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Forty Years Ago Today
12/31/02
by John C. ThomasMonday, January 31, 1962 vs. Dayton at Chicago Stadium
After playing three games in three nights in Oklahoma City and winning the All-College Tournament, the Ramblers had to be back in Chicago Stadium in less than 48 hours to play Dayton on New Year's Eve. Dayton was a dangerous team. They were entering the game 5-3, but two of their losses had come against teams in the top 10. The Flyers were also the team that knocked Loyola out of the NIT the previous year, and the last team to beat Loyola in 11 games going back to the 1961-62 season.
The NIT rematch was part of a Chicago Stadium doubleheader. In the first game, Notre Dame handed the undefeated #4 Illini their first defeat of the year, 90-88, in front of 10,346 fans. The exhausted #3 Ramblers must have taken a deep breath before walking out onto the court to face the Flyers.
The two teams slogged through a tentative first half, with Loyola leading at the break 39-35. The leftover tensions from the NIT battle the year before began to show in the second half, however, as the game developed into a physical contest. Dayton's Jim Powers got a stray Loyola elbow on the forehead and had to be taken into the locker room for stitches, and some players had to be restrained from breaking out into a fistfight.
But Loyola pulled away from the Flyers in the second half, and prevailed 74-69, thanks largely to the Ramblers' accuracy at the free-throw line. Loyola hit 20 of 27 from the line while the Flyers connected on only 9 of 15. Loyola also won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding Dayton 51-44.
Jerry Harkness poured in 25 points to lead all scorers, and Vic Rouse added 21 points for Loyola. Les Hunter led all rebounders with 11 and tossed in 12 points of his own.
When the AP college basketball poll was released the next day, Cincinnati was in first place-- as the defending champs had been all season-- with all 33 first-place votes. But there in second place-for the first time in the history of the poll-was Loyola.