Kentucky - 57 (Head Coach: Adolph Rupp) - [Ranked by ]

Player	FG	FT	FTA	PF	Pts
Wallace Jones	7	1	4	4	15
Walter Hirsch	0	2	2	2	2
Dale Barnstable	0	1	1	4	1
John Stough	0	2	3	2	2
Alex Groza	7	7	10	3	21
Ralph Beard	2	2	2	4	6
Cliff Barker	3	0	0	3	6
Jim Line	1	2	3	4	4
Totals	20	17	25	26	57

St. Johns - 30 (Head Coach: Frank McGuire)

Player	FG	FT	FTA	PF	Pts
Thomas Tolan	1	1	6	1	3
Gerry Calabrese	0	3	4	1	3
Dick McGuire	1	3	3	0	5
Dan Buckley	0	0	0	0	0
Jack Dalton	0	0	0	0	0
Ivy Summer	2	0	2	5	4
Archie Oldham	2	1	1	5	5
Frank Mulzoff	0	0	1	1	0
Ray Dombrosky	1	0	2	2	2
Dan Finn	1	1	2	3	3
Al McGuire (*)	1	3	8	3	5
David Wassmer	0	0	0	0	0
Ed Redding	0	0	1	1	0
Totals	9	12	30	22	30

Kentucky Holds St. John's To Nine Field Goals in Grabbing 57 to 30 Decision

Groza and Jones Lead Cat Attack in Garden Contest

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, N.Y> Dec. 18 - Poor marksmanship and erratic play failed to halt the victory march of Kentucky's Wildcat cage champions tonight as they won an easy 57-3- victory over the St. John's Redmen before a capacity crowd of 18,451 fans in Madison Square Garden.

Although Coach Adolph Rupp's Kentuckians were not as dazzling as they had been in previous performances, they were never in any real trouble with St. John's, labeled as the best quintet in New York's metropolitan area.

With Capt. Alex Groza and Wallace (Wah Wah) Jones again taking command as they did in the Cats' 81-48 victory over Holy Cross at Boston Thursday night, the Redmen were never actually in the game after the first few minutes of play.

Both of these Blue Grass beauties gave outstanding performances on the boards, as well as in scoring, to take the laurels for tonight's battle. Groza dropped in seven field goals and seven free throws out of 10 attempts to lead the Kentuckians with 21 points, while Jones had an equal number of fielders but sank only one gratis shot for a total of 15 points.

Little Ralph Beard, whose biggest job of the night was to keep on the trail of St. John's Dick McGuire, a fast and usually high-scoring guard, fell down in his marksmanship with only six points for the evening - but McGuire was limited to five.

Despite their deficiency in offensive punch, however, the Kentucky cagers were as tough as ever on defense, allowing the Redmen few easy shots and making them rush most of their heaves from out on the floor.

Dick McGuire, his brother Al, and center Archie Oldham each made five points to pace St. John's.

Not only did Groza sparkle as a rebounder and marksman, but he also drew enough fouls to cause the Redmen's first two centers to leave the game by himself, was being charged with the personal-foul route while he, himself, was being charged with only three infractions of the rules.

Oldham was the first to be ejected by the officials with approximately four and a half minutes remaining while his replacement Ivy Summers, who had seen considerable action previously, followed Oldham to the bench less than a minute later.

Although none of the Wildcats were out on fouls, a quartet - Jones, Beard, Dale Barnstable and Jim Line - collected four apiece.

The Kentuckians had their worst shooting percentage of the current season, cashing in on only 26.6 per cent of their attempts from the field. St. John's, however, had even worse luck as it sank only 14.2 per cent of its tries.

But if the Cats had to have a bad night, this was a good time for them to have it because St. John's was easy prey. The Redmen's floor play was almost as poor as their shooting, indicating that they had either been greatly overrated or else basketball in New York's metropolitan area is not up to par this season.

At the beginning - and throughout the first half - it appeared that the Wildcats would set a new offensive low but they proved slightly more accurate in the second period to bring their total above the 51 points they tallied against Holy Cross.

As the opening whistle sounded, Groza slapped the tip to Jones, who in turn passed to Beard. The little guard drove in under the basket for one of his favorite crip shots, but a St. John's player blocked the shot and the Redmen took possession.

Seconds later Beard was caught holding Dick McGuire, and the St. John's guard dropped through a free throw to open the scoring in what had been billed as one of the top cage attractions of the year.

A hook shot by Groza put the Cats in front, but Summers connected with a one-hander from the side of the basket to give the lead back to St. John's at 3-2. This was the last time that the Brooklyn cagers were in the van, for at this point the Kentuckians took over and pulled away to a safe advantage, which they never relinquished.

At the end of five minutes of play the count stood at 6-3, and by mid-period the Ruppmen had increased their total to 11 points while limiting the Redmen to five. With five minutes remaining in the half, the score stood at the low level of 15-9 - an unbelievably low total for Kentucky.

By halftime, the Wildcats had added eight more point and had held the St. John's lads to a pair of charity tosses, the count standing at 23-11.

A free throw by Al McGuire and a one-hander by Summers in the early stages of the second period trimmed the Kentuckians' advantage to nine points. But by the time 10 minutes had ticked away on the clock the Cats had run their lead to 14 points at 34-20.

In the ensuing five minutes Coach Rupp's champions really put the game on ice by rolling up a total of 10 points as compared with three for the Redmen, the score at that point standing at 44-23.

Cliff Barker then slapped in a rebounder to give Kentucky two more points, but Gerry Calabrese lopped off one of these when he made god a free throw after having been fouled by Johnny Stough. Then Groza was fouled by Summers - the St. John's center's fifth personal - and dropped in the gratis shot.

A foul by Beard gave Dick McGuire an opportunity to ring up another point for the Redmen just before Coach Rupp sent in Walter Hirsch to replace Jones, with the clock showing three minutes and 35 seconds remaining.

With the count standing at 50-27, and two minutes and 15 seconds remaining, Line was sent in for Groza who received a big hand from the crowd for his great performance. Line took a forward spot and Hirsch moved to the pivot.

Barker slipped through for an easy crip shot and then Dan Finn connected with a crip, was fouled on the play by Line and made good a free toss to finish the scoring for St. John's. Before the final gun, however, the Kentuckians picked up five more points on a free throw by Stough, a pair of charity tosses by Hirsch and a crip by Line.

The play of Hirsch, Stough and Line, in their roles as replacements for three of the starters was one of the bright spots of the game. All three did good jobs, helping to again ally the fears that lack of reserve strength might be Kentucky's only weakness this year.

Members of the Kentucky squad are scheduled to leave New York by plane early Sunday afternoon and should arrive at Lexington's Blue Grass field at 6:08 p.m.

Dale Barnstable and Alex Groza fight St. Johns on the board

Alex Groza (#15) fights Archie Oldham (#23) for rebound while Ralph Beard (#12) looks on

St. John's Coach Frank McGuire watches the action on the court

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