The "subway Southerners" from Chapel Hill go home to New York City to take on the Elis as they begin their journey in the NCAA tournament.
Carolina Rallies To Defeat Yale In Cage Playoffs
Tar Heels Top Bulldogs 90-74
NEW YORK, March 12 (AP) --- North Carolina's Tar Heels down for nearly three quarters of the game, showed the stuff that made them the nation's No. 1 team this year by whipping Yale, 90-74 in a first round game of the NCAA tournament tonight. It was the 28th consecutive victory for North Carolina, the only unbeaten major college team this season.
Yale's red-headed Johnny Lee rivalled North Carolina's All-American Lennie Rosenbluth as the outstanding player to appear in tonight's three games at Madison Square Garden. It was Lee's sharp shooting that was the big factor in keeping Yale in front through most of the first half and getting the Elis back in contention after North Carolina had begun to move in the second half.
Syracuse and Canisius were the other winners in a triple header that drew the season's largest college basketball crowd, 16,589 into the Garden.
Syracuse rallied to beat Connecticut 82-76, and then Canisius outplayed lethargic West Virginia, the Southern Conference champion, 64-56.
Rosenbluth had the edge over Lee in their duel although he was benched for a while after committing his fourth personal foul. The tall Tar Heel scored 11 field goals and seven fouls for 29 points. In addition he did a superb rebounding job under both boards. Lee made 25 points before fouling out in the last minute.
North Carolina's "subway Southerners," whose entire starting lineup hails from the New York area, never lost their poise when they were threatened by an upset. They had to work hard to tie the score at 40-40 just at the end of the first half.
After Carolina did go ahead at the start of the second half, the scrappy Elis rallied to regain the lead three times. Bob Cunningham finally sent Carolina ahead for keeps in the ninth minute of the second half. Yale's aggressive defense proved costly in the long run as four of the five started fouled out in the closing minutes.
A three-point play by Lee halfway through the final half marked Yale's final threat. Carolina, bearing down harder, spurted into a 10 point lead, then increased its margin further after Rosenbluth returned to the game.
North Carolina now plays Canisius in the Eastern Regional tournament at Philadelphia Friday, while Syracuse meets Lafayette, which drew a first round bye.
How It Happened
YALE G F P T
Lee, f.........8 9-9 5 25
Downs, f.......5 3-6 5 13
Baird, f.......0 0-0 3 0
Rodman, f......1 0-0 0 2
Robinson, f....7 6-9 5 20
Bab, c.........0 0-0 1 0
Sargent, g.....2 2-2 5 6
Thompson, g....3 0-0 3 6
Molumphu, g....1 0-1 1 2
Totals 27 20-27 28 74
NORTH CAROLINA G F P T
Rosenbluth, f..11 7-12 4 29
Brennan, f.....6 8-12 3 20
Young, f.......0 0-0 3 0
Quigg, c.......5 3-4 2 13
Cunningham, g..4 4-4 3 12
Kearns, g......5 6-9 3 16
Totals 31 28-41 18 90
Yale..............40 31---74
North Carolina....40 50---90
[From Wilmington Morning Star, March 13, 1957]
McGuire Using Same Formula
By SHELDON SAKOWITZ
NEW YORK (AP) --- Coach Frank McGuire of North Carolina hopes his formula for success works as well in the NCAA basketball tournament as it did for him and his undefeated Tar Heels during the regular season.
The smiling Irishman from New York City plans to play each game in the NCAA "one at at time" after his team turned back Yale 90-74 in an Eastern regional first round game last night.
McGuire's victory formula worked to perfection during the regular campaign as the Tar Heels, voted the nation's No. 1 team in the final Associated Press poll, posted 27 consecutive triumphs. All-American Lennie Rosenbluth and company capped the season by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the NCAA tournament berth that goes with it.
Last night McGuire's "transplanted" New Yorkers extended their winning streak to 28, but the soft-spoken coach hopes that the Tar Heels "are looser in Philadelphia against Canisius Friday that they were against Yale."
McGuire said that the boys, most of whom come from the New York City area, were trying too hard before their friends and relatives. "Playing in New York is worse for us than playing in a strange city," said McGuire.
"The team was jittery and tight in the first half. We played poorly in the first 20 minutes, but of it had to do with Yale's pressing tactics."
North Carolina was behind most of the first half, but gained a 40-all deadlock at intermission. The game was tied six times in the second half before the Tar Heels pulled away for good with 11 minutes to go.
McGuire, watching Canisius outclass West Virginia and All-American Hot Rod Hundley, was impressed by the Golden Griffins from Buffalo. "They're a smart ball club," he said. "They like to hold the ball until the other team makes a mistake."
Rosenbluth, who was bottled up by NYU's box zone defense earlier in the season at the Garden, experienced a bit of trouble with the Elis' collapsing zone. Harried by two defenders most of the time, the 6-5 agile forward still managed to collect 29 points and 17 rebounds.
Johnny Lee kept Yale in contention with 25 points and Eddie Robinson added 20. Four of the starting Bulldogs fouled out.
"Before the game we knew nothing about Yale," Rosenbluth said. "No one ever saw them play. A few of us had seen Lee play in high school."
Lee, a 6-3 redhead with a variety of shots, played high school ball in Brooklyn. McGuire seemingly had the lithe junior all wrapped up for North Carolina, only to have Lee enroll at Yale.
Rosenbluth admitted that he often is hindered when two men guard him. "It's not so much the front man that bothers me," he explained, "but it's the player who comes up behind me on my blind side to knock the ball away that gives me trouble."
Of Canisius, Rosenbluth said: "They really run on a fast break, and I like the way they hustle. They'll be tough for us to beat."
The Yale-North Carolina game was touch and go during the first half. The game was tied three times in the first six minutes, but three minutes later Rosenbluth's tap-in put the Heels in front 15-14 for the last time in the half.
[From The Wilmington News, March 13, 1957]
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