December 19

## 1946

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Fort Wayne Basketeers Face Nats At Armory Tonight

Borgmann’s Boys At Best For Combat; Syracusans Hope To Beat Zollners

The Fort Wayne Zollners, last year’s worlds professional championship basketball team, and current occupants of second place in the National League standing makes its first of two appearances in Syracuse tonight in the last loop home game of the Syracuse team until Jan. 9. Leading the Zollners invasion tonight is Bob McDermott, player coach of the team during its reign at the top of the National League. He has led the team to three successive world’s championship in addition to copping the National League pennant for four years running. Aiding McDermott on the squad of the invaders are five other stars from last season, two ex-servicemen and two newcomers to the loop. Holdovers other than the playing coach are Jerry Bush, John Pelkington, Charley Shipp, Chick Reiser and Bob Kinney, Carlyle Towery and Paul Armstrong are the returning veterans and Bob Tough and Milo Kimonich make up the balance of the team. Syracuse has won two of its last three starts, beating the Washington Bears in an exhibition game and then downing Detroit in a loop contest followed by an exhibition loss to Buffalo. Tonight the Nats will be at top strength with Chick Meehan, Bill McCahan and George Nelmark recovered completely from injuries which had handicapped their play. Mike Novak will work in the pivot spot and may play in a combination with John Gee, though it is more likely that the two may spell each other at various intervals during the night. The contest with Fort Wayne is considered as the key to the Syracuse plan for the balance of the season. A win over the Zollners would prove that the Syracuse team under its present makeup would be capable of earning a playoff spot by the end of the season. The first four teams in each section of the loop will qualify for the playoffs. Syracuse now occupies fifth spot with a record of four wins and 11 defeats while Buffalo in fourth place has won four and dropped seven.

## 1954

**Binghamton Press**- Century-Minded Celts Tip Warriors, 107-103; Nats Lose To Lakers

The Syracuse Nats, leaders in the Eastern Division of the National Basketball Association, took an 86-83 beating at Minneapolis last night but lost no ground to second-place Philadelphia as the Warriors bowed to hundred-happy Boston, 107-103 in Boston Garden. In other games the New York Knicks feasted on the Milwaukee Hawks, 91-85, in an afternoon game; and George Yardley curled in a pair of foul shots with 19 seconds remaining to give league-leading Fort Wayne an 87-86 victory at Rochester. Clyde Lovellette, who missed the last Laker game because of a broken toe, led the Lakers to their third straight over Syracuse with 26. Minneapolis led by as much as 21 points but Paul Seymour, who scored 21, and Billy Kenville brought the Nats back into contention in the last quarter. bob Cousy was Boston's big gun in its sixteenth trip into triple figures this winter. He had 23 points, plus 14 assists, as Philadelphia lost a game it had in its grasp until the closing minutes of the third quarter. Rookie Frank Selvy led the scoring at Milwaukee with 23 but the Hawks fell out of contention after nine ties. Yardley not only switched the final score at Rochester but he also came down with the rebound of Royals rookie Tom Marshall's push shot in the closing seconds.

**Syracuse Herald American**- Minneapolis Defeats Syracuse By 86 To 83

Clubs Play At Memorial Tonight

The Minneapolis Lakers welcomed the return to action of Clyde Lovellette as they trounced the Syracuse Nationals 86-83 here last night. The final margin was not indicative of the Lakers easy decision. The victory was the third in a row for the Lakers over the Nats this season, and it reduced the Nats Eastern Division lead over New York to one-half game. Philadelphia and Boston are only one game behind the Syracusans. The same clubs play in Syracuse tonight. All clubs are in action again tonight and a victory over the Lakers is mandatory for the Nats to retain their division leadership. Boston plays at New York and a victory for either, combined with a Nat loss, would drive the Syracusans out of the loop lead. The issue was never in doubt last night, even though Jim Pollard remained on the Laker bench. Syracuse rallied briefly in the fourth period, but to no avail. The Lakers stepped out in front 29-18 during the first period and increased the margin to 49-31 at halftime. Syracuse picked up one point in a low scoring third session, but then dropped behind 21 points at 73-52. When Syracuse staged its minor uprising to close within nine points at 73-64, Mr. Lovellette again went into the pivot and drew a pair of fouls, which he converted for his 21st and 25th points and the Lakers were again in command. Lovellette missed the last Laker game with a swollen toe. The Nats again fought back to reduce the margin to 83-78, then Lovellette tallied again and with nine seconds to play Syracuse trailed only 86-83. The Minneapolis Lakers welcomed the return to action of Clyde Lovellette as they trounced the Syracuse Nationals 86-83 here last night. The final margin was not indicative of the Lakers easy decision. The victory was the third in a row for the Lakers over the Nats this season, and it reduced the Nats Eastern Division lead over New York to one-half game. Philadelphia and Boston are only one game behind the Syracusans. The same clubs play in Syracuse tonight. All clubs are in action again tonight and a victory over the Lakers is mandatory for the Nats to retain their division leadership. Boston plays at New York and a victory for either, combined with a Nat loss, would drive the Syracusans out of the loop lead. The issue was never in doubt last night, even though Jim Pollard remained on the Laker bench. Syracuse rallied briefly in the fourth period, but to no avail. The Lakers stepped out in front 29-18 during the first period and increased the margin to 49-31 at halftime. Syracuse picked up one point in a low scoring third session, but then dropped behind 21 points at 73-52. When Syracuse staged its minor uprising to close within nine points at 73-64, Mr. Lovellette again went into the pivot and drew a pair of fouls, which he converted for his 21st and 25th points and the Lakers were again in command. Lovellette missed the last Laker game with a swollen toe. The Nats again fought back to reduce the margin to 83-78, then Lovellette tallied again and with nine seconds to play Syracuse trailed only 86-83.

MINNEAPOLIS: Schnittker, lf (1-3-5), Mikkelsen, rf (3-3-9), Holstein, (4-0-8), Lovellette, c (9-8-26), Kalafat, (4-3-11), Skoog, lg (5-1-11), Martin, rg (2-6-10), Sunderlage (3-0-6) TOTALS (31-24-86). SYRACUSE: Schayes, lf (3-5-11), Lloyd, rf (2-4-8), Rocha (4-0-8), Farley (1-1-3), Kerr, c (3-2-8), Simmons (2-3-7), Seymour, lg (6-9-21), King (0-1-1), Kenville, rg (5-6-16) TOTALS (23-31-83).

From Highlighting Sports By Jack Slattery

Tonight, the Mikanless Minneapolis Lakers invade the War Memorial to play the Syracuse Nationals. The fact that the player labeled as the greatest player of the half century is not with the team refutes the theory offered by many National Basketball Association observers that Mikan would be back in harness before the season was this far along. Big George quit when he was on top. And he proved to be quite an astute fellow in so doing. The 24-second rule might have made George less of a player than he would have been under the old system. Mikan used to report somewhat heavy, this is in the tag end of his career, and then play himself into shape. By the time the halfway mark in the schedule was reached George would be rough and tough when the Lakers reached the playoffs, and they inevitably did, Mikan again would be the greatest man in basketball. Vern Mikkelsen, a young giant whom Mikan told me two seasons ago would become one of the N.B.A.’s great, and Clyde Lovellette have been flirting with a 20-point per game average all season and the Lakers have not missed Mikan as much as it was feared (or hoped) they would. Charley Eckman’s hustling Fort Wayne Zollners have kept the mighty men of Minneapolis in the second position most of the season and that has been due, in part, to the fact that Jim Pollard, another of professional basketball’s all–time greats, has been injured.

Kenville Starting To Hit Stride

And one of the big reasons why the Nats are high and mighty and able to battle the Lakers on even terms is the presence in the lineup of their salty sophomore Billy Kenville. Billy, a member of the N.B.A.’s 1953 all-rookie team, is this year one of the outstanding sophomore players in the league. The former St. Bonaventure University star, off to a slow start, is hitting his stride and now is averaging 7.1 points per game. Last year in the 72-game regular season Billy scored 434 points. in the 13 playoff games he scored 116 for an average of 8.9 per game. His average from the field was 48.6 in that crucial series. Bill has come along fast of late. On Dec. 9 against the Boston Celtics he hit for 20 points for the first time in his professional career. He scored 20 points with eight for 16 from the field and eight for eight from the free throw line. In New York he followed it up with an 18-point effort to enable the Nats to sink the Knickerbockers. Outstanding sophomores in the league this year are Ray Felix, Don Henriksen, Lovellette, Walt Davis, Jack George, Bob Houbregs, Dick Schnittker, Don Sunderlage and George Yardley. However, among the small men Kenville’s performance sticks out. His 134 points in 18 games is dwarfed by Lovellette’s 272 in 16 games. But the total minutes played, Clyde as a full-time regular center, and Billy as a spot player, actually puts Lovellette in one more game than Kenville.

Sticks Out As Rebounder

Sunderlage has but 76 points on the season and George 106, while Murray grabbed a lot of points while playing with the Baltimore Bullets, and has a 9.6 average for 19 games. Where Kenville stands ahead of the other smallish sophomores is in the rebounding department. Billy trails only teammate Paul Seymour, sometimes called the tallest 6-2 in the league, in the art of grabbing rebounds. Seymour has 111 rebounds playing 300 minutes more than Kenville while Billy has 99. Other men, not classed as “big men,” are far off Kenville’s pace. Last year, Bill was voted along with Felix, Lovellette, George and Sunderlage on the rookie team. It’s a sure bet, if a sophomore club were selected, Kenville’s name would be high on the list.