What classmate and sports writer Bob Ryan calls “still the all-time most significant basketball game ever played on the BC campus” took place on this date in 1967.

The game between BC and Providence College had been much anticipated and ballyhooed. As the Boston Globe preview (BCProv_preview) said, “This is the game the whole East, not merely New England, has awaited all season.” The game had been sold out for 6 weeks and was to be televised by not one, but two, television stations — Channel 12 in Providence and Channel 38 in Boston — and broadcast over WCOP radio.

The Eagles entered the game with a 14-2 record, but had lost to Fordham 81-85 only a week earlier. Providence was 16-4 and led by Jimmy Walker, twice consensus first-team all-America (1966 and 1967) and BC nemesis. Walker had scored 50 points against the Eagles in the 1965 Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival, leading the Friars to a 91-86 victory. Providence had beaten BC in all three of the previous games between the two when we were freshmen and sophomores.

Ryan had written the game preview in the February 17, 1967, Heights. While suggesting that Providence was more than a one-man team, he also praised Walker. “You don’t stop him. If he is to be stopped at all, he stops himself. . . . There is, of course, no better college ballhandler. Or player, for that matter.” Classmate Reid Oslin wrote up an interview with captain Willie Wolters ’67 and classmate Jim Kissane, while classmate Tom Sugrue penned an appreciation “Jim Walker: just amazin’.” Classmate Kevin O’Malley wrote a column analyzing the situation surrounding a possible NCAA bid for BC.

As the Globe‘s game article (BCProv67) reports, it appeared that Walker had indeed stopped himself, at least in the first half. Walker had only 11 points at halftime, while classmate Steve Adelman, who, the Globe said, “was throwing the thing in from everywhere but the dressing room,” had 21 points halfway through.

Captain Willie Wolters scores on Providence

Walker opened the second half with 6 misses, not scoring until 6 minutes in. The Eagles were leading by 17 points when Terry Driscoll fouled out. Walker then got hot, while BC went cold, and the Friars trailed by only 4 with 7:02 left. With less than 4 minutes to go, Providence even led by 3. But the Eagles came back to lead 83-82, with Kissane holding the ball in the backcourt, pressured by Providence players, for what seemed an eternal 9 seconds before heaving it downcourt at the buzzer. (The Globe carried an article on that ending “Eagles’ Kissane Gets Rid of Ball in Time” [BCProvKissane]). Ecstasy then ensued among BC fans as Coach Bob Cousy was carried off the court by his team.

Walker finished with 33 points, 22 in the second half. Adelman had cooled off in the second half, but led the Eagles in scoring with 31 points. Kissane added 14 points, while Driscoll and Wolters were also in double figures.

Kissane recalls the game this way: “That was one of the most fun games I ever played in!  Roberts Center was absolutely jammed and those days we walked up from the locker rooms and through the lobby to get to the court. Everyone was cheering and yelling as we went single file through the crowd to get on the floor. By the time we were taking layups, I felt like I could jump over the basket I was so pumped up!

“At halftime, we had a good lead, but Frank Power, an assistant coach, kept saying ‘It isn’t over, stay focused, they are too good.’ How right he was! I stepped in on Walker and took a charge, which was his 4th foul, early in the second half. [Providence coach] Joe Mullaney never even thought for a minute to sit him down and he played the rest of the game at 15 minutes into the second half with 4 fouls. He was amazing!

“The place went nuts when we won. I do remember after the game the coach telling me I did a great job on Walker and then coach Magee came over and said ‘Yeah great job! You held him to 30!!!’ (Editor’s note: actually 33 :) ) Oh well. It sure is a great memory.”

The win put BC in strong contention for an invitation to the NCAA tournament. It also made for a great Saturday night!