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Penn History

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Standings

Team Big 5 All Coach
Pennsylvania 4-0 25-2 Dick Harter
Villanova 3-1 22-7 Jack Kraft
St. Joseph’s 2-2 15-12 Jack McKinney
Temple 1-3 15-13 Harry Litwack
La Salle 0-4 14-12 Tom Gola
    91-46, 66.4%  

Game Results

All games were played at the Palestra.

Date Winner Loser Crowd
Dec 20 Penn  59 Villanova  55 9,222
  Dave Wohl’s 16 points sparks Quakers
Jan 3 St. Joseph’s  101 La Salle  99 7,304
  Ken Durrett scores 36 in double OT loss
Jan 10 Temple  69 La Salle  61 4,830
  Wieczerak leads Temple with 30 points
Jan 21 Penn  68 Temple  59 5,934
  Bobby Morse gets 22 points, 13 rebounds
Jan 24 Penn  63 St. Joseph’s  56 8,414
  Penn claims at least a share of Big 5 title
Jan 27 Penn  76 La Salle  67 5,457
  Quakers go to line 42 times to clinch title
Jan 31 Villanova  75 Temple  67 6,240
  Sam Sims’ biggest day, 31 points & 8 boards
Feb 7 Villanova  92 St. Joseph’s  65 9,114
  Hawks shoot just 26 percent from the field
Feb 13 St. Joseph’s  55 Temple  54 6,112
  Mike Hauer keys victory with 19 points
Feb 21 Villanova  96 La Salle  85 9,150
  Howard Porter (24 pts, 24 rebs) too much

Honors

Big 5 First Team:

  • Corky Calhoun (Pennsylvania)
  • Ken Durrett (La Salle)*
  • Mike Hauer (St. Joseph’s)
  • Dan Kelly (St. Joseph’s)
  • Howard Porter (Villanova)

* Durrett became the fastest Explorer to 1,000 point, doing it in his 46th game, en route to the Geasey Award. He averaged 24.3 pts & 12.1 boards.

 

La Salle’s Ken Durrett:

Ken Durrett had a truly brilliant career despite a serious knee injury during his senior season. In the days of Howard Porter at Villanova and Corky Calhoun and Dave Wohl at Penn, Durrett was the player who garnered three straight Big Five Player of the Year Awards. His career started with a bang, averaging 20.0 points a game as a sophomore as La Salle went 23-1. As a senior, Durrett led the Explorers to a 15-1 mark before tearing his ACL. He came back without surgery and ended the season with a scoring average of 27.0 points a game. His career scoring average (23.7) is bettered by just two Explorers — Lionel Simmons (24.6) and Kareem Townes (23.8). His career high of 45 points,then a school record, came against a strong Western Kentucky team in 1971. Durrett played five NBA seasons.

NCAA Tournament

Villanova 77, Temple 69, at The Palestra
Villanova 98, Niagara 73, in Columbia, SC
St. Bonaventure 94, Villanova 74, in Columbia, SC
Niagara 79, Pennsylvania 69, in Jamaica, NY

National Invitation Tournament

No participants