St Josephs Collegiate Institute - Star Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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come and the champs, looking like chumps, suffered their first defeat in league competi- tion in two years. ST. jOE'S-52 CANISIUS-29 The Canisius-on-Delaware gymnasium was jammed with enthusiastic basketball fans when game time rolled around on the first. They cheered wildly during the first half as St. joeis established a narrow lead and fought valiantly to maintain it. Both defenses were extremely tight and the halftime score showed St. h1oe's still out in front, 10-9. Resumption of play saw the Saints widen the gap to 15-10 before Captain Murphy' of Canisius threw in two brilliant long shots to keep his team in the game. With only a half minute of playing time remaining, Canisius led, 26-24. Captain Bucky Illig called time out and the boys St. j0e'5.C,-inisius game- paused to look things over. When the referee1s whistle blew time in, the ball went almost im- mediately to A1 Illig who was standing at the intersection of the half court and side lines. In the twinkling of an eye, he had sent the sphere on a long arched journey up near the ceiling. When it came down the ball dropped cleanly through the net to tie the score, put the fans in an uproar and send the game into an extra period. Without a shot having been taken, Bill Sullivan was fouled and received a free throw. The ball hit the back of the rim, bounced back and was promptly thrown through the hoop by the resurgent Sullivan. Seconds later, Don Miller was left unguarded in the heat of battle and dropped in an easy two points. A break-away basket by Laux of Canisius and a foul shot by the same player immediately after kept the Blue and Gold in the game but they knew now that the cause was lost. About five seconds remained when Dave Hoen ended the scoring with another easy basket. ST. jOE'S-4-i OUR LADY OF VICTORY-32 Back on the right road and determined to stay there, St. -1oe's, paced bv the Illig brothers who scored twenty-five points with A1 getting the big half, rolled to win number six by putting on a great fourth quarter display of point getting. At the final rest period O. 1... V. was still in the game, trailing by only one point. When the whistle blew time in, however, it was as though someone had given the Maroon a signal to open up. Three minutes later, the visitors found themselves fifteen points off the pace. They failed to close the gap appreciatively and the concluding tabulation of the score found St. Joe,s the victor, 44-32. ST. jOE'S-33 ST. FRANCIS-31 The accurate foul shooting and confined court at Athol Springs provided two almost insurmountable ob- stacles to the Saints' chalking up league win number seven. A fast, scrappy Red and White five put up a terrific battle to upset the leaders and were denied only in the closing minutes. They led throughout most of the early stages but dropped behind when the fantastic foul shooting accuracy they annually maintain began to fail. Captain Bucky Illig and his brother Al continued to pace the Maroon scorers with eight and nine points, respectively. Two days later in a postponed contest, Canisius handily beat Holy Angels to step into a first place tie with St. joe's and push the Celestials into second place just ahead of St. Francis and Neumann. ST. jOE'S-27 NEUMANN-31 The bubble burst with that suddenness which has become characteristic. The Williamsville cagers, so easily defeated earlier in the season, were hotter than a California cobblestone on their own court before a capacity crowd who must have sensed that a good game was in the offing. Paced throughout by the speeding Eddie Dean, Neumann spurted to a four point advantage in the first quarter. Consistent hard play served to lengthen the Neumann lead to 27-20 as the third quarter ended. A last period rally could do no better than close the gap by three points. ST. jOE'S-55 ST. MARY'S-33 The mid-week contest with St. Mary,s was hardly more than a good workout. Fourteen men helped to roll up quarterly leads of 17-11, 33-13, 43-24, and finally 55-33. The only item of note for the proceedings was Al 11lig's celebration of his sixteenth birthday by scoring twenty-one points. His brother, Captain Illig, and Bill Sullivan each contributed seven counters to the aggregate. ST. jOE'S-32 NICHOLS-30 Continuing their policy of keeping everybody guessing, the unpredictable Saints rolled up a twelve point advantage in the first period before starting to slip. At halftime the score stood at 18-13 but they seemed to of-we A tense moment in the 104

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Illig snags 3 rebound- The St, 1065-Canisius game starts- BALL would hnish the season in that order. The team wondered where they would fit in while the highly excitable fans had already stopped guessing at how many games we would win and started talking about another champion- ship. ST. jOE'S-38 ST. MARY'S DEAF--20 Our fourth outing was an easy win, enjoyed at the expense of a weak St. lV1ary's quintet. Although the team was never in real trouble, flashy ball handling and sharp cutting forced the first stringers to play a de- fensive game throughout most of the first quarter. As the younger and less experienced five tired, however, St. Joels pulled away, holding a 22-11 advantage at halftime. The second team ran the lead to 33-15 before the third stringers entered, matching an opponent's five points with a like amount to clinch the game, 38-20. Al Illig again led the Saints with six baskets. ST. jOE'S-39 ST. MARY'S, FALLS-25 Win number five, marking the initial contest of our first major road trip which was to bring us into con- tact with Aquinas, Holy Angels and Canisius on rival courts, was another breeze. Seven men, led once more by A1 Illig with twelve points and Dave Hoen with ten, set up a 38 point barrage which proved too much for the Blue and White. sr. 1012's-19 AQUINAS-25 Round one of our trigonous week saw the Maroon five start slowly and never quite pick up enough momentum. Although the first quarter whistle blew with St. Joe trailing 7-3, a sustained bombardment of the Aquinas basket produced enough points to force a halftime tie at 11-all. But where there should have been a third quarter spurt, only two foul shots were advanced to match four baskets dropped in by the home-town boys. Spirited play during the last stanza served to leave us an additional two points in the hole and the final score stood at Aquinas: 25, St. joe's: 19. On the trip home, the bus reverberated with the much repeated figures: 11 out of 14 and 13 out of 16.', The first is the number of foul shots Aquinas made, second is the number we didn't make. ST. jOE'S-22 HOLY ANGELS-28 On the ropes and breathing hard, we were no match for a strong rival who were hepped up for the game. Early in the game it became apparent that the Blue and White were out for their first win over St. joe's in five years and that they were well prepared to exact the victory. Throwing in difficult long shots while the Saints were missing lay-ups and free throws, Holy Angels extended its two point half-time advantage to 21-15 late in the third quarter. From this time in, St. joe's manag- ed to match their opponents, basket for basket, but the six point deficit proved too large to over- Bill Sullivan U'

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have everything in hand The last half however proved to be quite a surprise Inspired no doubt by the intense r1valry existing between the two schools the Green and White cagers proceeded to make things tough for St oes They closed the gap steadily and with about four minutes remaining they tied the score Fast and spl ited play by both t ams was culminated by A1 Illlgs pop shot which swlshed the nets just as the final whistle blew much the same as the Canisius encounter except that the two points gave us immediate victory in stead of p olong1ng the game ST JOE S 4+ St Mary s of Niagara Falls seeking their hrst league win in eleven starts, certainly fatled to find it at the Canisius Villa on February 17th Instead they proved victim number eight for the Maroon cagers At this stage xn the campaign Canisius remained in first place with ten w d l 1ns an one oss St oe s followed w1th an eight two record while St Francis nd H l A sr JOE s 41 Walter Zoladz Dick Hehir and ohnny Flynn capably filled the shoes of the ailing Al Illlg OC0nnor and Sullivan as the Saints rolled to a ridiculously easy wm over their previous conqueror Holy Angels, to clear the way for the crucial C3HlS1US tilt With Dave Hoen and Captain Bucky Illtg showmg the way St oes got off to an eight pomt lead in the first half After battling on even terms throughout the thlrd period the Maroon put on a last quarter spurt to chnch the decision 41 23 The Celest1als center Dom Ma tmo, gave us plenty of trouble as he contributed th1rteen points to a losing cause Dave Hoen came off high man for the night however with fifteen markers while Bucky had eleven ST JOE s 31 Playing under much the same cond1t1ons as the first game, viz a huge crowd and a tense air of CXCIIE ment St oe S starting team of Illtg Hehlr Miller, Zoladz and Hoen matched the Blue and Gold basket for basket in the first quarter forcing a seven seven tie when the whistle blew In the second frame Canisius began to edge out in front, holding a 1611 advantage at halftime Coach ohnny Barnes must have glven a good pep talk to h1s boys durmg the half for the third period saw Can1s1us start slow and then open up, out scoring us by seven points to lengthen their lead to 30 18 Never glvmg up hope the Samts battled down to the wire tallymg thirteen POIIIIS ln the final game ST Joes 32 A hard fought wm over St Francis of Athol Springs brought the season to a close The contest was tied gomg into the fourth quarter but the Saints with Al Ilhg back 1n the lineup put on a spurt 1n the last four mlnutes that was good enough for a victory Walter Zoladz Capt Illlg and Al each had seven points The season was oflic1ally over now and a final tabulation showed Canisius out in front w1th Holy Angels, St FIBUCIS of Athol Springs and Neumann in a three way deadlock for third place Our 11 3 record was good enough for second in the league and the season slate showed thirteen wins in seventeen starts for a good percentage The team, however, certainly was not exceptional in its accomplishments and thought immediately turned to next season when Al Ilhg Blll Sulllvan Don Miller Don Murray, oe Dorlgo, B111 ohnson ack Voak and Walt Zoladz will form an ll exceptiona y strong nucleus for the team which IS gomg to win the Championship ST MARYS 23 3 O Y I1gClS WSIS fled f-Ol' Illlfd with 1d6I'lf1Cal EVE file slates HOLY ANGELS 23 CANISIUS-46 ST FRANCIS 2 Let Exciting mmutes m the St oes O L V tussle Below St oes and St Marys of the Deaf battle it out at the Villa