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Forty Years Ago Today

1/21/03
by John C. Thomas

Monday, January 21, 1963 vs. Ohio at Athens, OH

From Kent, the Ramblers boarded a bus for the 190-mile trip to tiny Athens, Ohio. After clobbering Kent State two nights before and rolling into the tiny college town, Loyola might not have been prepared for the surprise that was waiting for them. The Ohio University Bobcats tried to beat the Ramblers at their own game behind a packed house.

From the opening tip, the Bobcats used a full-court press to befuddle the Ramblers. Loyola had played this way all year, but the strategy was a new one for Ohio. Loyola clung to a hard-fought 39-36 lead at halftime, but Ohio caught the Ramblers with 13 minutes left to go in the game, 52-52.

Instead of pulling together and manufacturing one of their patented scoring runs, Loyola turned the ball over three consecutive times in the next minute. Fortunately for the Ramblers, Ohio was unable to take advantage. Loyola finally settled down and got to business with 12 minutes left. Vic Rouse and Les Hunter made baskets on the next three possessions while Ohio's scoring drought continued.

But Ohio, buoyed by a capacity crowd fired up by a close game against the number two team in the country, would not go away. With Loyola up by only four points at 61-57, Rouse tipped in a missed shot from John Egan, and Ron Miller hit a bomb from 25 feet out to stretch the lead to out to 65-57. The Ramblers were able to stave off any more Ohio scoring runs in spite of having three players-Harkness, Rouse, and Hunter--with four fouls apiece at the final buzzer.

The final was 80-72, and Loyola won their 17th game without defeat. But it was not easy-in fact, it took a little luck. Ohio had 32 trips to the free throw line, but could only convert on half of them. The close game precluded Coach Ireland from substituting freely-- only Billy Smith and Earl Johnson saw time off the bench, and they could only muster two points between them. Even in their limited time on the court, Johnson picked up two personal fouls and Smith was called for three.

Aside from Ohio's missed free throws, the saving grace for the Ramblers was rebounding-Loyola etc. Jerry Harkness led Loyola with 20 points, Rouse had 17 and Egan had 16. Ohio's Stacy Bunton, a 6'9" center, led the Bobcats with 16 points and x rebounds.

The unheralded Bobcats had almost tripped up the Ramblers by using the home crowd and a full-court press. Meanwhile, the Loyola defense was compromised by foul trouble. A close call for the Ramblers, something they would think about on the complicated trip back to Chicago to prepare for one of the biggest games of the year.