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SportWaterloo By Rick Campbell Chronicle Sports Editor t Forget all the baloney about the WLU Invitational Basketâ€" ball tournament being bathed in bad publicity. _ Fact remains, the tourney final between University of Waterloo Warriors and the host Golden Hawks was one heck of a basketball game. _ o o The action, albeit not always the epitome of classic execaâ€" tion, provided the fans with more than their money‘s worth and gave ample indication both teams will be heard from when league play beings in January. Warriors worked the middle with great success in the second half to overcome a five point 32â€"27 halfâ€"time deficit and went on to win the title with a 61â€"56 verdict over WLU, reversing WLU‘s fiveâ€"point win in last year‘s championship game. The seeâ€"saw battle was the first close game in the tourâ€" nament. In Friday‘s preliminary action Warriors toyed with Bufialo Medaille College 11053 while WLU erased Mt. Alliâ€" son N.B. 113â€"78 in the other contest. The controversy arose Saturday when Medaille failed to show for the consolation The WLUâ€"Mt. Allison score was somewhat surprising since both WLU and Mt. Allison had been involved in oneâ€" The wheels fell off Buffalo Medaille Colâ€" lege‘s wagon in more ways than one last weekend. . Selected as a late replacement as the fourth team in the WLU Invitational basâ€" ketball tournament, Medaille came highly recommended to Laurier coach Don Smith from several sources and was expected to provide tough opposition for WLU, Waâ€" terloo and Mt. Allison, N.B. Page 14 â€" Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, November 21, 1979 Well, Friday they supplied very little for Warriors as Medaille had their doors blown off 110â€"53. And in Saturday‘s scheduled conâ€" solation final against Mt. Allison, they supâ€" plied even less. They didn‘t even show up. Although they were offered expense money to stay over in the Twin Cities, the Buffalo school decided to return home after Frday‘s game, promising to return for Saâ€" turday‘s 7 p.m. consolation. But at 6:35 p.m. Saturday, even as Mt. Allison was on the court warming up, Smith received a phone call from the Buffalo team saying they wouldn‘t be coming since a wheel had fallen off their van near St Catharines and they didn‘t find out until it was too late that it couldn‘t be fixed Smith offered to allow several of his players to play Mt. Allison in an exhibition affair. but the Maritime school declined | wanna go Nhome Everybody who‘s anybody here for Naismith Classic The cream of the crop in Canadian university basketball will gather this weekend for what could be the most presâ€" tigious year ever of Uniâ€" versity of Waterloo‘s Naismith Classic "I‘m really looking forâ€" ward to it, it‘s just so exâ€" citing just thinking of who will be coming,. said UW head coach Don McCrae moments after his club won the WLU Inâ€" vitational last Saturday Heading the list of teams coming in from all over the country are Acaâ€" dia Axemen,. defending Naismith winners who eked out a oneâ€"point win over Warriors in last year‘s final And McCrae has every reason to be excited _ Axemen will be joined by Maritime rival St UW reverse tourney verdict Two members of Lakeâ€" head University‘s club are on the national junior team,. and the other inâ€" coming Ontario univerâ€" sity is Carleton, expected to give defending OUAA champion York a run for the money in the East Both local teams, Waâ€" terloo and WLU Golden Hawks. fresh off their exâ€" Swinging to the other side of the country, Vicâ€" toria also brings a strong reputation with it, while Manitoba sports the talâ€" lest team in the tourâ€" nament with a front line that has an average height of 6â€"9 Francis Xavier, reputed to be one of the premier teams in Canada this year and expected to be Axemen‘s main competiâ€" tion for Atlantic Conâ€" ference honors. since they were scheduled to play in Guelph Sunday afternoon anyway. "It‘s very, very disappointing when soâ€" mething like this happens," said Smiith, who along with volunteer help has tried to present a respectable showcase since the tourney‘s inception several years ago. _ _ It was evident from their comments both on and off the record that neither Smith nor Waterloo coach Don McCrae was buying the excuse for the noâ€"show. ‘‘We‘ve had some great games here against some of those American schools," said McCrae. "It‘s too bad when something like this happens. Heck, even if a wheel did fall off their van, they could have got taxis or something right away if they were that interested in playing."‘ Smith, who also detected a couldn‘tâ€"careâ€" less attitude from the Buffalo school against Waterloo, plans to notify the proper authorities in the States regarding the issue. "If I‘ve learned anything from this it‘s that from now on I plan to be a lot more selective about who we bring in,"‘ said the WLU coach, who along with McCrae could take solace in the fact that their teams preâ€" sented the fans with an entertaining tourâ€" ney finale point verdicts with University of Ottawa in the past week. "I told our guys before last night‘s (Friday) game that we‘d have to come up with a super effort to win," said WLU coach Don Smith. "So what happens, we score 65 points in the first half â€" we were going up and down the floor like you wouldn‘t believe." l That contest, which embarrassed Mt. Allison coach Garâ€" ney Henley to no end, wasn‘t even as close as the final score indicated, as WLU managed only four points in the final nine minutes of the game. Chtis Heaver had 22 points to lead The final was an entirely different type of ball game though as both clubs settled into the defensive mold that has ehrxtefludmyofflneiragqllatmamh&epafl. Midway through the first half Waterjoo had an 18â€"12 lead as they showed super ‘bail handling and shot selection in Hawks end. But Laurier made some adjustments and it paid off in both zones as Lean Arendse gave WLU its first fead in mball game 21â€"20 with just over five minutes léftâ€"in the Hawks maintained the lead and Bob Fitzgerald, playing despite a painful wrist, gave the hosts a 32â€"27 lead at the half with a 16â€"footer at the buzzer. s But it took Warriors less than five minutes of the second In opening games Friâ€" day afternoon Victoria plays Carleton while Laâ€" kehead goes against St. Francis Xavier. Then at 7 pm. Laurier will face Manitoba in what Laumer coach Don Smith agrees will be "a hot time and maybe a lot more _‘ citing showing in the WLU event last week, round out the eightâ€"team field. At 9. Warriors will go against Axemen in a reâ€" play of last season‘s final, with action conâ€" tinuing all day Saturday leading up to the consolaâ€" tion final at 7 p.m. and the championship game at 9 All games take place in the Physical Activities Building on the UW campus . Leon Arendse of WLU Golden Hawks smiles as he puts the finishing touches on a firstâ€"half basket against Waterlo® Warriors Saturday. Doug Vance of Waterioo (44) moved in too late on this play but Warâ€" riors didn‘t make their move too late, as they won the WLU Invitational with a 61â€"56 win over Hawks. half to draw into a tie and midway through the half they had a 10â€"point lead which was never challenged seriously s M L 5. m L uen s y â€"_câ€"___o _ m thereafter. Hawks, who incurred a dreadful dry spell about six minutes in the second half, made the final ve: reupechblehyscoflngthreeoonseamvemketntme of the game. * "In the first half, Laurier took us out of what we wanted to do,"" said UW coach Don McCrae. ‘"They played a ‘sneaky zone‘ where they played the passes, not the ball. But we got control of the middle in the second half and got a lot of inâ€" side scores." McCrae praised the play of centre Rich Kurtz for his club‘s turnaround. He scored 11 points, most in the second half while Doug Vance had 16 and Leon Passmore 12. Fitzâ€" gerald had 21 for Hawks while Arendse aided with 16. "Rich (Kurtz) has just come out of newhere, lots of teams have their shooters and scorers, but he‘s got to be the heart of our team," said McCrae. "I didn‘t think our club showed as much movement the second half," said Smith. ‘*You have to give Waterloo‘s deâ€" fence a lot of credit and their offence did some things difâ€" ferently too which confused us. "But right now I‘m feeling good about our team because they‘ve played hard in every game and a lot of guys are Chronicle Sports Line 886â€"2830