11/29/1972

By P. J. ERICSSON
Assistant Sports Editor

"This meant everything to me," said Arizona coach Fred Snowden following a 94-87 victory over Cal State of Bakersfield in his first game as a collegiate head coach.

"I came in here (Bear Down Gym) tonight about 6 o'clock," Snowden went on, "and I stood over there at the end of the court and just looked at the place.

"Now, Bear Down Gym is no grand spectacle, but I thought to myself 'This is it. This is what all the work has been for.' And by the time Jerry (assistant coach Jerry Holmes) joined me, I had tears running down my face.

"I am the first black American to have this opportunity as a major college coach in a major conference. I can't tell you how important that is to me.

"And I'm awfully glad to get this first one out of the way."

Arizona raced off to a 10-point lead at 15-5 and was never really in trouble. When Cal State sliced the lead to six at 89-83, center Lynard Harris capped his superb performance with a three-point play that locked up the Wildcat victory with 2:02 remaining.

Eric Money, the 6-2 freshman guard with the shot so fast it reminds you of a kid shooting marbles — nothing more than a flick of the wrist — poured in 37 points, including three incredible drives that were ill-advised and adequately defensed, but nonetheless resulted in three baskets.

"We tried to do two things tonight," Snowden said. "We wanted to win the game, of course, but we also wanted to save some things to use on the coast this weekend (Arizona plays at the University of San Francisco Saturday and Stanford Monday).

"That's why we stayed with the 'A' offense. Our. kids are probably more comfortable and more productive from our stack offense, but I didn't want to use it. The kids asked during one time out if they could go to it, but San Francisco and Stanford scouts were both here, so I said no. I'd have been more comfortable with a 15-point lead but I didn't want to show that offense unless it was necessary."

In the euphoria of victory, however, it is easy to overlook some negative aspects of last night's performance.

For one, the defense was asleep too often, and Cal State cashed a number of very easy baskets, especially up the middle when starting forwards Tom Lawson and Al Fleming were both on the sideline.

Another was the 29 turnovers, including 10 by Money. Even the most liberal coach will admit that 15 is too many for a game, but the Cats 'will probably have to expect more than that when playing their full-tilt running game.

Many of the turnovers came against Cal State's full-court press in the second half. It may have been partly fatigue, since UA guards Allen and Money played the whole 40 minutes, but the Cats did not handle the press very well.

"Being without Tom Lawson hurt us there," Snowden said. Lawson was lifted when a flying elbow broke a tooth in the first half, and he never got back in. "He was ail right, but I didn't want him to get smacked again, and I wanted to give John Irving and Paul Strong plenty of playing time anyway," Snowden said, "but it hurts our running game when Tom is out."

It also may be too much to expect consistent shooting percentage of 64.9 from the floor, which is a modern-day record at UA, the previous best being 61.8 against Stanford in 1966.

Last night's crowd was announced at 3,200, which is smaller than Bear Down's listed capacty of 3,600, but UA sports information director Frank Soltys said that "all seats were reserved, and that's how many, tickets were allotted on a reserved-seat basis."