Evening star., 1954-12-29
Minnesota Bars Path
In n. c. State 5 Bid
For 5ih Dixie Title
BY the As.eeieied Pres.

Dr tHe NSsoSIUteu ttts4
Undefeated North Carolina
State, an old hand at winning
the Dixie Classic basketball
tournament. was back in the
finals again and favored to de-
feat Minnesota tonight for its
nth Classic crown in six years.
North Carolina State. ranked
second in the Nation in the cur
rent Associated Press poll. meets
the twice beaten Gophers at 9
pm. in the climax of the three
day tournament.
Two afternoon games and an
other night game also are on
tap. Cornell and West Virginia
meet for seventh-place honors,
and Southern California plays
Wake Forest for the consolation
crown this afternoon.
Duke, which won the 1883
Classic, meets North Carolina in
tonight's opener for third place.
Attendance Hits $4,000.
Attendance of $500 yester-
day brought the two-day figure
to 10000 Last years record
was 10000.
N. C. States preference for
high scores blew up yesterday
when the Wolfpack had to
scramble for 47-44 victory
over North Carolina. The Tar
Heels just didn't have the
bench to cope with the likes of
State, so they Stunned a run
ming game and went into a
freeze.
It almost paid off. N. c. State
had to overcome f1ve-point
deficit in the second half to
win. At one point in the first
half, Coach Frank Mcclure S
Tar Heels held the ball for three
minutes without trying a shot.
State Likes Gopher Style.
Minnesota moved into the
final with a style more to N. C.
States liking. defeating Duke,
1913. Wake Forest took a
96-94 thriller over West Vir-
ginia, and Southern California
defeated Cornell, 77-58.
In other tournament play last
night, Louisville (No. 13) won
the Kentucky Invitation by de-
feating Eastern Kentucky, 93-77.
Western Kentucky defeated Muir
ray, $3.50, for third place.
Three other tourn m n t S
wound up play: Detroit won its
own Motor City Classic. 82-57.
over Wayne (Mich). with Penn
State defeating Toledo, 71-53.
for third place; Spring Hill, a
little Catholic school in Mobile,
Ala, walked off with the Gator
Bowl crown by defeating Florida,
$500. while Florida State won
consolation hoAors from Georgia
97-87. Tennessee State topped
host Xavier in the New Orleans
Festival, 86-57.
Most Top Teams Idle.
| Most of the top-ranked teams
in this weeks Associated Press
| poll were idle, but here's what
happened to those who saw &C.
ton:
| George Washington tNo. 81 de-
feated Colgate. 92-77, in a first
round game in the Richmond
Invitational; Alabama tNo. 12)
followed its favorite role with ar
84-64 semifinal victory over Ar
kansas in the Southwest Confer
ence tournament. and Kansas
| mo. 16) was dumped by un-
ranked Iowa State, 1921, in first
round play of the Big Sever
tourney at Kansas City. ~ s4
Another tournament enters
the scene tonight as Notre
Dame, Holy Cross, Loyola OF
New Orleans and Bradley open
Sugar Bowl play.
And in Madison Square Gar
den, UCLA mo. 15) bumps into
La Sale tNo. 81 and Duquesne
(No. 81 plays unbeaten Dayton
mo. A. in the seinifinal round
of the Eastern College Athletic
Conference tournament after a
day off,
Alabama in Finals.
| The rest of the tournament
picture:
| Big Seven-Kansas State de-
feated California, 1915, ad-
vancing into a semiflnal game
tonight against Iowa State after
Missouri (No. I'D meets Okla
homa. California, Kansas, Col
orado and Nebraska play con-
ISOLATION games this afternoon.
Southwest - Alabama meets
Texas Christian. 72-57 winner
over Texas AIM, for the title,
| Southern Methodist, stopping
Texas, 77-63, plays Rice. a 67-
81 victor over Baylor. for con-
ISOLATION honorS.
| New England cat Storrs, Conn
-Middlebury, 71-68 winner over
! Amherst, VS.. Dartmouth, 87-65
! over Massachusetts,, and Con-
necticut. $3.50 over Harvard, VS..
Brown, 64-57 over Colby, in the
semiflnalS.