All the Men - 1964

A FIN A L T R IU M PH U SD vs. CAL -W EST ERN

Liko t he Lord High Exec utio nerRettin g readyfor anot herpay ­ da y. f alifornia Wester n (which had won 17 strai ght on its hom e cour t) fixeda fresh vict imwit h a gloa ting lust for anothe r head.Bu t the sacrificial lamb which had ignomi niou sly howcd to the Weste rners in a previou s con testdidn't pay much att en tio n.Dis play ingthe coo l disc iplin e andmurderous effec tivenesstha t has, at time s, made US D a letha l weapon on the baske tball floor. Wil liam s,Ashford . a nd As­ soc iate s,simp ly kept their mind s on pro ving that , a sthe lianner s at th e temp er-ta utgame noted , "W e are the gre ate st!" Cat Western 's big chan ce cam e earl y in the game when US D re|ie ated ly failed to s<-oreon the free- throw line and la-late dly at ­ temp ts! to snare the relioun ds — but th e scoreclo ck at halft imc show ed them only one point ahe ad. 48- 4 7. Refus ing to cow- tow agai n. USD inim icall y |ierform ed like a corner ed con vict and in the see- saw stru ggle of baske tball hrillan cc am i huffonery the buzzer sound ed with the score looki ng like a pair of tired twins just out of the womb: 57- 57. At least on the |wr t of the fans, the fiv e minu te sudde n deat h ove rtim ewas too much to l>ear. Bu t a team which had, on severa l occ asio nsin t he past , lost its spun k in the clo sin gminu tes of a con­ tes t (see won, lost colum n)con tinued to spew a havo c andhell that ev en Dan te in his sublim e vision would hav e marve lled at . Final score: 64—59. It was a happy day for Tor ero fans.

A hand in the face mars Yavorsky' s pinpoi nt accu racy .