Friday. February 12, 1965
MAROON AND GOLD
PAGE raR^
Christians Top Catamounts 92 To 81 In Conference Battle
Elon Quintet
Topples Lions
By 16 Points
Displaying a balanced scoring at
tack through both halves, the Fight
ing Christians of Elon turned back
the Frederick Lions 72 to 56 in a
non-conference battle on the Fred
erick court on Wednesday night,
February 3rd, with EUon posting
her tenth win of the season as tAe
Christian cagers continued to gather
momentum in the late season.
The Christians got another great
performance out of All-American
Jesse Branson, with the big Elon
forward pumping in 37 points against
the Lions. The big boy hit 16 points
in the first half as the Christians
moved to a 33-27 margin at the half-
time break. Branson sharpened his
shooting for 21 points as Elon out-
scored Fredericls 39 to 29 in that
final period.
The big night for Branson shot
the Fighting Christian star to the
front in the torrid race with West
ern Carolina’s Henry Logan for the
Carolinas Conference scoring lead
ership. Going into the Frederick
game, Branson trailed Logan by
barely one-tenth of one point in the
Conference statistics, with Logan
averaging 27.7 and Branson aver
aging 27.6 points per game.
Branson’s 37 points last night
added to the 33 counters he hit
against Atlantic Christian on Monday
night, moved the Elon forward to
a 28.5 average in 17 games. Logan
managed only 26 points against
Lenoir Rhyne last night and is aver
aging 27.6 points in 18 games to
date. In addition to his fine shooting
against Frederick last night, Bran
son also pulled down 13 rebounds.
The Fighting Christians had two
other boys in double figures in the
scoring columns, with Richard Such
and Dave Winfrey each hitting for'
12 points against the Lions. Bill;
Hodges, who hit 22 points, was the
only Frederick player to reach
double-figure scoring.
The line-ups:
BKWSON IS GREAT DESPITE LOSS (;AME TO 1»0J\ I
Oh no, you don’t.” One might read those very words in the
dLttrmm^'J cnoiight exijres^^cd on -Je.sse Branson's face as hj in- ditat-j>’
rnomentarily while watching the grabbing hand of High Poir' s Dale
Neel during the recent bitter battle between the Christians and Panthers,
a battle in which the Panthers used a desperate last-second fling to
deieal 1,1-j tiJon cagers by u single point on a 6»i-67 score. The invading
High Po'..'’.'.crs won the victor . but the greatest glory of the night went
to Branson after a mighty effort that netted 41 points and 19 rebounds
for tlio Elon .Ml-American while being dcii .U' . , ; ,'a':- ;
fense all night long by the Panthers. Branson was hailed by friend
and foe alike for perhaps the greatest performance of
Pos. Elon (72)
F—Branson (37)
F—A. Davis (6)
C—Van Lear
G—Atkins (5)
G—Winfrey (12)
Frederick (56)
Cottrell (7)
Hodges (22)
Murray (6)
Shell (8)
Hemphill (7)
careei
i,
ifx
Atkins LemUug Scorer
lie fore Copacitx Crowd
Playiivg to a capacity crowd of
4,600 fans, largest crowd ever to see
a varsity basketball game at Elon
College, the Fighting Christian cag-
rs came from behind in the last
half to turn back the Western Caro-
!.na Catamounts here last Saturday
night, February 6th, by a 92 to ffl
count.
The huge crowd, many of them
attracted by the prospect of a per
sonal scoring duel between Elon's
Jesse Branson and Western Caro
lina's Henry Logan, the two top
scorers in the Carolinas Conference,
saw Logan edge an ailing Bran
son by a single point. Branson, who
was fighting a flu virus and a
temperature at the time, pumped in
26 points, only to see Logan drop
a free throw and a stolen lay-up
in the final two minutes to count
J7 points for the night.
With so many eyes on the much-
heralded Branson and Logan, it re
mained for sharp-shooting Bobby
\lkins, Elon’s fine sophomore guard
0 run off with the top scoring
honors for the night. Atkins topped
)0th Branson and I^ogan when he
hit on 9 of 15 floor shots and swish
ed 11 of 12 from the free throw line
;o net 29 points for the night.
It was a close battle all the way,
vith Western Carolina moving to a
juick lead in the early minutes, with
■'Ion coming to the fore in the next
five minutes of that first half,
lohn Brintnall then led a Cata
mount rally that pulled Western to
he front again, and the Catamounts
held a slim 40-39 margin at the
half-time break. Two three-point
■)lays by Charlie Van Ix,>ar kept
Elon in contention
The Cats widened the margin as
the second half opened, but within
a [)eriol of six minutes the two
•eams swapped leads or were tied
•hirteen times midway the period.
Eloii (James
F'lon 65, Wofford 64.
Flon 6t;. rfeiffor 68.
Klon 85, Lenoir Khyne 84.
Klon 65. High Point 76.
Klon 56. Appalarhiun 59.
Klon 60. Krskine 65.
Klon lOU. Ivoyola 80.
Klon 7L Kort Kustis 75.
Klon H4. Wofford 92.
Klon 106. A.C.C. 79.
Klon 60. Kast Carolina 67.
Klon 70. Caiiipbell 59.
Klon 67, Guilford 44.
Klon 86. Campht'll 77,
Klon 67. llifCh l*oint 68.
Klon 62, Catawba 60.
Klon 91. A.C.C. 68.
Klon 72. Kredcrick 56.
Klon 92, West Carolina 81.
(Remaining Games)
Feb. 8—Helffer, away.
Feb. 10—Appalarhian, home.
Feb. 13~Kast Carolina, home.
Feb. 17—I^*noir Rhyne, away.
F'eb. 20—W’est Carolina, away.
Feb. 24-27—Conference Tourney
at liexington.
and Bobby Atkins jumped Klon to
a 64-60 margin with 9:55 remaining,
and the Christians were never head
ed again. Klon held as much as 13
points lead at times and finished
with an U-point nargin.
'rhe line-ups:
l*os. Klon (92)
F—Hranson (26)
K—Such (4)
C—A. Davis (4)
G—Atkins (29)
G—Mixon (4)
Half-time:
Klon 39.
Klon subs:
12. Western
Hurrell.
West ('aroltna (81)
McConnell (13)
Moore (8)
Brintnall (17)
liOgan (27)
Kiser (16)
Western Carolina 40,
Van l^ar 13, Winfrey
Carolina subs: Bbiom.
Half-time: Elon 33, Frederick 27.
Elon subs — Such 12, Andrew, T.
Davis, .Mixon. Frederick subs —
Joseph 2, Flynn. Edwards 4.
Jesse Branson Has ‘Finest Hour’ As
Panthers Gain 68 To 67 Win On Last-Second Shot
Elon Downs Guilford
If England had her “Finest Hour”
I in her heroic stand against the Ger
man blitz early in World War II.
I then surely Jesse Branson had his
personal “Finest Hour " when he
(lage S(juad
Tops Indians
Making their first start after fin
ishing mid-term examinations, the
Maroon and Gold basketball squad
gained a close and hard-fought 62
to 60 victory over the C)atawba
Indians at SaUsbury on Saturday
night, January 30th, and once more
it was a scintillating effort by Jesse
Branson that sent E3on’s colors
winging to the top of the victory
pole.
The big EUon All-American con
tinued his scorching offensive play
which had produced two consecu
tive games of 40 and 41 points the
week before when he flipped in an
even three dozen counters against
the Indians, and it was fortunate
for the Qu-istians that Branson was
still blazing hot, for no other Elon
player could do better than seven
points.
The Catawba quint, in the midst
of one of its worst seasons, proved
surprisingly strong. The Indians
were only 1-8 in the Conference as
•hey faced the Christians, but they
kept the score close all the way
and trailed by only a single point
several times in the torrid second
half.
Branson hit on fourteen field
buckets and added eight points from
(Contiiued od Page Feur)
The Christian ^aske ee ; almost single-handedly fought back
unexpected zone the High Point Panthers over in
^...1 __ o-o oro nn Alumni Memorial Gymnasium on
’ ^ j I rt,lUiniU iviciiiuiiai ujijujwojvijii VM
night, January 14th, an ! Saturday night. January 23rd, only
prise defensive move )y ^ j to see the Panthers win a 68 to 67
Miller and his Elon cagers
pieteiy liabbergasted the’ poww^fujl
a last-second despera-
Quakers and gave Elon a lopsided
67 to 44 victory.
The Quaker fans and Guilford's
Coach Jerry Steele looked on in
utter unbelief as the Guilford bas-
keteers went down ta defeat. The
Quakers, who had b^n hailed as
the “Cinderella Team” of the Con
ference this year, had post'.d It wins
a™ ■« ■
The Panthers came into the Elon
gym that night as the Number Two
small college team in America and
with a record of fourteen wins in
fifteen starts up to that time, but
the High Pointers were looking de
feat squarely in the face when Bran
son topped an already mighty effort
with a “three-point play” that shot
the charity stripe for 41 points. He in double figures, with Neel’s 19
•iso pulled down 19 retmunds, and counters tops for the invaders for
the whole performance was done nie night,
with two and sometimes three The line-ups:
Panthers hanging on his neck. Bran- Pos. Elon (67)
son had scored more points and F—Branson (41)
i
Spotlighting
The Fi«[htiiij
” r?
Christians
By TO.M CORBITl
got more rebounds in other games,
but he never played a better game
iigainst tougher conditions.
In addition to Branson, Bobby At
kins was the only other Elon player
able to hit double figure scoring,
with the speedy guard chipping u.
l3 points. High Point fiui lour men
F—Such (2)
C—.\ndrew (3)
G—Atkins (13)
G—A. Davis (2)
High Point (68)
Stewart (IS)
Tatgenhorst (3
•Neel (19,
Sniitli (12)
Forte (16)
they found
powerless in the face of the tight
Elon zone.
The (Quakers made a tight battle
of it through the first half, and with
six minutes remaining before inter-
niission Guilford was actually in
front by a 24 to 23 count. At that
moment Jesse Branson hit a field
goal and a pair of charity tosses
to send Elon back ahead, and the
Christians moved to a close 34-30
edge at the break.
Big Jesse Branson, who ripped
the nets for 29 points during the
game, hit 17 of those counters in the
!irst half as he kept the Christians
ahead most of the way. He was
joined early in the second half by
Bobby Atkins, who hit three quick
buckets and went on to score 12 of
his 14-point toUl in a big final half
to pace Elon to the 67-44 victory.
(Continued oi> Paje Four)
forty seconds on the clock.
Then the Panthers came down the
floor, with the seconds ticking rap
idly away as they maneuvered the
ball for that last shot in a bid for
victory. They had no time-outs left
and could not pause to group their
forces, so it appeared that time
might run out, and then the hulking
form of Dale Neel, all 6 feet
inches and 245 pounds of him, barg
ed down the left side of the lane,
smashing into Branson as he went,
and a hook shot lofted high and into
the basket for the win.
The victory went into the books
for High Point, but the individual
glory belonged to Jesse Branson
Elon’s great forward, who was
clearly All-American and AU-Any-
thing that night, as he ripped the
cords on 17 of 23 tries from the
floor and netted 7 of 10 shots from
Mr. H. C. “Jobie" Hawn, commis
sioner of the Carolinas Conference,
for the purpose of discussing sports
manship, crowd behavior and of
ficiating. Mr. Hawn had asked to
>e invited to all Carolinas Confer
ence schools, and Dr. Danieley had
promptly invited him to visit Elon.
Concern has been expressed about
sportsmanship in the ^inference (or
the lack of it), for several inci
dents have occurred recently within
the Conference which have detract
ed from the reputation of Confer
ence meml)crs, with booing by stu
dents and spectators and “crowd
baiting ” by coaches having become
quite prevalent.
The Elon Christians were a red broke the old mark of 17 set byl Mr. Hawn, in speaking to the
in the second halfj .^ewey Andrew in 19t>.i. Branson | assembled group here at Elon, stat-
had previously set a new Elon re-|^d that all of our trouble stems
bound mark this year when he'^**^m officiating. The better the of-
pulled down 27 rebounds against: f'C'ating, better the sportsman-
Frederick to smash his own oldi^nip.
On Thursday, January 14th, the,ihe salaries are the highest. TTiere
athletic department, the administra-| are 112 licensed football officials
tion and student leaders met with | under Mr. Hawn, with only 42 of
them rated as Atlantic Coast Con-
Half-time: High Point 37, Elon 31.
Elon subs — Winfrey 6, Van Lear.
High Point sub — Green 3.
Eton Tops AC At Wilson
hot aggregation
as they raced to a lopsided 91 to had previously set a new Elon re-
68 victory over the Atlantic Clhrist-
lan Bulldogs in a Carolinas Con
ference cage battle at Wilson on
Monday night, February l.st.
The Bulldogs kept the game close
through the first half, which ended
with Elon on top by five points at
30 to 25, but the Fighting Christians
unleashed a whirlwind assault on
mark of 25 that he first set last
year.
itiL' Christians put four men in
double figures as they swept past
the Bulldogs that night. Bobby At
kins racked 15 points, 12 of them
the basket in the second half and | in the last half drive, and both Art
Davis and Dave Winfrey
points for the night.
Pos. PMon (91)
F—Branson (33)
had moved out front by 17 points
midway that final half
Towering Jesse Branson, who
ripped the nets for 33 points, con-,
tinued his torrid play of recent F—A Davis (ID)
C—Van l^ear (9)
G—Atkins (15)
G—Winfrey (10)
hit 10
ames as he ran his total for the
four most recent Elon battles to 1.50
points, an average of 37.5 points per
game for the four-game stretch.
Branson hit 21 of his poinU from:ian 25.
the free-throw circle, and in sol Elon
A.C.C. (68)
Tice (6)
.Serba (3‘
Jones (131
Johnson (18)
Ashworth (11)
Half-time: Klon 30, Atlantic Christ-
doing he set a new all-time Elon
record for most free throws in a
single game. His 21 charity tosses
tubs — Such 7, Hughes.
He further brought out that
he key to this problem lies in the
fact that referee.s and officials are
not adequately paid for their sejv
ces in the Carolinas Conference
when measured by the standard of
fees paid by the Atlantic Cloast Con
ference, the Southeastern Confer
ence and the Southern Conference.
Sports officials in the Carolinas
Conference receive $25 per game
ind 12 cents per mile one way for
'•pfereeing basketball games. By
comparison, officials in the Atlantic
floast Conference receive $80 per
"ame and 25 cents per mile, while
those in the Southeastern Confer
ence are paid $75 per game and 20
cents per mile, and those in the
Andrew 2. T. Davis 3, Nicks, Mixon Southern C>>nference get $70 per
2. Atlantic Christian subs — Tod, game and 20 cents per mile.
Hobbs 3, Hill 8. Harper 2, Hale 4. The ‘'better” officials work where
ference officials, and 29 of those 42
also work in the Carolinas Confer
ence. Consequently, the Carolinas
Conference is frequently forced to
u.se young officials who tend to
make mistakes and tend to be in
decisive and who are unwilling to
take abuse from spectators.
In the future, an attempt will be
made to better train these Carolinas
Conference officials, but for the
present Commissioner Hawn is ask
ing our help and understanding. It
is his opinion that as the coaches,
olayers, cheerleaders and campug
leaders conduct themselves, so will
the student body react.
Suggestions designed to improve
the situation are that players on
the bench and coache.s should in
general remain seated at all times
and should not attempt to incite
crowd reactions by their actions on
the bench.
Cheerleaders are urged to hold
up their hands to stop booing, for
students should not bx) and should
attempt to di.scourage unsportsman
like spectators who may not be
members of the college community.
Faculty members may help too,
by mentioning sportsmanship in
their cla.s.srooms, and student gov
ernment and fraternal organizations
may do much to encourage sports
manlike conduct.
Commissioner Hawn, in his talk
here, did not mean to imply that
he was in any way criticizing
sportsmanship at Elon, for his dis
cussion was a general one. He ex
pressed the hope that the school
spirit at Elon would in no way be
(Continued on Page rour.