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Show crowds jammed the rieldnouseUtah basketball remained a source of school pride, athletically speaking, and Ute supporters found themselves turned away some nights.gamely from their three straight defeats by clobbering the defending Ivy- This last pre-season victory gave Utah a 7-4 record against some ofLeague champions from Cornell, 80-61 in the first round of the holiday the country's better competition, and stamped them as strong favoritesfestival tourney at Madison Square Garden. The second day of the to regain the Skyline Conference crown that was last theirs in 1956.tourney, however, saw a tall and talented St. Joseph's five capitalize on The Redskins began their assault on Skyline opponents by edging athe cold shooting of the Utes to win going away by a 79-65 score. The scrappy Montana team, at Missoula, by a scant two points after beingRedskins then evened their score at 2-2 for the tough road trip by behind 11 points at halftime. Then the Utes, growing stronger withhanding a good team from Dayton a 79-70 defeat, and with this victory, each game, ripped through 7 more conference opponents, includinggarnered a well-earned third place in this famous pre-season tournament, crucial victories over B.Y.U. and Utah State, the other co-favorites forStudents returning from the Christmas Holidays saw a confident, the conference crown. When the dust had cleared, only Denver stoodmore poised band of Utes dispose of Miami (Ohio) University by a in the way of Coach Jack Gardner's third Skyline crown. But the Pio-handy 17 points. neers showed that they too had title aspirations, as they snapped theUtes' 11 game win skein with (continued)An intent crowd dotted with an occasional University student sits in the student section of the Ute Fieldhouse and fades into a texture of faces and heads.Capacity |