Evening star., 1950-03-19
Brilliant Rally
lin Second Half
|C|inches Crown
St. Johns Beots Dukes
In 69-67 Overtime
Consolation Game
BY the Associated Pres,

A' ASAA, 0oeaA' 4O.- 1l0
sizzling sophomores from CCNY
staged a brilliant second half
comeback tonight to defeat
favored Bradley and capture the
18th National Invitational Basket
ball Tournament, 1851.
st. Johns of Brooklyn nosed
out Duquesne. 69-67, in an over
time consolation game preceding
the title playof. The two tied
at 62-all in regulation time. Bob
ZaWoluk, 6-foot-6 center, hooked
in one-hand shot with five
seconds to go to give st. Johns
the victory.
CCNY, like San Francisco last
year and West Virginia and Utah
before that, wrote a Cinderella fin
ish to the Madison Square Garden
event that first was staged in
1888.
First NIT Title for CCNY.
1t was the first NIT champion
ship for the CCNY Beavers, and
the fifth failure for Bradley-rated
the Nations No. team this sea-
son-to come through in this
event.
Jittery and outplayed in the first
half. Nat Holmans inspired Bea-
vers came back with a rush to add
the top-seeded Braves of Peoria,
Ill, to their impressive list of
tournament scalps.
Irwin Dambrot spanked the un-
seeded dark horses" who weren't
given chance against the STAR
studded field that began firing ex-
actly a week ago.
Only senior in the starting line
up, Dambrot tossed in % points,
breaking Bradley's heart with an
uncanny push shot from the key
hole area.
Roman Scores 10 Points.
Ed Roman, the six-foot-six, 225-
pound center, dumped in 10 points
before he was elected from the
game on personal fouls two min
utes before the final whistle.
CCNY, with no national rank
ing, left a staggering list of VIC
TINS in its march to its first invi-
rational triumph in four tries.
Holman. the dapper one-time
Celtic who guides City Colleges
destinies, coached the team from
the bench tonight despite an ILL
ness that had confined him to bed
for two days.
| He ran temperature of 102
this morning and made arrange
ments to coach his team by long
distance from home-using tele-
vision and telephone direct to the
bench where Assistant Coach Bob
Sand was to be the receiving end.
But just an hour before game
time, he persuaded his doctor to
let him attend.
Warner Most Valuable.
Forward Ed Warner, the 6-21a
CCNY sophomore sensation, was
named the most valuable player
in the tournament. He led the
scorers with four-game total
of 81 points in CCNY's four VIC
tories and played a tremendous
| floor game.
Bradley, playing in it's fifth in
vitation without a title, looked
every inch a champion as it moved
ahead, 29-18, in the first half and
managed to hold 30-27 advan-
tage at intermission.
But its confidence fell when
city's Beavers started clicking and
moved to the front, 1898 after
seven minutes of the last half.
The Braves hopes were further
speared when their gallant little
floor man, Gene Melchiorre, went
out on personal fouls with nine
minutes and 20 seconds left to
play in the game.
Bradley Coach Forrest Ander-
son wasn't able to use his talent
at full strength, Melchiorre, Bill
Mann and All-America Paul I'm
ruh sitting out costly periods on
the bench.
A crowd of $4,000 saw the wind
up of the thirteenth NIT event.
The ST. John s-Duquesne consola-
ton game was the close>t finish
of the tournament. st. Johns
held a 36-35 advantage at half
time. The clubs were never far
apart from start to finish.
Crowd Roars to Feet.
The count was knotted at 65-65
and 67-67 before Zawoluk took a
pass from Jack Mcmahon and
rolled under the basket for the
overtime clincher.
The crowd, which sat COM
placently through most of the
game despite some of the niftiest
shooting of the entire tournament,
was brought roaring to it's feet by
the climactic finish.