Evening star., 1952-04-01
'AAU Champions Sci
10 Try Their Luck
with LoveIIette
BY the Assoeioted Press

LaSalle'S gritty Explorers had no
formula for stopping big Clyde
Lovellette, the University Of Kan
sas Jayhawks will meet the Peoria
Caterpillars in the finals Of the
Olympic basketball trials tonight
at Madison Square Garden.
Lovellette, the nearest thing to
q scoring robot, accounted for 40
points last night as Kansas over
came determined LaSalle. 70-65,
in perhaps the most thrilling game
seen here this season.
In the opener, Peoria repeated
its AAU title victory over the Phil
lips Oilers by whipping the team
from Bartlesville, Okla, $3.50
with surprising ease.
Each Team Qualities Seven.
BY winning last night. Kansas
and Peoria each qualified seven
players for the Olympic team
which will journey to Helsinki this
summer.
Phog Allen. Kansas coach,
picked five seniors-Lovellette,
Bill Lienhard, Bob Kenney, John
Keller and Bill Hoagland-and
two juniors, Dean Kelley and
Charley Hoag.
Willard Womble, Peoria coach,
said he had recommended to the
Olympic Committee that i've of
his players and two from other
top AAU teams be selected.
This arrangement-similar to
one made prior to the 1948 Olym-
pics-was agreed to before the
|game-The Kansas coach was so
confident Of victory that he re-
jected the proposal that two
players on the losing team be
chosen for the Olympic trip.
tWomble did not indicate the
five he would choose but his top
men have been Ron Bontemps,
Frank McCabe, Marcus Frie-
berger, Dan Pippin. HOWE VIII.
Aauas and George Lafferty. Laf.
ferty, a former Coolidge High
star from Washington. D. c..
scored seven points last night.)
The chief thing to be decided
tonight-other than prestige
will be to determine who will be
head coach of the Olympic team,
Womble or Allen. And. knowing
these two competitors. that alone
is enough to make it a hard
fought battle.
Would Be Complete Victory.
If Kansas wins. it will be the
complete and absolute ruler of
amateur basketball. It would give
the Jayhawks, already NCAA
champs, victories over the AAU
champion, LaSalle, the NIT titlist,
and Springfield (Mo) State, the
NAIB victors.
The crowd of 11,179 saw a per-
formance by Lovellette none will
forget soon. Fans were compar-
ing the 6-foot-9 giant with
the likes of George Mikan and
Bob Kurland-and not many play
ers are compared with those two
Even the LaSalle rooters, 4,000
strong from Philadelphia, were
kept busy exclaiming at Lowell
lette's soft hook shots and clean
tap-ins from under the basket
At times, the Explorers. who
were forced to play without their
great rebounder. Jack Moore,
would double and even triple-team
tine All-America center from Terre
Haute, Ind. But almost every
time Lovellette got his hands on
the ball, it would either cut the
cords or dance around the rim
and teeter out.
In all, Clyde dropped in 1s
fed goals and four fouls. AS
some one remarked after the
game: TITS a good thing the guy
never gets mad, no telling how
many points he'd get"
LaSalle Starts Fast.
Even without Moore, Negro re-
bound star whose mother died yes
lterday. LaSalle got away fast
and had a 24-12 lead just before
the first quarter ended. It looked
as though the Explorers might
run the Jayhawks right back to
Lawrence. - -
But the older, more experienced
lKansans refused to get ratified
They continued to play their regu-
lar game-try to pass to Lowell
lette, or shoot from the outside
and by halftime had cut LaSalle's
margin to 40-35.
The third quarter was touch
and-go. with Kansas. slowly but
surely, drawing closer, closer
closer. Then. with a little more
than six minutes left, Lovellette
found the basket with a hook shot
and the Jayhawks had a 57-5t
edge.
/ It was during this stretch that
Loyellette scored Is straight points
for his team. to give them a
$3.50 lead. Despite a last-ditch
effort by the Explorers, Kansas
held on in the closing minutes tc
rack up their biggest win of the
season.
Tired Of Big Men.
Afterwards, Allen said, 'T'vt
never seen a team that was se
fatigued play with so much spirit
My boys just refused to give up.
Lovellette didn't think LaSall'
was the best team he's faced thil
season" Those boys from Kansas
State are tougher"
! Ken Loefder, LaSalle coach
said. I'm tired of big men. I
Moore had been in there we woule
have got more rebounds.
| Moore Is a 6-foot-5 blackboard
wizard. He stayed in Philadelphia
after his mothers death yester
day afternoon.
l Norm Grekin led the LaSall'
scorers with 20 points, mostly OF
twisting. driving one = handlers
; Fred Iehle had 10 and Tom Gols
Is for the losers.
The opener was a foul-fillet