THE WEEK
EAST
Villanova had not played a game on its cozy home court since Dec. 1, so it was certainly time for a good old-fashioned homecoming last week against previously undefeated St. Bonaventure. The Wildcats held the Bonnies' Bob Lanier to just six points in the first half, opened up a 13-point lead and then held on for a 64-62 victory. As usual, Villanova's "ball" defense played a big part in the win, shutting out Bonaventure's star Guard Billy Kalbaugh. After Lanier's 15 points Sparked a second-half rally for his team, Kalbaugh had a chance to redeem himself on a layup with just nine seconds to play. To Kalbaugh's double dismay, the would-be tying shot kicked off the rim and guaranteed the Wildcats' upset. Kalbaugh came back to score 19 points in a later St. Bonaventure win over Niagara 89-81.
Another fine guard, Davidson's Brian Adrian, muffed an opportunity in the final seconds to pull out a game for his team. With the Wildcats trailing Wake Forest 74-73, Adrian was maneuvering for a final shot when he tripped and fell while dribbling. That resulted in a jump ball with the Deacons' Norwood Todman, who won the tap and the game for his team.
Penn and Columbia headed into this week's Ivy League showdown by winning three games. The Quakers took the Philadelphia Big Five championship by defeating La Salle 76-67 and then extended their Ivy record to 5-0 by coming from behind in the last three minutes to stop Cornell 64-60. Columbia trounced Princeton, which played without injured high scorer Jeff Petrie, 76-52 to also remain unbeaten in the league.
Surprising North Carolina State improved its record to 15-1 with 106-67 and 119-87 wins over American University and Clem-son, but South Carolina still looks like the Atlantic Coast Conference's best. The Gamecocks also stopped Clemson 97-76, then beat VPI 86-54 and Duke 67-55.
1. S. CAROLINA (15-1)
2. ST. BONA (13-1)
WEST
"Sure takes a long time to get into a one-and-one around here," moaned UTEP Coach Don Haskins after his team lost 66-61 at Utah and dropped out of a tie for the Western Athletic Conference lead. The Miners outshot the Redskins by six field goals, but lost at the foul line. The Redskins made 26 of 36 free throws and UTEP nine of 14. "That's just the way we planned it," said Utah Coach Jack Gardner, who gave credit for the win to his new, foul-free zone defense, and Mike Newlin's shooting. Newlin scored eight field goals and added 11 free throws in 13 attempts. Utah later added a 99-73 win over New Mexico to run its WAC record to 7-0. Gardner, of course, also had the WAC tradition of home-court victories going for him and so, during the week, did last-place Brigham Young. The Cougars upset UTEP at Provo 87-72.
Utah State made it a clean sweep for Beehive State teams over visiting Texans by dropping Houston 91-84. The Houstons, who earlier in the week had defeated Seattle 92-88 and Montana State 82-69 on the road, were sagging when they arrived in Logan. Their 1-3-1 zone defense huddled around the Aggies' high-scoring Nate Williams and Marv Roberts, leaving Guards Jeff Tebbs and Paul Jeppesen free to fire from the outside. They combined for 40 points and, when Roberts later moved outside to open the middle for Williams, the State center came on to finish with 26.
The Pacific Eight's co-leaders, UCLA and Southern California, flew up from Los Angeles and won four games in the Bay Area. The Bruins used their full-court press for 26 minutes against Cal and still trailed. Switching to a less aggressive defense, UCLA laid back and watched the Golden Bears throw away three passes, giving the Bruins the boost they needed for an 87-72 win. Stanford then fell to UCLA 102-84. Southern Cal defeated the Indians 71-68 and Cal 78-73.
With some help from Boise State, Weber State opened a two-game lead over Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference. Boise upset the Bengals 98-88, then let Weber come from behind for a 92-81 victory.
1. UCLA (16-0)
2. NEW MEXICO ST. (17-2)
MIDWEST
Against New Mexico State, just about every Creighton player shot off to a fast start except 6'1" Guard John Taylor. Without Taylor scoring a point, the Bluejays moved to an early 25-9 lead over the once-beaten Aggies. During the second half, again with no scoring by Taylor, Creighton held off a determined State rally. Then, with 61 seconds remaining and the Bluejays leading by only three points, Taylor took over his team's shooting. He calmly converted four free throws to seal Creighton's 72-68 victory. Dennis Bresnahan, a hot shooter all night long, scored 18 points to lead a balanced Bluejays' offense that had four players in double figures. Earlier the Aggies defeated West Texas State 88-65.
Only 80-year-old Mamie Ran, one of Kansas State's best fans, remained unperturbed when the Big Eight-leading Wildcats met second-place Missouri. She simply sat in the stands knitting, confident that State would pull out its 64-63 win. Everyone else came unraveled as the lead changed hands 12 times in the last 12 minutes of play. With 2:55 to go, KSU's Bob Zender tied the score 62-62, and then Wheeler Hughes put the Wildcats ahead with two free throws. When Missouri's Don Tomlinson missed the second of two foul shots awarded to him, State grabbed the rebound and held on for its one-point victory and a league lead of two games.
Texas Christian jolted Baylor 90-71 to move into a tie with the Bears atop the Southwest Conference. Rick Wittenbraker scored 25 points for the Horned Frogs, and 6'8" Center Doug Boyd controlled the backboards. He grabbed 27 rebounds to tie the single-game conference record.
After 27 consecutive losses in the Missouri Valley Conference, Memphis State finally won 85-81 over Wichita State. The Tigers, who led by 15 points at one time, almost saw their string extended when they failed to score a field goal in the final 7:33. League-leading Drake, which earlier had beaten North Texas State 95-84, put Memphis back in its old groove by topping the Tigers 82-76.
1. HOUSTON (14-3)
2. DRAKE (15-4)
MIDEAST
With 4:41 left to play in Louisiana States 109-86 victory over Mississippi, LSU's Pete Maravich hit a 21-foot jump shot to become the highest scorer in college basketball history. Maravich, who finished the game with 53 points, overtook Oscar Robertson's old record of 2,973 points and now has a career total of 2,987.
Kentucky lost its first game of the year and the Southeastern Conference lead. The Wildcats were stunned by Vanderbilt 89-81 after winning earlier in the week over Alabama 86-71. The Commodores never trailed in their upset win, and Vandy's Tom Arnholt held back a late Kentucky rally by making six consecutive free throws in the final two minutes. The loss dropped the Wildcats behind Georgia in the SEC as the Bulldogs won over Mississippi State 79-76 and Florida 68-64.
A pair of games on the same night at Chicago Stadium ended up in double disaster for Illinois and Marquette. The Illini, unable to halt Austin Carr, who scored 36 points, and failing to control the boards as Notre Dame's frontcourt blocked out 254-pound Greg Jackson, lost to the Irish 86-83. Marquette Coach Al McGuire explained before his game with Loyola of Chicago that his team's main weakness was poor foul shooting. The Ramblers proved him right. Fighting back from 11 points down at the half, Loyola won 76-72 as Marquette missed 17 of 33 free throws, including seven in a row when the score was tied 70-70. Ric Cobb was the main culprit, misfiring five in the final 90 seconds. Earlier the Warriors had defeated Wisconsin 60-51.
Ohio University was not as lucky against the Badgers. After four wins over Big Ten teams, the Bobcats lost to Wisconsin 72-69. Two of Ohio's Big Ten victims, Purdue and Ohio State, were winners in league play. The Boilermakers took a 116-103 shootout with Michigan as Rick Mount matched his career high of 53 points. Buckeye Coach Fred Taylor temporarily benched senior Jody Finney, the No. 3 foul shooter in the country and the nation's 10th best shot from the field. He did not appear in OSU's early week 74-71 defeat of Georgia Tech but made a strong bid to regain his starting job by coming off the bench to score 11 points and break down Northwestern's zone defense in a 68-64 Ohio State victory.
1. KENTUCKY (15-1)
2. MARQUETTE (14-2)