Horizon League Links
Butler
Detroit
Illinois-Chicago
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wright State
Youngstown State
Horizon Connection
Forty Years Ago Today
12/29/02
by John C. ThomasSaturday, December 29, 1962 vs. Wyoming at Oklahoma City
Wyoming had reached the championship game of the All-College Tournament by beating Paul Silas' Creighton team 80-74 and nipping the hometown entry, Oklahoma City University, 65-64. But the Cowboys had the benefit of playing their first-round game on Wednesday, followed by a day off on Thursday. Like Loyola, Wyoming was a team that liked to run and shoot. Led by speedy 6'1"sophomore guard and future NBA player Flynn Robinson, and anchored down low by 6'8" center Hal Eastland, the Cowboys were versatile and volatile enough to win playing any style of game. With the Ramblers not getting much help from their bench and playing their third game in three days, one of the big questions early in the contest would be how the Chicagoans' legs had held up.
In a four-day college basketball marathon, it might have been expected that the running and pressing Ramblers would be worn out playing their third game in three days. Wyoming looked sharp in the opening minutes, taking a quick 11-2 lead, and the underdog's support among the 4,000 fans. But the Ramblers soon found their shooting touch and tied the contest at 24 with 9:07 left in the first half. By halftime, Loyola strolled into the locker room with a 48-39 lead.
With Loyola ahead 70-55 at the 12:30 mark in the second half, the upstart Cowboys changed tactics. Robinson went on a tear for Wyoming, connecting on jumpers and driving the lane to lead the Cowboys on a 14-1 run that cut Loyola's lead to 71-69 with over seven minutes left to play. To make matters worse, Loyola floor leader John Egan had words with a Wyoming's Bob Hanson after a scramble for the ball, and the two nearly came to blows. Egan ignored the referee's warning to cool down, and was ejected from the game.
Instead of deflating the team's spirits, Egan's ejection seemed to give the Ramblers a spark. Les Hunter started a 6-0 Loyola run with a three-point play, and when Wyoming looked to put together a run of their own in response, Hunter drove the lane for a basket and then hit both ends of a one-and-one to put Loyola up by nine with two minutes left. The two teams traded baskets until the buzzer, and Loyola won, 93-82.
Hunter was a monster for the Ramblers, scoring a game-high 34 points-- with 25 of them coming in the second half-while also leading the game in rebounds with 14. Wyoming's Robinson gave the Ramblers a good run for their money with 24 points, and 6'8" Hal Eastland helped with 16 points and some good defense. But again, the other Ramblers supported Hunter's effort with fine performances-- Ron Miller scored 17, Vic Rouse had 16, and Jerry Harkness had 13.
Robinson, Wyoming's dynamic sophomore guard, won the tournament's most valuable player award for leading his team to two upsets to reach the final and pushing Loyola to the last few minutes in the championship game.
Another interesting part of the game was that Loyola played five black players for the last seven minutes of the game after Egan's ejection. Coach Ireland had two white guards available on the bench in Chuck Wood and Dan Connaughton, but he chose to go with Pablo Robertson in a close game. It was one of the few times all year that the Ramblers put an all-black team on the court.