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PHILADELPHIA BIG 5
Year by Year: 1977-1978

 

Standings

Team

Big 5

All

Coach

Temple

3-1

24-5

Don Casey

Villanova

3-1

23-9

Rollie Massimino

La Salle

2-2

18-12

Paul Westhead

Pennsylvania

2-2

20-8

Bob Weinhauer

St. Joseph's

0-4

13-15

Harry Booth

   

98-49, 66.7%

 

 

Games All games at The Palestra.

Date

Winner

Loser

Crowd

Dec 10

Villanova  69

Penn  68

7,251

 

Alex Bradley was the difference with 19 pts

   

Dec 17

Penn  78

La Salle  75

5,640

 

Tom Crowley's three jumpers seal the win

   

Jan 14

Temple  81

Villanova  73

7,031

 

The Owls push their record to 12-1

   

Jan 25

Penn  80

St. Joseph's  69

4,078

 

Price and McDonald score 19 each

   

Jan 28

La Salle  82

Temple  75

9,208

 

Explorers built a nine-point halftime lead

   

Feb 4

La Salle  82

St. Joseph's  74

7,761

 

Brooks (31 pts, 18 boards) leads La Salle

   

Feb 11

Temple  72

St. Joseph's  65

3,650

 

Hawks bothered by the flu fall by seven

   

Feb 18

Villanova  82

La Salle  79

6,149

 

Herron and Bradley each score 21 points

   

Feb 21

Temple  71

Penn  56

4,611

 

Tim Claxton nets 22 pts and grabs 12 boards

   

Feb 25

Villanova  72

St. Joseph's  64

8,152

 

Villanova wins without Keith Herron

   

 

Honors

First Team
Michael Brooks (La Salle)
Tim Claxton (Temple)
Keith Herron (Villanova)
Keven McDonald (Pennsylvania)
Marty Stahurski (Temple)
Brooks averaged 24.9 points a game as a sophomore en route to becoming the first Explorer to lead the team in scoring and rebounding four times.

 

Hall of Fame Inductees
John Baum (Temple)
Jim Huggard (Villanova)
Harry Litwack (Temple Coach)
Tom Wynne (St. Joseph's)

 

NCAA Tournament

Villanova 103, La Salle 97

at The Palestra

Villanova 61, Indiana 60

in Providence, R.I.

Duke 80, Villanova 72

in Providence, R.I.

Pennsylvania 92, St. Bonaventure 83

at The Palestra

Duke 84, Pennsylvania 80

in Providence, R.I.

 

National Invitation Tournament

Texas 72, Temple 58    in Austin, Texas.

 

La Salle's Michael Brooks

Michael Brooks, who was the 1980 National Player of the Year selected by both the United State Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, was picked to captain the Olympic Team (which eventually boycotted the Moscow Games).  A prolific scorer, Brooks graduated as La Salle's all-time top scorer (since passed by Lionel Simmons) and was seventh on the NCAA's all-time list.  He is now second at La Salle and 21st nationally with 2,628 career points.  His biggest scoring output came against BYU, when he netted 51 points in triple overtime.  That remained the Explorer record until Kareem Townes had 52 against Loyola of Chicago in 1995.  In each of his four years, the strong yet graceful Brooks averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.  He played eight seasons in the NBA.

More on the Big 5

 

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