March 18, 1950 (original) (raw)

March 18, 1950

In the days when the NIT is king of college basketball, underdog City College of New York eliminated 1949 winner San Francisco in the first round, upset Kentucky in the second round, and routed Duquesne in the semifinals. But it appears the Beavers' magic might have run out tonight as they fall 11 points behind No. 1-ranked Bradley late in the first half of the final.

Then Norman Mager comes off the bench and sparks a 9-1 CCNY rally, cutting Bradley's lead to 30-27 at the half. The rejuvenated Beavers go on to claim the title with a 69-61 victory before a capacity crowd of 18,000 at Madison Square Garden.

Nat Holman's club wins despite shooting only 29-of-76 (38.2 percent) from the field and 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) from the foul line. Irwin Dambrot leads the Beavers with 23 points and Ed Warner, the tournament's outstanding player, scores 19.

Ten days later, the two teams will meet again at the Garden -- this time for the NCAA title. CCNY wins again, 71-68, with five players scoring in double figures. The Beavers are the only team to sweep the NIT and NCAA in the same season.