"While all this football talk was going the rounds, this writer was on veritable pins and needles over the outcome of the Eastern Intercollegiate basketball race, which nearly made him out a two-faced false news spreader. In the last issue he so forgot himself that he wrote, "the basketball team hasn't the chance of the proverbial snowball to capture the League race."
The last game reported was the Cornell affair, during which Dartmouth sunk to lower depths by losing 36-29" and then this was followed by an atrocious exhibition when they collapsed before Middlebury, 28-23, at no time being in the lead.
The Green dropped into a triple tie for third place in the League, and faced with the prospect of a three-game League trip, the boys seemed only to require flowers to make the picture perfect. Pennsylvania's proud team was out in front with 5 victories and no defeats, while Dartmouth lagged at 3-3. Then, taking the Dartmouth games in order, look what happened.
COLUMBIA. A little fellow just off scholastic probation, and a good old veteran center combined to make the final score 29-25 in Dartmouth's favor. Picken and Hein were the men, and from reports they made the team forget the loss of Heinie Swarthout. Pennsylvania on the same night raised their ante to 6-0. The college was mildly interested.
PRINCETON. A good old veteran center tossed two last minute baskets and the score stood Dartmouth 24, Princeton 22. Princeton led throughout the game, and led at half time. Pennsylvania raised the ante again to 7-0, and interest was beginning to run high at Dartmouth, who now stood 5-3.
CORNELL. The Sharkey-Stribling boxing match took place this night, but the crowds were not interested in this match, for they milled around the telegraph office waiting for news from Ithaca. It came. A good old veteran center, who for some reason was still a substitute, tossed three baskets to put his team in the lead, and the score was Dartmouth 33, Cornell 28. By this time, the student body had gone basketball mad, and with the next game at home with Pennsylvania, every seat was sold out a week in advance. Pennsylvania needed only one game to clinch the title, and they faced Cornell. Cornell beat them, and the Red and Blue rumbled into Hanover to get the deciding game.
PENNSYLVANIA. It was the wildest, most rapid gathering of the season which jammed the Alumni gym and hung from the rafters on the basketball night of the year. A little group of Princeton men, comprising the swimming and water polo teams of that university, sent up a Princeton cheer for Dartmouth before the game started, for they all realised that a win for Dartmouth would still keep the Green in the running, and the Princeton-Pennsylvania clash would be the all crucial affair the following Saturday.
The greatest basketball ever exhibited by a Dartmouth team in over a decade was shown to the spectators during the first half. The team, composed of Capt. Spaeth, Austin, Lewin, Cheney and Picken, passed perfectly, shot perfectly and played circles around the bewildered League leaders. At the end of the half the score was 22-11 in the Green s favor, and already typewriters were clicking off the lead sentence which ultimately said that Dartmouth was still in the race by virtue of a 31-32 win from Pennsylvania. The standings were then: Pennsylvania 7 2 Dartmouth 7 3 * * *
Tie Dartmouth squad was then in a quandry. They were in the position of a team which faced a week of practice not knowing whether their season had closed or not. Officially, basketball was through for the year, but a Princeton win from the Quakers would automatically tie the Green for first place. News from Jungletown was disappointing, however, for it was learned that Princeton's two great players, Miles and Carey would be unable to face Penn, and Coach Dolly Stark sat in the Palestra that Saturday and watched a Pennsylvania team "stagger through to the championship by virtue of a 23-16 win from Princeton. Basketball was ended, but Dartmouth held undisputed second place. John Cheney will lead the team next year, and Dolly Stark can regard with satisfaction his efforts during his first varsity year.