THE GUILFORDIAN
Guilford Wins First Tournament Championship
Twenty-five years of frustration ended
last Saturday night and Guilford College
is finally Carolinas Champions and how
sweet it is!
Before a crowd of 3500 and an area
T. V. audience, the Quakers of Coach
Jerry Steele survived foul troubles and
the aroused Catawba College Indians to
win the title 80-73 in Winston Salem's
Memorial Coliseum..
There appeared to be some question
to the validity of the word team when
applied the Quakers in recent weeks but
any shadows of doubt was cast out as a
definite team victory was in evidence.
After losing starters Bob Kauffman, Pat
Moriarty, and Bo Whitaker on fouls early
in the second half, subs Rodney Gaylord,
John Dixon, and John Brooks teamed
with regulars Ed Fellers and Bob Bregard
to lead the victory on a night Guilford
was not to be denied.
Entering the game with a 22-8 record
and outstanding tourney wins over Elon
and Western Carolina, Catawba was primed
for revenge, having dropped two decisions
to Guilford during the regular season. The
Tribe was even given a favorites' role by
several conference coaches before the
game.
Coach Sam Moirs' quintet jumped off
to an early advantage which reached
16-13 on a field goal by highscoring guard
Dwight Durante only to see the Quakers
come back to grab the lead for the first
time 29-28 on Bregard's jumper with
4:32 left in the initial half. Dave Snyders'
two free throws regained the lead for the
Indians who were to enjoy their final
edge of the evening. Field goals by Bre
gard, Kauffman, Brooks and Fellers offset
long-range bombing by Durante and 6-7
John Harwood and Guilford settled for a
38-36 halftime advantage.
The second half held quite a story as
with 15:56 to play, Moriarty fouled out
as Guilford led 45-41. Ninety seconds
later Kauffman joined Moriarty with his
fifth foul. At this point the Quaker
margin was only two points. Fellers and
Bregard, acting like men-possessed alter
nated scoring until the Guilford lead
reached its peak at 68-57 with 6:32 to
play. Catawba applied pressure at the
point with a full-court press and suceeded
in slicing the margin to 68-62 on a surge
led by senior captain John Hodges. Gay
lord swished two fouls and Brooks hit a
jumper from the side to ease the pressure
somewhat and the victors were up 73-64.
Durante then connected for two long
jumpers despite Gaylord's glove-like de
fense and the little all-conference star
from Charlotte had his first field goals
of the second half. Reserve Darrell Parks
scored from outside and the Tribe was be
hind only 74-71 with less than two
minutes to play.
—by Ted Malick
At this point the game's turning point
took place as Durante, bothered by his
teammate Hodges in his path, missed a
lay-up after a steal by Mike Garrison. In
stead of a 74-73 game, John Dixon
grabbed the missed shot and proceeded to
hit four consecutive free throws to sew
up the victory and with the 1967-68
Carolinas Conference Championship.
Bregard led the Quaker attack with 23
points, his seasons' high while Fellers, the
tourney's well-deserved most valuable play
er, added 22. Brooks scored 10 points
but more important were his 14 rebounds,
high for both teams. Harwood a sub for
most of the season, led Catawba with 21,
while Durante scored 19, Hodges 13, and
Garland Davis 10.
Tournament TALK: - - In earlier games,
Guilford revenged Lenoir-Rhyne 82-61
on 33 points by Kauffman and 21 by
Moriarty. Appalachian's Defending Cham
pions were denied a repeat despite a
strong attempt, 92-83 as Fellers led the
winning Quakers' with 30.
Fellers and Western Carolina's Henry
Logan, were unanimous choices on the
all-tournament team which also included
Durante and Harwood of runner-up Ca
tawba and Guilford's Kauffman. - - Logan
had a fantastic two games hitting 31 of
56 from the field and 14 of 15 from the
foul line for 76 points in two games,
only 14 away from East Carolina's Bobby
Hodges three-game tournament record of
90 set in 1954 also handed out 15
assists in Western's 92-88 loss to Catawba. -
- - Durante totaled 86 points in the event
while Kauffman scored 65 points. - - -
Elon Coach Bill Miller philosophizing
after his clubs 89-68, trouncing by Ca
tawba said his teams' season had ended
with their bug 93-74 win over Guilford
at Elon the previous weekend. - - -
Estimated crowds of 4,000, 5,500, 7,800,
and 3,500 broke all attendance records
and made a success of the Kagve's first
venture into the big time - - - Referees
may have set some sort of whistle-blowing
record in the tournament as action was
considerably hampered by the almost
constant calling of fouls - - - Catawba
though finishing second could connect
on only 48 out of 91 foul attempts in
their three games including a 14 for 34
effort in their close win over W. C. U.
With Guilford's fine tourney win only
Presbyterian, Pfeiffer and Newberry have
yet to win tournament championships.
Lenoir-Rhyne has won the most titles with
6, while Appalachian and High Point are
next with 5 each - - - Previous to this
year's tourney, the number one seed
(Regular season champ) has been able to
win the tourney title only seven times in
twenty-four attempts. Guilford made it
eight in twenty-five.
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