BASKETBALL
Dartmouth's basketball team, after its successes on the Alumni Gymnasium court, started its annual Christmas trip in a ragged fashion, losing its first out-of-town game to M.I.T. by .a score of 18 to 17 and lagging behind Manhattan College, 28 to 19 in New York. In both games Captain Picken proved to be the mainstay of the Hanover quintet, and against Manhattan scored seven of the Dartmouth points. But the other men of the team lacked the speed and alertness necessary to hold the opposition in check.
A decided improvement in Dartmouth's play marked the third game of the trip which resulted in a defeat for Stevens College by a score of 40 to 18. On the following evening Dartmouth scored a real triumph when Captain Picken led his men to a brilliant 26 to 18 victory over a strong Army team at West Point. The trip was completed December 23 with another winning total when the Green team outscored Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute by 42 to 16.
Dartmouth 39 St. Stephen's 28
After a slow start the Dartmouth basketball team resumed its schedule; in Hanover, January 5, defeating St. Stephen's College by a score of 39 to 28. Ragged play characterized the first half of this encounter, and the Green team seemed slow and listless, leading at the end of the period by but 17 to 14. The second half of the game saw considerably faster play, particularly on the part of Captain Picken's men, and the Hanover quintet forged steadily ahead. Picken, Hein, and Vossler led in the Dartmouth scoring with Millington, captain of St. Stephen's, starring for the visitors.
Dartmouth 27—Yale 21
Opening the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League season at New Haven, January 8, Dartmouth defeated Yale 27 to 21 in a game featured by Yale's spirited efforts to break the long losing streak which has persisted during the past two seasons.
The Yale team drew the first score of the contest during the first few minutes of play when Simmen caged the ball on a desperate trick shot. For Dartmouth Vossler then scored four successive baskets within the next five minutes giving the Green a lead of 8 to 2. Goals by Simmen and Bilhart evened the score for Yale when the Dartmouth defense lagged slightly, but again the Hanover team drew away in front when Picken, Heep, and Spaeth scored for the Green while Yale was held to one basket. The half ended with Dartmouth leading at 14 to 10.
The Hanover team opened the second half of the game with a fast passing and accurate shooting attack during which two field goals by Hein and one by Vossler, and four free throws by Picken and another by Heep added 11 points to the Dartmouth total. The Yale team added five points to its score but was unable to halt the Dartmouth assault. Then with but four minutes of play remaining, and with the score at 25 to 15, Captain Simmen led a New Haven rally which threatened to break down the Dartmouth lead. Simmen caged two baskets from the foul line and added one from the court, and Carmody also scored from scrimmage bringing the score to 21 points for Yale. Once more, however, the rally was stopped by Captain Picken, of Dartmouth, who captured the ball and from a difficult angle netted two more points for his team just before the final whistle blew.
The game was fast and spirited throughout, and for an opening league game a much more finished performance than is usual. It was marked particularly by the close guarding of the Dartmouth team which forced the Yale men to make most of their throws at the basket from positions deep in the court. Dartmouth's scores came mostly as the result of short shots from underneath the basket.
Vossler, who scored 10 points, and Captain Picken, who accounted for 8 points, were the leaders of the Dartmouth scorers. For Yale Captain Simmen scored 10 of his team's 21 points.
Dartmouth 30—Columbia 28
The most intensely thrilling basketball game, if not the most thrilling contest of any kind, witnessed by this reporter during 13 years of close attention to Dartmouth athletics, was produced in Alumni Gymnasium January 12 when Dartmouth defeated Columbia by a score of 30 to 28 in a game which proceeded at top speed from the opening whistle to the final bell.
Captain Picken's Dartmouth team, trailing seven points behind Columbia, with but two minutes of play remaining in the final half of the game, sped to a whirlwind finish which sent the ball through the net for the winning points at the instant the bell was being sounded.
A successful free throw, by Rothenfeld, of Columbia, opened the scoring in the first few minutes of the first half, and a goal from the floor by Lorch gave Columbia a three-point lead over the Green. Vossler then scored for Dartmouth, but Lorch and Rothenfeld added baskets for Columbia which brought the New York team to a lead of 7 to 2. Foul sTiots added a single point to the score of each team before Captain Picken charged the length of the floor for Dartmouth and scored, and Ellis added another basket. Three successful free throws then placed Dartmouth in the lead at 10 to 8. Lorch and Heep were both successful from the foul line and carried the score to 11 to 9. Columbia once more surged into the lead, however, by virtue of baskets scored by Lorch and Rieger, only to be tied again when Ellis netted a pass from Picken, and surpassed by another goal registered by Ellis from under the basket. Rieger netted three more points for Columbia and the lead once more changed hands and was then again caught up when Ellis gave Dartmouth a point from the foul line. The half ended with each team in possession of 16 points.
Heep opened the scoring in the second half of the game with a spectacular back-hand shot from under the Columbia basket. Once more Columbia tied the score when Lorch tallied on a pass from Rieger. Foul shots by Heep and Picken put Dartmouth two points ahead before the Columbia team produced an attack which swept the Green team temporarily off the floor. Baskets by Rieger, Madden, Urbuch, and Lorch gave the New Yorkers an advantage of 26 points to 20. Spaeth netted one point for Dartmouth, but Smith caged a field goal for Columbia, and with but two minutes of play remaining- put the score at 28 to 21. Then a free throw by Hein and a desperate shot by Austin moved the Dartmouth total to 24 points with only one minute left to play. Langdell, rushed into the game for the final desperate attempt, scored a follow-up shot from under the basket and Ellis tossed in another short throw to even the score. Only a few scant seconds of play remained when Vossler, getting the ball from the jump which followed Ellis' basket, scored from the center of the floor at the instant that the final bell was being drowned by the cheers of as frenzied a mob of undergraduates as the gymnasium has ever seen.
For Dartmouth the leadership of Captain Picken was the outstanding feature of the game. At every minute he was carrying his team along by sheer force of personal effort. Ellis, with a total of 12 points scored, led in the accumulation of Dartmouth points, with Picken and Vossler each adding four points. For Columbia Captain Lorch scored 12 points.
Pennsylvania 34—Dartmouth 23
Dartmouth was unable to cope with the strength of . the University of Pennsylvania quintet at Philadelphia, January IS, and was defeated 34 to 23 in a rather listless game. The Pennsylvania team, playing smoothly and making many long shots from the floor, held the lead in scoring throughout all of the play, with Captain Davenport gathering nine points of his team's total. For Dartmouth Captain Picken, whose scoring of eight points led the Hanover attack, was once more the strongest individual.
