St Francis College - Franciscan Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 28 text:

BASKETBALL connoted hind-the-back two-pointer. The next game proved to he an unimpressive 61-57 victory over a mediocre C.C.N.Y. squad. An atmosphere of nonchalance prevailed as partisans fraternized and carnival music filled the Convent Avenue Gym during half-time. The subsequent trip upstate resulted in a third one-point loss, this time to LcMoyne 65-64. The Syracuse rooters went all out to prove how partisan partisan could be. But the Terriers moved on to Albany, where, although the crowd was the same, a vendetta-driven Siena team handed us our first solid defeat, 56-51. Disappointed, shaken ami angry, the Terriers returned to knock off an inept Queens College team by S3-54, with some colorful playing on the parts of Richie Marquadt and Jim Rishe. King’s College succumbed next, S5-6S. Jim Rafter)' received the ball with which lie-had scored the thousandth point of his three year career, and a proud and congratulatory student lxxly contributed to present him with a trophy. The next obstacle was the talented Manhattan College combo, who managed to keep up in the first half, but were lynched in the second by the quality defensive play of Ray Nash and Dick Alexander. Raftery again led the Terriers, with a total of 20 points, as the Jaspers were put down, 61-46. A pressureless game with the remains of the St. Peter’s squad produced a 70-65 victory, and we all waited for the N.I.T. bid, wondering what the selection committee was waiting for. The nationally-ranked New York University team, sporting All-American Barry Kramer, handed a 76-62 defeat to St. Francis, but only after seeing fit to set three men on Raftery. Nash proved high scorer in this game, and exhibited defensive acumen once more, in holding Kramer to 11 points in the second half. George Steinmann subbed ably and showed a remarkably accurate eye from the foul line. The defeat hurt, but was not nearly as disturbing as the silence of the selection committee. We felt that we had earned an invitation to the N.I.T., but hope began to fade. Our rhythm l egan to decelerate. And then, almost suddenly, the announcement of the selection of ■’little” St. Francis College to the National Invitational Tournament. That same evening, with the pressure off, the Terriers dropped one to a Scton Hall team handicapped by the loss Tod Knrowski loops slmt over giant defender in the 53-52 overtime low by the Terriers to St. John's. Gaining the extra stop, Richie Alexander drives by Villa-nova’s defense in back court. 26

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BASKETBALL Continued of All-American Nick Workman, 71-60. The next day's Brooklyn Eagle became; a souvenir. N.I.T. Bid to St. Francis.” We had arrived. The Gaels of Iona, who had been vying with us for the bid, resorted to fisticuffs to win the last game of the season, but after the excitement, tin score stood in the Terrier’s favor, 63-39. At Madison Square Garden on March Kith, the Terriers met Miami University in the first round of the N.I.T. Betting odds bad St. Francis as 20 point underdogs. Instead, fans saw a knock-down drag-out thriller which ended with Miami on top 71-70. The Hurricanes successfully froze the ball for the last 1:40 seconds of play cancelling out the great swan song performance of Jim Baftcry who closed his career with a 23 point splurge. Jim was lost to the team through fouls for the last four minutes of play, and the 17 and 15 points scored by Kurow-ski and Nash respectively just fell short of what was needed for the Terriers to stage one of the great N.I.T. upsets. In sum, a very successful year saw the squad lose only seven games and four of these were by a margin of one [joint. Kay Nash demonstrates the kind of defense that had St. Francis ranked fotuth in the Nation in that department. Most games were close over the year. Against Villanova above, the Terriers won by three points, 51-48. Front How: Charlie Novak. Frank Pascuzzi, Jack O'Boyle. Bay N'avh (Captain), Jim Hislte. Biehie Alexander, Paul Buckley. Back How: Charlie Ci.imKdvo (Manager). Jim Baftcry, Lou Boggiano, Rich Marquardt. Ted Kokh, Ed Lein, George Steinman, Tom Kuroxvski.