PAGE 4   THE CATS'  PAUSE, JANUARY 22, 1977
With Pair Of FTs And 4 Seconds Left
Jay Sinks Gators 73-71
Fred Walters, yes, there is a bush league.
But it's Alligator Alley in Gainesville, Florida. And you can bet Joe Hall will give you all the proof you need.
Hall's Wildcats had to beat off just about everybody in the state of Florida Monday night, including the timekeeper, to pull out a 73-71 decision over the Florida Gators and remain in contention for the Southeastern Conference crown.
In a game marred by questionable calls all evening, the real "job" came near the end of the contest when it took some fifteen minutes to play the final seven seconds.
In the end, rookie guard Jay Shidler stepped to the free throw line and settled it all with a pair of free throws. But there was a lot of action still remaining although only four seconds showed on the scoreboard.
Actually, it started with thirty seconds left in the game when senior guard Larry Johnson fired up a jumper to give the Wildcats a 71-71 tie.
Coach John Lotz's club then decided to go for one last shot and worked the clock down to seven seconds and signaled for a time-out.
Returning to the floor, Florida's Don Bostic fired an in-bounds pass to Richard Glasper who stumbled and failed as he tried to bat the ball back to Bostic. Jay Shidler picked up the loose ball for Kentucky and raced down the floor for a lay-up but he was fouled by Bostic at midcourt.
After the game, Shidler said he backed off because his man was throwing in the ball. "I was to slack off and help inside," said Shidler, "when Glasper fell, I just picked the ball up."
During the action, the timekeeper failed to recognize the foul and all the time had expired on the clock.
So while the timekeeper put four seconds back on the clock, Shidler paced the free throw circle then calmly hit a pair of charity shots (can you call them that in Gainesville?) for a 73-71 lead.
Shidler then tipped the throw-in out of bounds at midcourt on the ensuring play but two seconds still showed on the clock.
Time-out for Florida.
On the next in-bounds player, James Lee intercepted the in-bounds play but walked with the ball while trying to protect it. Unbelievably, two seconds still showed on the clock after the interception and infraction.
Another Florida time-out.
The Gators threw the ball in again and this time hit the top of the backboard and the ball then struck a guide-wire and bounced out of bounds as the horn sounded.
Officials ruled the clock should have never started since the ball failed to be touched by any player in bounds so the two seconds were restored to the scoreboard and the ball awarded to Kentucky since Florida threw the ball
away.
Lee took the inbounds play but was immediately fouled with one second still on the clock. Lee missed the free throw but the horn sounded for the final time as Florida went for the missed shot.
"It was a great win for us but I don't understand how we can have a walking violation and a foul called in just one second," said Hall of the game's late actions, "that's the most I've ever seen happen in one second."
Shidler, the hero of the moment, took it all in stride and made no big thing of his deciding free throws.
"I was just hoping I could make them," explained the blond bomber,
"I wasn't trying to think about a whole lot. More thinking means more pressure and I just wanted to step up and go through my natural motion. If they go in, they go in. If they don't, that's just the breaks."
Kentucky jumped out to a pair of seven-point leads in the final half but Florida rallied each time and actually led as late as the final thirty.one seconds of the game.
The Wildcats were red-hot in the early going, hitting their first six shots enroute to a 24-16 lead.
But the Cats cooled off considerably and hit below the fifty percent mark for the game while the Gators got off to a slow start and then blistered the nets
on 15 of 23 attempts in the last twenty minutes for a 65 percent clip.
The game was knotted twelve times and Kentucky was outrebounded by the Gators by a mark of 37-33 as Bob Smyth was high with 12. Jack Givens was Kentucky's best effort with seven while James Lee and Rick Robey had six each.
Givens paced the scoring attack with 19 points despite hitting only 7 of 16 from the field. Robey fired in 12 points
KENTUCKY WILDCATS						
KENTUCKY			-73			
Player FG	FT	REB	PF	TPS	AS	Ml N
Robey 4-8	4-7	6	k	12	1	23
Givens                  7 _ 1 6	5-6	7	4	19	3	35
Phillips 2-6	4-6	3	3	8	1	26
Johnson 4-8	1 -2	4	3	9	4	39
Shidler- 4-12	3-3	1	3	11	2	34
Claytor 1-1	o-o	1	2	2	0	5
Lee 5-6	0-2	6	k	10	1	26
Casey 0-1	o-o	0	0	0	0	3
Haskis Haskins 1-1	o-o	0	1	2	0	5
Williams 0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	4
Team Rebounds		5				
TOTALS 28-59	17-26	33	24	73	12	200
FLORIDA -			71			
Player FG	FT	REB	PF	TPS	AS	MIN
Glasper 2-5	5-6	3	3	9	3	34
Sanders 1-4	1 -2	2	5	3	2	23
Smyth 6-10	2-3	12	1	14	2	32
Cesare 2-5	3-5	6	3	7	2	33
Brewster 6-10	0-0	2	3	12	0	21
Bostic 4-6	0-2	2	5	8	1	14
Fritz 1-2	o-o	1	0	2	1	1 1
Coy 0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1
Clarson 2-5	2-2	2	3	6	0	13
Bonner 4-7	2-2	3	5	10	1	19
Team Rebounds		k				
TOTALS ?8-54	1 5-22	37	27	71	1 2	200
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY		34		39	---	73
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA		35		36		71
Attendance: 5,712						
and James Lee had another fine night, coming off the bench with 10 points including the pair which won the contest.
Smyth was the top gunner for Florida with 14 points while Brewster finished with 12 and Al Bonner with 10.
Florida, which entered the game with a 10-3 record, had hopes of challenging for the SEC crown and coach John Lotz admitted he thought the Gators had a good crack at it. But the loss to Kentucky puts a damper on those hopes.
Kentucky, now 11-2, returns home and prepares for a pair of games this weekend. The Cats host tough LSU Saturday night at 7:30 then take on Ole Miss Monday night at 7:30 p.m. Both games are at Rupp Arena.
SEC standings
Team
Tennessee Alabama 1 Kentucky Miss. St. Florida
Conf. All
W. L. w. L.
6  0 12 2
S   0 14 0
4   1 11 2
3  2 11 3
3  3 10 4
Team
LSU
Auburn
Miss.
Vandy
Georgia
Conf. W. L.
2 3 2 4 1 4 1 4 0 6
All
W. I . 9 5 8 5 7 7 5 8 5 9
OVC standings
Team
Mid. Tenn. Morehead Austin Peav Murray
Conf. All
W. L. W. L.
4   0 12 2
3   1 7 5
3   1 13 2
3   1 11 4
Team Tenn. Tech East Tenn. Western Eastern
Conf. All
W. L. W. L.
13 5 9
13 5 9
13 4 9
0   4 3 8
Metro 7 standings
Conf. All
Team W. L. W. L. Team
Cincinnati       2 0  12 0 Tulane ..
Louisville -.-.2 0 10 2 Fla. St.
Memphis St. .2  1   14  2 St. Louis
Ga. Tech ____2 1   9 4
conf. Alt
W. L. W. L.
2   2 5 8
0   2 8 6
...0   4 1 12
Big 10 standings
Team
Purdue Michigan Minnesota Indiana Ohio St.
Conf. All
w. L. W. L.
4  0 10 3
4  0 11 1
2 1 11 1
3 2 8 6
Team
Mich. St. Iowa Illinois N'western
2 2   7 6 Wisconsin
Conf. All
V/. L. W. L.
2   2 5 8
13 9 4
13 9 7
13 3 10
0   4 4 8