Syracuse Herald Journal- Davies Leads Royals Past Nats, 60-53
Refusing to respect the Syracuse Nationals home winning streak, the Rochester Royals invaded the W Jefferson St. Armory and routed the Nats by a 60-53 score before a capacity 3,200 assembly last night. Bob Davies, who doubles as a professional courtman and coach of the undefeated Seton Hall quint, sparked the Rochester team to its ninth straight win with an outstanding exhibition of floor work and shooting. Davies connected for 18 points to pace the scorers. The Syracuse club, off form, never led although on two occasions the locals pulled to within a point of the champions. Fuzzy Levane opened the game’s scoring with a two-pointer for Rochester, and Rizzo made good on a foul in the opening minutes, but then the visitors pulled away to a 18-10 lead at the quarter with Davies leading the way. During the second period Syracuse put on its most determined bid of the game holding the Royals to one basket and two foul tosses to creep up to a 22-20 deficit at half time. As the third period opened both teams missed several shots before Bob Nugent dropped in a foul and once again Syracuse trailed by only one point. Here Davies took a shot from the corner and long John Gee was charged with interfering with the ball as it hit the hoop, and though the ball failed to dent the meshes Rochester was awarded the two points. Rochester began to pull away as Red Holzman, Dolly King and Bob Davies clicked for two pointers while Syracuse was collecting a foul by Gee and a basket by Chaney. At the end of the third heat the Royals held a 37 to 29 margin. From that point on it seemed that nothing Syracuse did went right while Rochester could not miss, and with only four minutes of play remaining the Royals led by a 58-41 score. The Nats then put on a belated rally to come back within seven points as the game ended. Rizzo led the Syracuse scoring with 14 points with Novak contributing 13 to the losing cause while Holzman followed Davies in the Rochester scoring with 14 markers. By an odd coincidence the Nationals League scoring averages show that Rochester has average 61 points per game and Syracuse 53 and that was practically the final score. Rochester will appear here again on March 10. Officiating was criticized by both teams and fans. SYRACUSE: Sharkey, f (0-0-0), Chaney, f (3-1-7), Nelmark, f (2-2-6), Novak, c (5-3-13), Rizzo, g (5-4-14), Gee, g (0-2-2), McCahan, g (0-0-0), Meehan, g (1-3-5), Nugent, g (1-4-6) TOTALS (17-19-53). ROCHESTER: Davies, f (6-6-18), Holzman, f (6-2-14), Johnson, c (0-2-2), Glamack, c (2-0-4), Levane, g (3-2-8), Cervi, g (4-0-8), King, g (2-2-6), Negretti, g (0-0-0) TOTALS (23-14-60).