The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, March 27, 1979-Page 11
Spartans reign supreme!
Indiana State falls,
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -
Michigan State threw a net
around Larry Bird with a
brilliant zone defense and Ear-
vin Johnson scored 24 points as
the Spartans defeated the In-
diana State Sycamores 75-61
last night to win the NCAA
basketball championship.
The loss ended a Cinderella
season for the Sycamores, who
had stormed out of nowhere to
the top of The Associated Press
poll and had won 33 straight
games before the final.
BIRD, WHO had been killing just
about everyone this season with a 29.0
scoring average, had to work hard for
his 19 points against the Spartans' two-
three zone, which sagged on the senior
superstar every time he went to the
basket.
The Sycamores never led after the
opening minutes and trailed by as
many as 16 points several times early in
the second half. But they made it in-
teresting with a late 12-2 flurry behind
Bird that chopped Michigan State's ad-
vantage to 52-46 with 10 minutes left in
the game.
Johnson then spearheaded a rally
that put the Spartans in command and
quieted the usually raucous Indiana
State fans in the noisy crowd of 15,410.
JOHNSON SCORED seven points in a
8-4 burst that moved the Big Ten Con-
ference power's lead to 61-50 with 5:06
left in the game.
The Sycamores never came within
striking distance of the Spartans after
that.
Greg Kelser, who scored 19 points for
the Spartans, put the cap on the game
with an enormous slam dunk at the end
and the Michigan State cheerleaders
and some supporters rushed to hug
their heroes.
While the Michigan State players
danced joyously around the court, Bird
sat disconsolately on the bench with his
head buried in a towel, his great college
career ended.
Bird had a rough beginning in the
championship match. Guarded mostly
by Johnson in Michigan State's tight
zone, Bird was forced to take several
off-balance jumpers and had difficulty
moving under the basket. Nevertheless,
he had 11 points at halftime.
Entering the second half, Michigan
State's two big guns, Johnson and Greg
Kelser, who had nine points, were sad-
dled with three personal fouls each.
Johnson went out of the game with his
third -foul with 4:-25 remaining and the
Spartans holding a 34-23 lead. Kelser
picked up his third foul with 14 seconds
remaining and Bird went to the line to
sink a free throw for the final point of
the half.
THE SYCAMORES got as close as
four in the first half, 23-19, when Carl
Nicks hit a baseline jumper. Michigan
State's advantage quickly jumped
when Johnson hit a free throw and Jay
Vincent drove in for a layup, making it
26-19.
Led by Bird, everyone's Player of the
Year, the top-ranked Sycamores
already had established an NCAA
record for perfection in a season with
their 30-0 record..
Only seven other teams in the history
of the NCAA's Division I had finished
with perfect records-San Francisco.
75-64
North Carolina, Indiana and UCLA four
times.
THOUGH UNDEFEATED and
ranked No. 1 in the country, Indiana
State had not had an easy time reaching
the finals. The Sycamores were hard-
pressed in their last two games, scoring
a pair of heart-stopping, two-point
decisions over Arkansas in the Mid-
west Regional finals and over pePaul
in the national semifinals.
The Spartans, meanwhile, breezed
into the national championship game
by posting runaway victories in the
Mideast playoffs and a 34-point triumph
over Penn in Saturday's semifinals. Af-
ter an awkward start, the Big Ten tri-
champions reversed their field and
carved out a 25-6 record while rolling
into the finals.
DEPAUL TAKES THIRD:
Demons
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Fresh-
man Mark Aguirre scored 34 points, in-
cluding eight in overtime, as DePaul
turned back fired-up Penn 96-93 in the
third-place game of the NCAA basket-
ball playoffs last night.
Leading by 46-23 with about four
minutes leftin thetfirst half, the Blue
Demons seemed to have the game
locked up. But Penn came back to make
a game of it behind Tony Price, who
scored 31 points.
PRICE TALLIED six points in the
last three minutes of the first half,
helping Penn chop the deficit to 54-43 at
intermission. Then, Price and Tim,
Smith, who scored 16 points, triggered a
second-half rally that finally enabled
the Quakers to tie the Blue Demons at
83 with 1:08 left in regulation. It was a
basket by Price that evened the score.
DePaul Coach Ray Meyer said his
team did not feel like playing in the
NCAA consolation game, played poorly
but was happy enough with its 96-93
overtime victory against Penn Monday
night.
"We just didn't feel like playing for,
third place," Meyer said. "We
struggled through it.. we're a winner
and we're happy to go home on a win-
ning note."
Senior guard Gary Garland said
Meyer told his players to get the ball to
Aguirre, who would then either pass off
or take the shot.
"HE'S ALWAYS our man in the clut-
ch," Garland said.
Meyer, said he was unhappy with his
team's performance. "We made so
many mistakes at the end of the first
half, we let them back in the ball
game," he said.
But then Aguirre hit two free throws,
giving the Blue Demons an 85-83 lead
with one minute to go. A jump shot from
the key by James Salters with 11 secon-
ds remaining sent the game into over-
time tied at 85.
THE EXTRA period belonged almost
exclusively to Aguirre as the stocky
forward scored eight of his team's 11
points.
Quakers
The Blue Demons sewed up their 26th
victory in 32 games when Aguirre
scored six straight points for a 94-89
lead with 26 seconds left in overtime.
Aguirre's last point turned out to be
DePaul's 94th and winning point.
Gary Garland added 22 points for
DePaul, while Curtis Watkins had 18
before fouling out in the secondhhalf.
Bobby Willis had 14 points for Penn.
It was the highest finish for DePaul
and 65-year-old Coach Meyer in this
tournament. Penn never had appeared
in the Final Four prior to this year.
BOTH TEAMS were plagued by foul
trouble, with Penn losing four players
on five personals each and DePaul
losing two.
Penn Coach Bob Weinhauer said his
team entered the game just wanting to
play well. "We just talked about giving
effort," Weinhauer said. "I was not
concerned about whether we would win
or lose."
Meyer said DePaul's 23-point lead in
the first half "came too easy and we
lost concentration. What changed the
whole complexion of the game around
was when Curtis Watkins got his fourth
foul."
Watkins, who fouled out with 7:24 left
in regulation, had 10 rebounds when he
was tagged with' his fourth foul and
Meyer said that was when the Quakers
started their big comeback.
AP Photo
MICHIGAN STATE'S Magic Man Earvin Johnson takes it to the hoop as he did
many times in last night's Spartan victory. Johnson overcame three first-half
fouls to lead the men in green-as he has all season-to the school's first NCAA
basketball championship.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Run As A CANDIDATE
in Rackham Student
Government elections
on April 2, 3, & 4
Pres /Vice Pres
Representatives seats in all five divisions
are open for election
Filing date is Thurs., March 28, 5 pm
Applications now available at 2006 Rackham
Michigan places tenth;
Chelich wins diving title
By MARK FISCHER
The University df California took the official and overall team honors in
NCAA national swimming and diving championships in Cleveland was the
University of California. The speedsters from Berkeley, led by record-setting
races from Swede Par Avidsson and Canadian Graham Smith, outswam
their nearest competitor, USC, 287 to 227. Florida and Tennessee came in a
close third and fourth, with point totals of 224 and 221, respectively.
But the real individual winner, from a Michigan standpoint at least, was
none other than Blue diver Matt Chelich.
Chelich, the lone senior on the Michigan squad, captured the national
championship in the high board competition, as well as coming in second in
the low board event.
Chelich's performance was outstanding, as indeed it had to be, for he
was competing against the best, including the University of Miami at
Florida's Greg Louganis, a 1976 Olympic silver medalist.
"To beat Louganis you have to be really tough," said Dick Kimball,.
Michigan's diving coach. "Everything in the papers down there was how
Louganis was going to win . . He's a great diver, and for Matt to get ahead of
this kid was just a phenomenal job."
Chelich went into the meet with a well-measured level of confidence-by
no means cocky, by no means intimidated by his competition. "I went in with
the attitude that we were all equal at the start," said the diver. "Everybody
was good, everybody had a chance to take it-it was just a matter of who
would land right, on his head, each time."
From the high board, Chelich did just that. In describing the diver's per-
formance, Kimball said "He was super from both the one- and three-meter
boards. In the one-meter he was in the contest all the way. He missed his last
dive a little bit and dropped to second. But in the three-meter he pulled the
upset of the meet. He didn't miss a dive from that height."
Although Michigan did not place quite as high in the final standings as
Chelich did in his individual events, the team generated a very formidable
effort, coming in tenth place overall.
"We didn't make any plans as to where we would finish-you can't an-
ticipate that sort of thing in a meet like this," said Wolverine swim coach
Gus Stager, who is retiring after this, his 25th year. "But I was pleased it was
a good meet and we swam very well."
In addition to Chelich, several other Blue swimmers finished highly, in-
cluding Fernando Canales. who took fifth and ninth in the 200 and 100
freestyles, respectively, and the 400 yard relay team, which took seventh in
that event.
But, as coach Stager said, ''The story revolves around Matt. Hell, it's not
every day you go out and beat an Olympic champion."
Chelich himself has qualified for the 1980 Olympic trials. When asked
how the diver's Olympic chances were, Kimball responded, "We'll have to
find out in the AAU's. He's much better off now than he was a week ago, but
he's still got a lot of competition (to beat) to make the team."
Reflecting on the Games himself, Chelich remarked, "It's something
I've worked for for a long time, it's a major goal-but it's not my whole life.
Yes, I'm going to try out, but if I don't make it, I won't be totally crushed."
In summarizing his Michigan career, Chelich emphasized this, his last
season.
"I think this was my best personal season. This year's team was cer-
tainly the best we've had out of the four years I've been here, and probably
one of the best Michigan's ever had."
In addition to the squad's exceptional talent, Chelich noted that "the
team spirit was the best I've seen ... even the coach's attitude was different
this year."
Along the same lines, Coach Stager added: "It was a damn fine season.
Michigan's on the way back to greatness in swimming."
TONIGHT at
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you wish to take the test at the following number:
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