Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-17
1erps 10 Draw
Weak Clemson
In First Round
Tough Blue Devils
And N. c. Stote in
Opposite Bracket
BY MerreII WhittIesey

tIc41lcly Unlikely 1OT Tic power
full club that beat Maryland. g.
81. last night-here are the first
round pairings for the Atlantic
Coast Conference tournament
March 4 in Raleigh.
The current conference records
are in brackets.
Duke GID VS.. Virginia u-D.
Maryland C-2) VS.. Clemson
(0-8).
Wake Forest (7-3) VS.. South
Carolina (2-6).
North Carolina State (3-3 VS..
North Carolina go.
If f1rst-round games run true
to form. 1t will be Duke VS.. North
Carolina State in one semifinal
and Maryland VS.. Wake Forest in
the other. That's the program
that conference coaches said last
night would sell out Reynolds
Coliseum long before game time
March S. Last nights game
found several hundred making
the trip in vain. The doors were
closed 10 minutes before game
time.
Tournament pairings are auto
matte in that the f1rst-place team
meets the No. 8 team and the
others are paired AT. 3-6 and
As. Virginia automatically is
eighth because it played c. ly five
conference games.
Duke Can Lose One.
Duke can lose one of its last
three games and still finish on
top With Maryland and Vir-
ginia having concluded their
conference schedules. Clemson
with one game to play and Wake
Forest, North Carolina State,
South Carolina and North Caro-
lima with only two each. all posi-
tions appear to be settled.
Maryland actually received a
break by losing to Duke. The
Terps draw Clemson. the weak
est team in the conference, for
f1rst-round opponent, and
both Duke and North Carolina
State are in the opposite bracket.
The regular-season race de-
termines only the positions in
the tournament. The tourna-
ment winner is the conference
champion and will meet the
Southern Conference champion
in the first round of the NCAA
playoffs March 8.
Shue Reinjures Ankle.
There was some anxiety at
College Park today over the in
jury to Gene Shue's ankle. Shue
turned the same ankle he
twisted last month in the George
Washington game. It was in the
final minute of play when Duke
had the game locked up, and
Coach Bud Millikan quickly sent
in a sub.
Shue plays with the ankle
tapped. He appeared to be favor
ing it slightly when walking
away from Richie Coliseum
after the game.
The last few miutes of the
Duke Maryland game were anti
climactic. For about 35 minutes
this one would have drawn
cheers from the basketball
critics. It was basket-for-basket
almost all the way and seldom
has a score been tied or q lead
changed hands so many times.
The only dull moments were the
result Of the usual excessive
whistle footing by the officials.
Terps Show Strain.
But after Maryland took a
$3.50 lead on a pair of foul
shots. the Terps' regulars seemed
to feel the pace Of the last four
days. The overtime Navy game
OF last Saturday and the Wake
Forest game of Monday night
caught up.
The Terps stopped driving and
let up defensively. and Duke took
advantage of the letdown. The
Blue DEVILS outscored the Terps
1876 in the last few minutes
to win going away.
Duke appeared to be the best
team to play in the WASHINGTON
area this year. Certainly the
Blue Devils have more bench
strength through eight good men
and more overall height. Coach
Hal Bradley kept rotating men
without losing efficiency.
D'Emilio, Belmont Stand Out.
In Rudy D'Emilio and Joe
Belmont. two fellows under 6
feet. the Blue Devils had two of
the smarteSt players to appear
here Belmont. a sophomore. is
a magnificent dribbler and he
also came up with 10 points. He
and D'Emilio alternated in
watching Shue.
Shue accounted for Is points.
although it was not one of his
top nights. Bob Kessler was hit
ting on his early layups, but Bob
Everett didn't score until too
late and Tom Young had a hor-
rible night in shooting and in
throwing the ball away. Mary
land made more mistakes than
in any game lately. but you have
to give an alert Duke defense
credit for forcing the errors.
The ,Terps now are 20-5 for
the season and Duke IT'S.
nukei CT Pts; MARYLAND. G.F.Pts
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