Mar. 23, 1963 - NCAA Basketball Championship | Loyola v. Cincinnati

Mar. 23, 1963 - In Louisville tonight, Loyola of Chicago won the NCAA Championship, dethroning two-time champion Cincinnati, 60-58, on a tip-in by Vic Rouse with one second to go in overtime. Loyola never led until the overtime, tying the score, 54-54, at the end of regulation play on Jerry Harkness’s jump shot from the side with five seconds left. Harkness, the nifty Rambler southpaw forward, was shut out from the field by Tony Yates and Tom Thacker for better than 35 minutes. But he reeled off 9 of his 14-point total in the last 5 minutes of the regulation encounter, including 2 whirlwind buckets inside of 10 seconds. Harkness found a new lease on life when his two tormentors, Yates, who blanked Oregon State’s Terry Baker last night in the semis, and Thacker, ran into foul trouble — four apiece — late in the game. But for a missed free throw, the mighty Bearcats, the nation’s No. 1 rated team, could have realized their ambitions. Cincy’s senior guard, Larry Shingleton, went to the line with 12 seconds left in regulation and the Bearcats protecting a 53-52 lead. He bagged the first free throw on a 1-and-1 situation but blew the other, and Rambler center Leslie Hunter cleared the boards. Hunter then whipped the ball to Harkness, who connected from the side. A capacity crowd of 19,153 and a national TV audience watched a cautious game of cat-and-mouse in the overtime. It was tied at 58-58 when Loyola controlled a tip with 1:21 to go. The Ramblers passed and waited, intent on taking the last shot of the overtime. Harkness drove but couldn’t get a shot and flipped the ball to Hunter, who missed, but Rouse flicked the ball into the net as the gun sounded.

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