Wyoming Crushes Hitherto Unbeaten St. Francis in Garden Basketball Game
by Kingsley Childs, New York Times, Thursday, December 31, 1942
15,000 See Cowboys Gain 63-38 Triumph
Wyoming Quintet Ends 6-Game St. Francis Winning Streak on Court at Garden
Komenich Gets 21 Points
Sailors and Weir Also Star - Lochhead Paces Attack of Outclassed Terriers
Six-game winning streaks were risked by St. Francis College and New York University last night as those two unbeaten basketball teams clashed with Wyoming and Washington State, respectively, in the double-header before 15,000 fans at Madison Square Garden.
With Milo Komenich scoring 21 points, Wyoming romped to a 63-to-38 triumph. St. Francis experienced great difficulty penetrating the well-knit defense presented by the rangy Westerners and the Brooklynites' hopes melted quickly once Wyoming found the range. Art Lockhead's 12 points paced the Terriers.
N.Y.U. led Washington State at half-time, 32-18.
Sparked by Ken Sailors, dribbler and sharp-shooter, the Wyoming Cowboys held a commanding edge in the inaugural half of the opening contest.
The tall and talented visitors form the Rocky Mountain sector found the Brooklynites stubborn foes through the first seven or eight minutes, during which the count was knotted at 5-all, 6-all, and 13-all. St. Francis was in front merely once, at 5-3, in the early stages.
Height Asset to Cowboys
Wyoming had a distinct advantage in height with the result that the Terriers had difficulty finding openings. Accordingly they were forced to resort to long-range shooting and many of their efforts fell short or otherwise missed the basket.
Sailors, who caged four baskets and one toss from the penalty line in the initial half, was a conspicuous figure constantly. Adept at sinking set shots, as well as in dribbling through the St. Francis defense, Sailors often fed the ball nicely to his mates for field goals.
Sharing the spotlight with Sailors for Wyoming were Jim Weir and Milo Komenich, who bagged seven and eight tallies, respectively, in the opening half. In the period's final twelve minutes the Cowboys outscored their rivals by 16 to 5 and left the floor for the intermission on the long end of a 29-to-18 count.