Dec. 13, 1963 - Talk about a thorn in your side! A rookie from West Virginia named Rod Thorn put away 5 points in overtime and gave the Baltimore Bullets a 116-114 victory over the San Francisco Warriors before 2,046 spectators at the Cow Palace tonight. Thorn may be a new name in the NBA now, but it won’t be for long if the 6-4, 185-pound rookie performs the way he did this evening, when he was Baltimore’s high man with 26 points, all but two of which were scored after halftime. San Francisco’s Wilt Chamberlain collected 43 points to capture scoring honors, and he played a whale of a defensive and backboard game. But despite the fact that he and Tom Meschery catapulted the Warriors to a lead that reached nine points just before the start of the final quarter, it turned out the invaders had what it took when it mattered. The Bullets came from behind to take a 105-104 lead on Gene Shue’s free throw with 42 seconds left in the game. Meschery nailed 1 of 2 free throws on Terry Dischinger’s foul to knot the count at 105 with 19 seconds left. After Chamberlain and Gary Phillips scored at the outset of the extra five-minute period, Thorn dug in and won it for Baltimore. Walt Bellamy, held to a minimal production of 19 points, 16 of them in the first half, was not the key factor he usually is for the Bullets.
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