March 15

## 1920

**Syracuse Herald**- Pittsburgh Is To Play Locals Tuesday Night

Famous Lafayette Aggregation Will Oppose All-Syracuse Five

The famous Lafayettes of Pittsburgh, defeated only five times in five
years, come to Syracuse Tuesday eager to trim the All-Syracuse basketball five
on the court at the State Armory Tuesday night. The game is expected to be one
of the fastest seen on the local court this season. The team is considered one
of the best semi-professional quintets in the country. The Lafayettes organized
in 1914 and have played 291 games of which they have won all except five. They
have compiled 11,527 points, while their opponents made only 1,292. On Thursday
night the local team will meet the Syracuse University five on the Archbold gym
floor and on Saturday night the Beechnut five plays here.

## 1947

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Nats Rushed For Tickets Wednesday

The management of the Syracuse Nationals basketball team, which was besieged with playoff ticket requests yesterday, announced that the complete set of dates for the Rochester series had been completed with the opening game in Rochester Tuesday. Following Tuesday’s encounter in Rochester the clubs will return here for a Wednesday night game with the third of the series being played in Rochester Saturday, March 22. If fourth and fifth games are necessary Syracuse will be the host on March 24 for the fourth with final play in Rochester march 25. Despite the fact that no dates had been definitely arranged yesterday the Syracuse club office did its biggest business of the season disposing of nearly 2,000 tickets for the first game here which promises to be an advance sellout. The teams met four times during the year with the Royals winning all four games, never by more than nine points. Rochester took the first game, 41 to 35, and then repeated by scores of 66-53, 63-54 and 60-54. Syracuse will play an exhibition game against the Cape Vincent Legion quint at Lake Vincent tonight in its last test prior to post season play. In the absence of Emil Barboni, who has been directing play from the bench of late, Louis Bucci, once the pride of North High School on the court, will supervise strategy.

## 1955

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Nats Battling Jinx

Never Won Playoffs

When the Nationals start basketball playoffs they will be battling a jinx which has prevented Syracuse pro teams from winning the post-season crown. The Nats have been in late season extra play each season since joining the National Basketball Association in the 1949-1950 campaign. Twice clubs have gone to the finals before bowing, but have never won the playoffs. In ’49-’50 the Nats lost in the finals to Minneapolis, 4-2, and last year bowed to the Lakers, 4-3. Al Cervi as coach here finished below the .500 mark only once. In the 1950-51 campaign his team won 32 and lost 34 games while finishing fourth in the Eastern Division. His squads compiled a .623 average, winning 295 and dropping 179 in regular season games. In playoffs, his clubs show a record of 20 triumphs and 18 defeats. Here’s the Nats’ order of finish in six seasons.

* 1949-50: Finish 1. Record 51-13. Beat Philadelphia 2-0. Defeated New York 2-1. Lost to Minneapolis 4-2.

* 1950-51: Finish 4. Record 32-34. Defeated Philadelphia 2-0. Lost to New York 3-2.

* 1951-52: Finish 1. Record 40-26. Beat Philadelphia 2-1. Lost to New York 3-1.

* 1952-53: Finish 2. Record 47-24. Lost to Boston 2-0.

* 1953-54: Finish 2. Record 42-30. Defeated Boston 2-0. Defeated New York 2-0. Lost to Minneapolis 4-3.

* 1954-55: Finish 1. Record 43-29.

## 1956

**Utica Daily Press**- Knicks Win, Nats Lose; Playoff Today

Teams Clash In Syracuse; Sharman Star

The New York Knickerbockers, 115-108 victors over the Philadelphia Warriors last night, and the Syracuse Nats, who lost a 122-103 decision to the Boston Celtics, will clash at three this afternoon in Syracuse for the third and past playoff berth in the Eastern Division of the NBA. Jim Tucker's two-pointer sliced Celtic edge to 79-77 at Boston Garden and then the Rome forces caught fire. In an instant, the Bostonians led 86-77 as the third period ended and went on to outscore the Nats, 36-24, in the final 13 minutes. Bill Sharman led the Celtics with 25 points while the workhorse efforts of the reserve—Dickey Hemric with 16 and Togo Palazzi with 15—was a major factor. Dolph Schayes topped the losers with 23 points while George King got 21. The tireless Palazzi ignited a Boston rally in the second period with an 11-point effort. Togo, the league sophomore from Holy Cross, entered the game early in the quarter with Boston leading, 35-32. His second straight twisting jump shot put the Celts ahead 37-35 for the first time since 6-4 and in no time ran 11 straight points on the Nats. The home forces outscored the Nats, 33-25, in the period to gain a 57-53 halftime lead. The Knickerbockers' victory coupled with the Nats' loss to Boston tonight, left the teams with identical 35-37 records. Syracuse will be the home team in tomorrow's one-game playoff because it defeated New York in their regular season series, 8-4. The Knicks led all the way against the Warriors, but they got a scare in the last quarter when Philadelphia cut a 17-point deficit to 7 points with 8 minutes remaining. Sweetwater Clifton, however, then came through with three consecutive baskets to put New York comfortably ahead. Ken Sears put New York in front with a jump shot in the first 30 seconds of the game and from there the Knicks built up a 9-point halftime margin and upped it to 86-68 late in the third quarter. Jack George scored 4 points to become the fourth Warrior to reach the 1,000 mark. The others are Paul Arizin, Neil Johnston and Joe Graboski. Rob Peterson of the Knicks suffered a potential injury to his right ankle in the second period and was taken to the hospital for X-rays. A crowd of 4,125 watched the game in Madison Square Garden and then roared like 40,000 when the Syracuse setback was announced midway ion the fourth quarter.

SYRACUSE: Schayes (9-7-25), Conlin (6-2-14), Tucker (2-1-5), Lloyd (1-0-2), Kerr (2-0-4), Rocha (1-2-4), Seymour (6-3-15), King (9-3-21), Farley (2-3-7), Kenville (3-0-6) TOTALS (41-21-103). BOSTON: Macauley (3-4-10), Nichols (3-5-11), Hemric (3-10-16), Palazzi (6-3-15), Risen (7-1-15), Loscutoff (2-0-4), Morrison (2-0-4), Cousy (2-4-8), Sharman (10-5-25), Barrett (7-0-14) TOTALS (45-32-122).