- Monday, August 2 1948 -
Olympic Games (at London, England)
United States - 53 (Head Coach: Omar (Bud) Browning)
Player | FG | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Beck | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
Jesse Renick | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Ralph Beard | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
Cliff Barker | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Don Barksdale | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Bob Kurland | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Vince Boryla | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
Gordon Carpenter | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Ken Rollins | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Alex Groza | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Totals | 21 | 11 | 20 | 21 | 53 |
Czechoslovakia - 28 (Head Coach: Josef Fleischlinger)
Player | FG | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jiri Siegel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
Ivan Mrazek | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
Jan Kozak | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
Josef Krepela | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
Joseph Belohradsky | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Cyril Benacek | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
Ladislav Trpkos | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
Jiri Drvota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Josef Ezr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vaclav Krasa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 7 | 14 | 25 | 17 | 28 |
U.S. Cagers Swamp Czechoslovakia, 53 to 28
European Champs Are No Match for Yankee Team
LONDON, Aug. 2 (AP) -- America's wizards of the court punctured any doubts of their Olympic basketball invincibility today by scoring a leisurely 53 - to - 28 triumph over Czechoslovakia, the best team in all Europe.
The Americans' mastery was so complete that the Phillips Oilers' seven-foot Bob Kurland, who can dunk the ball in the basket with the mildest sort of a leap, never once indulged in this advantage.
He took aim only when a sorting distance out on the floor and he cashed in a couple of these which, with two free throws, gave him six points for the day.
Vince Boryla of the Denver Nuggets led the point-making with nine -- four fielders and a free toss -- as Uncle Sam's nephews scattered the honors among nine of the 10 players to see action.
Only Alex Groza, of the University of Kentucky's brilliant shot maker, failed to register a point and he was removed from the contest early on personal fouls.
Gordon Carpenter and Louis Beck of the Phillips Oilers, and Ralph Beard of the University of Kentucky, racked up seven points apiece to follow Boryla in the scoring department.
U.S. Coach Omar (Bud) Browning mixed up his players. Never once did he send in a full five man squad of the Phillips Oilers, the great National Champion AAU team from Bartlesville, Okla. or the University of Kentucky Wildcats, who dominated U.S. college ranks last season.
A segment of the crowd of 1,250 hooted and laughed as Kurland and his towering teammates toyed with their adversaries.
The Americans led 23-12 at half time. The Czechs used a tight defense and their alert ball-handling made a good show of it.
This was the second victory for the Americans in Group C - one of the four divisions of round-robin eliminations.
The two top teams of each division qualify for places in the eight-team tournament proper.
Argentina, another member of the C group, won its second straight also, downing Switzerland 49-23. Others in the group are Egypt and Peru. Peru defeated Egypt, 52-27.
Brazil won its third in a row in the A-group, trouncing Britain 76-11.
France came from behind to defeat Cuba, 37-31. Mexico continued to look like the class of the D-division by slaughtering Eire (?), 71-9.
In basketball's first upset an amazing Hungarian team spilled Canada, 37 to 36. The Canadians were finalist in 1936 and were favored to gain that place again this year.
It was only through the efforts of Pat McGeer, 21-year-old speedster from the University of British Columbia, that the Canadians escaped a trouncing. McGeer scored 11 points. The team was so off-form that the Canadian fans in the stands yelped in disgust.
China's fast little quintet nipped Belgium, 36-34, in overtime. The Chinese sank all four of their free shots in the overtime while the Belgians netted one desperate field goal. The Belgians protested the game, claiming one Chinese point in regular time didn't count. If they are upheld by the Olympic jury Tuesday it would give them the victory.
Action from the game