Basketball's Week

EAST

1. ST. JOHN'S (14-2)
2. COLUMBIA (15-1)
3. VILLANOVA (15-2)

One of Columbia's strong points is that it is not built around one player. When Jim McMillian is having an off night, the Lions can count on Heyward Dotson or Roger Walaszek to take charge. It was Dotson who was on target against Brown, working his way under the basket for 26 points as the Lions won 79-46 and wiped out the memory of their narrow 54-52 victory against the Bruins three weeks earlier. Against Yale, it was McMillian who rose up, scoring seven points in three minutes to erase a 31-30 Eli lead and racing through Yale's zone for 28 points. Columbia won 69-48 and was tied for the Ivy League lead with Princeton, which beat Harvard 76-65 and Dartmouth 61-50. Sophomore Guard Dave Wohl had 39 points as Penn also won twice, downing Dartmouth 61-60 and Harvard 75-70. Cornell squared its league record at 3-3 with victories over Yale (65-64) and Brown (82-77). The Big Red win against Yale came when Dom Calderone swished a 47-foot shot as the game ended.

A smothering man-to-man defense helped St. John's, to defeat Temple 65-49. Villanova had no trouble beating Fairfield 66-45 but got a tussle from Toledo when it traveled to the Midwest. Howard Porter's 27 points were the difference in a 66-61 win.

Teams that visited Pennsylvania and New York had a frightful time. Duke lost to Temple 73-69, Evansville to St. Joseph's 95-84 and Navy lost overtime games to Gettysburg (80-71) and NYU (85-81). Yankee Conference teams had an exceptional week: Massachusetts upset Fordham 73-60 and Syracuse 84-63, and Vermont shocked St. Peter's 69-65. The Peacocks then got 37 points from Elnardo Webster to knock off East Carolina 96-76. Pitt ended a 10-game losing streak by beating West Virginia 90-87, then went on the road and lost to LSU 120—79 and Tulane 110-89. Providence, with Jim Larranasa putting in 40 points, beat Rhode Island 83-59 and took care of visiting De-Paul 83-62.

Ken Durrett scored 40 points as La Salle breezed past St. Francis 107-95 and added 20 more in a 102-65 rout of Loyola of New Orleans. St. Bonaventure split two games, beating Canisius 79-61 and losing to Duquesne 84-69 as Bob Lanier scored a total of 68 points. Duquesne, loser to Detroit by 76-66, lifted its record to 12-2 in the St. Bonaventure game with Billy Zopf connecting for 25 points. After Canisius had lost to the Bonnies, a campus newspaper wrote that there was a "lack of pride" among the players. That was enough to rouse the Griffins, who used a devastating fast break in their next outing to trounce Loyola of Baltimore 102-78. Penn State stopped Syracuse 64-58 and Bucknell 68-66, and Boston College got 28 points from sophomore Jimmy O'Brien to down Holy Cross 77-69.

MIDWEST

1. PURDUE (11-3)
2. OHIO STATE (12-3)
3. TULSA (16-2)

Jo Jo White of Kansas closed out his college career with a virtuoso performance, scoring a personal alltime high of 30 points, snapping off some behind-the-back passes and leading the Jayhawks to an 80-70 win over Colorado. That kept alive the Jayhawk (4-2) hopes of catching the Buffaloes (4-1) in the Big Eight, though it will be a formidable task now that White has used up his eligibility. Kansas State Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons had a nightmare before playing Oklahoma State. "They got ahead by six points and held the ball the rest of the way," Fitzsimmons explained. His dream proved surprisingly prescient. The Cowboys took a five-point lead with six minutes left, then slowed down the action and held on for a 64-59 win. Oklahoma State's Henry Iba should have had nightmares himself: he lost his No. 1 scorer for the rest of the season when Amos Thomas was declared ineligible for having played in an unsanctioned exhibition game. Iba woke up laughing, though; Bill Christopher, who took over for Thomas, sank all eight of his shots in a 76-52 victory over Nebraska.

Purdue took over the lead in the Big Ten with a 95-85 overtime win against Ohio State. The Buckeyes had tuned up for that clash by beating Illinois 76-67 as Dave Sorenson scored 30 points and held Greg Jackson of the Illini to 12 points and one rebound. Jackson then came back to get 36 points in an 86-73 victory over Wisconsin. Iowa also showed that it could not be counted out as it toppled Davidson 76-61. Glenn Vidnovic of the Hawkeyes had 23 points, sinking 11 of 12 free throws to bring his record for the season to 105 of 116. Loyola of Chicago beat Michigan 112-100. Wisconsin snapped Marquette's 11-game win string 56-50, but the Warriors held off Detroit 75-74 even though Spencer Haywood had 35 points, 16 rebounds and blocked nine shots.