subway, fans poured into Madison with a thrilling, 102-93 upset victory over Marshall in double overtime at the New Madison Square Garden. Square Garden. There were 17,602 of them in alL but over 10,000 of The victory over the Thundering Herd, St. Pete's first NIT win in four tries, was what CBS-TV them were Peacock fans. What they saw was NIT history. They saw an commentator, Don Criqui, called, "The most exciting game in NIT history and perhaps the most exciting in unblievable contest which lasted through two overtime periods. They the history of college basketball. • saw junior Elnardo Webster scored a near-record 51 points while he Most of that excitement was supplied by junior Elnardo Webster, who scored a near NIT record of 51 pumped in a new NIT record of 23 field goals. But most of all, they saw points on a record 23 field goals. DePaul's held both records, 53 points and 21 field goals, St. Pete's win its first NIT game ever by nine points, I 02-93, after since 1945. trailing by as many as 16 points. Web's 51 points, the tourney's high, earned him a spot on the NIT's All-Tourney team. And he did it Those fans not only SAW NIT history· they MADE it. Never all after two fmal exams and only Web ter emerged from the 912 minutes, with the Peacocks before had Madison Square Garden been transformed from the stately three hours sleep. locker-room in hi civilian clothes. leading, 27-22. athletic emporium it had always been, into one gigantic college 'Tm here this year," said Web, The opening round contest Then Marshall got extremely gymnasium complete with a home-court crowd. who was at Wharton JC. about figured to be a battle between St. hot while the Peacocks got Never before had Madison Square Garden seen a crowd give a the same time the Peacocks were Peter's, the champions of the extremely sloppy and cold. The standing ovat10n to a player m street clothes. But our fans gave one to drubbed out of last year's NIT. much laughed-at Met Conference West Virginians out-scored the Elnardo Webster. "That's the difference." and Marshall, the representative of Kennedymen, 29-11 during the Never before had the stoic Garden gallaryites, who had always The Big E wasn't being the prestigious Mid-American remainder of the period and had a gone just to see a good game between two good teams, become boastful. He merely stated a fact Conference, and last year's 51-38 lead at the half. engulfed by a cheering section as they did that that night or the nights because his 51 points were just fourth-place NIT team. Against the Salukis, St. Peter's following. seven short of St. Peter's total The word battle was an trailed by 12 at halftime and These were the same Peacock fans who last year had incurred the against Southern lllinois in last understatement. Neither team wound up losing by 45. This year wrath of: the New York City police force, the Garden officials, their season's 103-58 loss. played it like a game. They fought they trailed the Herd by I 3 at the team and their fellow fans. They were the same; yet they were It was Web's first game in the it like a war. Both teams scrapped, half and Peacock fans feared that different. This year they proved that they had class. Garden, any Garden. He fell in hustled and attempted to tear they'd eventually lose by 46. The Night of Magic love with the place right away. each other apart as if there was no But Peacock Coach Don If anyone thought that the Peacocks and their fans were But it wasn't a one-sided tomorrow. That's because there Kennedy had other ideas. something to see and hear that night, those observers found out that He ordered a pressure defense they "ain't seen or heard nothin' yet," until they saw the quarterfinal against Marshall's Jone guard, Dan game between Duke and St. Peter's. D' Antoni, during the second half. It was a night of magic. Nobody expected the Kennedymen to The move paid off handsomely as give 10th ranked Duke a good game - not to even mention beat the D' Antoni had trouble passing to Blue Devils. Nobody that is, except the players themselves, their the big men underneath the coaches and a few staff members. basket. Before the players left the Penn-Garden Hotel to go to the game, The second half scoring ran in I asked Pete O'Dea if he felt strange going back to the Garden for a spurts, with the Peacocks second trip. outscoring the Herd, 20-6, during "Come to think of it," the senior captain said, "it does feel a the first five minutes to take a one little funny returning to that court again. But at least I feel a lot looser point lead, 58-57. than I did against Marshall. So do the other guys, Right, Bill?" Marshall came back to score "That's right," answered Bill Twyman, "we're gonna whip em' eight straight points to regain the tonight." lead, which they went on to Twyman was emphatic. He knew something that I didn't know. extend to 73-66 with a little less But at least he made me feel better about the upcoming contest, in than nine minutes remaining in which the Peacocks were 10½-11 ½ point underdogs. regulation time. As it turned out, my natural fears were proved to be totally T h a n ks t o the c I u t ch unfounded once the first three minutes of play had elapsed. RUN, BABY, RUN-Peacock's Bob Leckie starts another performance of Webster, the By that time, Duke's All-Everything Mike Lewis and Joe Kennedy fast-break for the Kennedymen en route to stunning 100-71 upset Peacocks tied the game at ~ each had three fouls on them and the Saints were beating the Devils, ov• Duke. Peacocks ran and scored all night long on plays like with 6:53 to go. But Marshall 15-4. this. (Photo by New York Times.) scored two more baskets to lead, 77-73, with a little over four Run, Baby, Run By now the whole nation knows how sub-Tom Schwester love-affair. The gallery of over was no tomorrow for the losing 1mirwtes showing on the one 'u(erating Garden clock. scribbled the word, "Run, baby, run," on a blackboard in the St. 17,000 fans fell in love with him, team. Peter's locker-room. And it also knows how another sub, Gene too. Marshall won the tip-off and To add to St. Peter's woes at that point, Tom MacMahon O'Connell, helped Schwester spell "run." When Web left the game with scored the first two points of the That was the key to the game. Although Duke had overwhelming 13 seconds rematntng game on Jim Davidson's jumper fouled out of the game with 4: 16 remaining to play. Luckily, Mark height and size, the Peacocks had unlimited speed and desire. They double-overtime, he did so to the six seconds into the game. ran ... and ran ... and ran, while Duke ran ... and walked ... and ear-splitting standing ovation from Drew did a fine job in relief. The Peacocks then scored stopped. the 17,602 customers. It was seven straight points to take a With 3:32 left in the second half, Webster pumped in a short For a while in the second half, the game looked more like unlike anything Web or the brief lead, but Marshall stayed "Monkey-in-the-middle" than basketball as the Blue Devils huffed and Garden had ever heard. jumper and then tied the game within reach during the first few puffed trying to get the ball away from the Peacocks. The fans gave him another minutes. Both teams practically again with a rebound shot at 3:00. (continued on S-3) over-whelming ovation when matched baskets during the first (continued on S-3)