Clutch Overtime Basket Wins Loyola NCAA Title

In a pulsating finish that left 19,000 hysterical onlookers limn with excitement, Chicago Loyola won the NCAA basketball title with an 60-58 overtime upset over Cincinnati Saturday night.

The Ramblers overcame a fifteen-point second half deficit and deadlocked the game with four seconds remaining. They won it on a tip-in by Vic Rouse with one second left in the overtime period.

Spearheaded by the deadly shooting of Ron Bonham, Cincy was able to pull away easily to a 29-21 halftime bulge. Loyola was singularly unimpressive, as the Bearcats were able to force the game into their irritating but effective slow, deliberate style of play. With 11:45 to play, Cincinnati was sitting on a safe 15-point cushion.

A Rambler blitz cooled off the defending NCAA champs who connected on only two field goals in the last 14 minutes of regulation play. With four seconds to go, Loyola's All-American Jerry Harkness pumped in a jump shot that knotted the score at 54-54 and sent the contest into overtime.

With just a few seconds to go, Les Hunter fired a ten-foot jumper which barely missed, but Rouse tipped the ball in as the buzzer sounded to give Loyola its first NCAA title.

After predicting Loyola's wins over Duke and Cincinnati, the CRIMSON is tampted to gloat and say, "We told you so." So here goes: we told you so.