THE WEEK

EAST

Penn escaped the boiler-room basement Columbia passes off as a basketball gym without running into steam pipes, pillars or competition. The Quakers led 40-28 at halftime and idled along to a 69-59 win, then found even less trouble at Cornell, winning 98-61. A third black player, Carmel Stewart, quit the Cornell team, calling Coach Jerry Lace "incompetent." Whatever luster the Penn-Brown mini-showdown might have had was diminished when the surprising Bruins were upset by Harvard 78-72.

Providence, trailing Canisius by three points with only 46 seconds left, squeezed out of the scrape 69-64, partly because little-used sub Charlie Crawford—replacing Marvin Barnes, who had fouled out—icily sank two free throws for the lead. At St. Bonaventure, poor Paul Hoffman's hex struck again. In last year's NIT he missed two crucial free throws, and in this season's Kodak Classic he missed a field goal that would have beaten Penn in the finals. Against Detroit he made a free throw he had intended to miss, and the Bonnies lost 67-66. Sunday, all was redeemed. The Bonnies beat Providence 98-82 as Hoffman scored 27.

Duquesne beat Murray State 72-66 before losing to Maryland. Lionel Billingy, the team's leading scorer (21 points against Murray, 20 against Maryland), had 19 points, playing on a sore left shin in a 78-74 win over American University.

1. PENN (16-2)
2. PROVIDENCE (15-3)

MIDWEST

Big Ten basketball continued to boil on the court and in the courts. Ohio State's still emotionally taut Buckeyes were upset badly, 80-67, by an Iowa team that had been ready to stage a big ambush all season. OSU turned glacial, hitting only nine of 35 field-goal attempts in the second half, and completely failed to handle the Hawk-eye guards, Rick Williams and Gary Lusk, who scored 45 points. The Buckeyes thawed out, but just barely, to beat Purdue 64-62, thanks largely to Luke Witte, who scored 17 points. Captain Mark Minor, 6'5", contributed another dozen rebounds and, for balance, Allan Hornyak bombed in nine long-range baskets.

Minnesota, playing without Ron Behagen and Corky Taylor, suspended despite pleas for reinstatement, was humiliated by Indiana 61-42. The Hoosiers allowed the Gophers just five baskets in the first half, and their coach, Bobby Knight, refused to shake hands with Minnesota Coach Bill Musselman afterward. The Gophers did beat last-place Northwestern 78-55 to retain half of the Big Ten lead, as Musselman donned the gold jacket he had last worn in the Ohio State affair. Illinois lost twice, to Michigan State 89-74 and to Michigan 105-83.

For the third straight season, Louisville edged Wichita State by a single point at Freedom Hall. The score this time was 65-64, the margin coming from a technical. Behind by three after dissipating a 12-point lead, Louisville got a break when Wichita's Steve Shogren fouled Henry Bacon. Shogren uttered an unprintable, Bacon hit one of his bonus shots, and Jim Price sank the technical. Then Price dropped in a baseline 17-footer for the lead that stood.

Missouri beat Iowa State in a hard-fought 77-72 grudge match as Greg Flaker broke up the Cyclones' zone with 23 points and eight of 11 from the floor. The Tigers also mashed Oklahoma State 80-64. This time Flaker hit seven of 13.

Marshall flattened little Samford 92-79 and not-so-little Bowling Green 91-67. Apparently sophomore Lloyd Batts' public, press-conference apology to Coach Tay Baker for his criticisms stoked up the Cincinnati Bearcats. Blissfully reunited, they derailed 16th-ranked Jacksonville, coming from 17 points behind to win 88-84. Junior Dave Johnson marked up 27 points and held Jacksonville's Harold Fox to 12. "We haven't played enough good teams on the road," Coach Tom Wasdin mourned.

Oral Roberts, now 18-1, ran over Fresno State 120-76 while Northern Illinois, with Billy Harris racking up 29 points and Jim Bradley and Jerry Zielinski 21 apiece, beat Illinois State 99-85. Despite a five-minute stall, NIU downed Indiana State 66-61.

1. MARQUETTE (19-0)
2. LOUISVILLE (18-2)

SOUTH

North Carolina won what one observer called "three yuk games." The Tar Heels snored past North Carolina State 101-78, blasted out Clemson 73-50 and embarrassed Georgia Tech 118-73. Clemson tried to rough up North Carolina and failed. "Sure, they're a physical team," Bill Chamberlain said. "But, man, this was nothing compared to our Spanish trip."

Nobody was laughing off Virginia now. The Cavaliers ran their record to 18-1 by defeating Virginia Tech 107-85, Wake Forest 74-67 and West Virginia, at Charleston, 89-88. Wake Forest planned to let Barry Parkhill get his points but stop the rest of the Cavaliers. It worked, up to a point—or rather Parkhill's points. He had 34 of them. Against West Virginia he was held to 11 and fouled out in overtime. So with four seconds left, his substitute—Steve Morris—coolly sank the second of two foul shots.

South Carolina had easy pickings against DePaul's Blue Demons 91-67. The Gamecocks dispatched Davidson, possessor of a nine-game winning streak, with equal speed, 86-71, as Kevin Joyce popped in 28 points.

After a lightning bolt narrowly missed their plane, Florida State's Seminoles looked a bit shaky against South Alabama but recovered to win 104-81. Later they downed Tulane 94-84 in a foul marathon. Within four days Southwestern Louisiana destroyed Eastern New Mexico 75-64, West Texas 78-67 and McNeese State 95-83.

Under second-year Coach Clean Gene Bartow—he has been known to say "Gosh darn"—Memphis State was looking better than 15-5. State did lose 76-72 to St. Louis, but then put down North Texas 87-80.

Maryland prepared for its next clash with North Carolina by beating Duquesne 85-71 and Long Island University 78-60, running its record to 17-3. Sophomore Len Elmore scored a career high of 27 against Duquesne. "They sort of left me alone," he said modestly. "I probably won't see 27 points in the next two games."

Kentucky beat Auburn 78-72 and Mississippi 90-82.

1. N. CAROLINA (17-2)
2. S. CAROLINA (16-3)

WEST

"I almost wish Lew Alcindor was back with them," said Marv Harshman after UCLA's Walton Gang had demolished his Washington outfit 109-70. "Bill Walton's great attribute is his enthusiasm," Harshman said, as if in a trance. "He has keener anticipation of where the ball is going than I've ever seen." What Walton did was dominate good Washington Center Steve Hawes, allowing him only one basket on nine shots. "The awesome destructive force," as Harshman called Walton, had 24 rebounds and was 11 for 16 from the field.

The difference was as night and day—or home and away. On Thursday, Fresno State caught Long Beach State cold and upset the 49ers 76-69. "We told our kids that if we could get ahead at the start we could beat Long Beach," Fresno's Ed Gregory said. His chaps jumped away to an 18-2 lead. On Saturday the 49ers turned on San Diego State, 85-68, for their 52nd consecutive home-court victory.

Brigham Young, winner of 12 straight WAC games, beat Arizona 86-78 to become the first to defeat eight conference members in a row in one season. But all came to naught when the 10th-ranked Utahans traveled to Arizona State. They lost 99-95 as Sun Devil Paul Stovall hit 14 of 18 from the floor and scored 33 points.

USC installed a double-post offense after the loss of injured Paul Westphal and surprised Washington 85-68 and Washington State 78-66.

Hawaii's Rainbows refracted U.S. International 96-58 and 85-55.

1. UCLA (19-0)
2. LONG BEACH STATE (19-3)