Basketball
With PHIL SHERMAN
One feature this month overtops all of the sports news from Dartmouth, and that feature is Dolly Stark and his Green basketeers. Hailed in advance as a strong team with potential sophomore stars, the Dartmouth five has been the sensation of the Eastern Intercollegiate League as well as holding near top honors in Eastern college circles.
About a month ago we tried to dope the League in advance, and reasoned that Columbia, two-year champions, should be given a high rating, as well as those perennial campaigners from Pennsylvania. Yale, by virtue of a sorry Christmas trip, had slipped and Dartmouth was an unknown quantity.
The Sensation in Basketball
So as the League moved into its preliminary stage, all the predictions were knocked into a cocked hat and the first two weeks saw Dartmouth and Princeton tied for the League leadership. Princeton had knocked off Columbia and Dartmouth had won from Pennsylvania, so there were the predictions gone the wrong way. Then Yale, one of the weak teams, gave Dartmouth the scare of its life in one of those one-point games which included a disputed basket. To top all of this, the two undefeated leaders, Dartmouth and Princeton, clashed in one of those crucial games with the result being that the Jungletown five were very tame Tigers who submitted to one of the worst beatings in several years of League history.
All of which makes basketball such an interesting game.
Dartmouth had one of its most successful road trips in years during the Christmas recess, and although the Green five was without the services of Bill McCall and Ben Burch at various stages of the trip, nevertheless such combinations as Syracuse, Harvard, Manhattan and the 107 th Infantry were defeated, and the lone game dropped to C. C. N. Y.
The game with Syracuse was one of the high water marks of the trip, for the Orange was undefeated and in fact stands at this writing with only one defeat against its record—that from Dartmouth. Harvard was defeated 30-13 on their home court, and one of the sweetest victories came with the 39-24 lacing of Manhattan, which was accredited with being one of the metropolitan district's outstanding teams.
With that record for a background, Dartmouth opened the League season down in Philadelphia's Palestra against Penn. Every year Dartmouth opens away from home, and usually spends half the League season trying to make up for the initial defeat handed out by Pennsylvania.
The 23-19 victory which accrued from the Dartmouth-Penn contest must have been wholly satisfying to Dolly Stark, not because the team as a whole was brilliant, but because he uncovered a real sophomore outfit which proved itself at its best when under fire. Bob Miller, who joined the team only before the Penn game, threw three baskets and a foul to lead the Green scorers, and he was given support by other sophomores, notably George Stangle who threw five points through the hoop. Dartmouth led at half time by a 10-6 score, and those low score first halves are a tribute to the defensive work of the Green team, for the half time score in the Princeton game was 9-7, an almost exact duplication.
Two Complete Teams
By this time, it was seen that Dolly Stark had two complete teams of almost equal ability. The veteran outfit of Ben Burch, Bill McCall, Harold Mackey, Irving Kramer and Bill Britten had been through other League campaigns and had proved themselves a good defensive combination. It had been invariably the rule to start this team, and after the first period had progressed with out much fireworks, the sophomore team was sent in.
Th is was shown with a startling suddenness in the Yale game, which followed on the schedule. Only this time, Dartmouth entered the second half eight points behind and by a superhuman effort pulled the game out of the fire with a sensational 21-20 victory. Harold Mackey, alone of the veterans retained with the shock troops, threw the winning basket from center court with only two minutes to play and Dartmouth staved off a vigorous Yale attack for the rest of the game, which included an attempted foul shot with six seconds to go. Yale was limited to a single field goal in this half, but eight foul tries completed during the game was what made the contest interesting.
The team came home after that game to defeat Lowell Textile 37-24, but we will confess that we did not go down to the gym to watch that game, as other things pressed. Interest was naturally in the Princeton game which was in the immediate offing.
Princeton Takes a Tumble
What a setting for a League game! Princeton and Dartmouth both sitting on top of the League with two victories and no defeats the Alumni gymnasium literally jammed to the rafters with a howling crowd of 2000 the bright orange jerseys of Princeton contrasting with the sombre green of Dartmouth three officials in new blue blazers with "E.I.A." etched on the pockets, signifying that they are a little above the ordinary official and two cheerleaders exhorting and pleading.
Hanover's first big game. Dolly Stark started his heavy duty five against Princeton, which turned out a mammoth quintet of sixfooters. The game ding-donged along until Princeton sunk a few fouls to take the initial lead. Then Wild Bill McCall in one of his weaving runs sank the first basket and followed this with a beautiful triple combination shot which culminated directly under the basket and started pandemonium in the stands. Again the irrepressible McCall dropped in a foul and the Dartmouth captain had accounted for the first five points of the game.
Irving Kramer, making his first League appearance (he does not make the trips on account of Medical School studies) dropped a long one, and the score was all tied at 7-7. It remained this way interminably with close guarding, good passing featuring the game but no scoring due to many missed attempts at the basket. Just before the close of the half, Jake Edwards was sent in for McCall and it was a flip basket by Edwards which broke the tie and sent Dartmouth into that 9-7 lead at half time.
During the intermission we sat on Harry Hillman's new board track and speculated on what might happen. No one would give Dartmouth the game, and the only prediction was that a long Princeton basket (the Tigers continually shot from mid-court) might decide the contest.
Well, the shock troops went into the game at the second half, and what they did to Princeton will be long remembered. Led by Jake Edwards, the most brilliant basketball star that this writer has been privileged to see, Dartmouth mopped up the floor with Princeton and won the game by a 30-13 score, there being no doubt as to which was the better team.
Wild Bill McCall is a great floor leaderhis two baskets in that first half were marvelous tosses, and the only occasion which made this writer let out a whoop was a McCall basket late in the game in which he tricked two Princeton men by a weaving dribble and then scored. He was easily the spark plug of his combination, and Jake Edwards, his substitute, gains the top honors of the evening.
Talent Among the Sophomores
Among this sophomore crew are fellows such as Henry Kraszewski, George Stangle and Bob Miller. Kraszewski is not a scoring player, but a defensive artist who will constantly worry any good forward. One of his tricks and he has many—is to stand before an opponent with the ball in his hands, and then roll the ball between his opponent's legs, picking it up on the other side. It worked beautifully twice and sent the crowd into an uproar.
Against Princeton in the second half Dartmouth was unstoppable. Edwards shoots his left-handed tosses from any angle and Mackey, when aroused, is a great center, getting the toss consistently. It was interesting to note that Stark's stalwarts of last year Ben Burch, Jack Smart and Bill Britten did not get into the game until the closing minutes of the second half. At that Burch, one of the real offensive threats of the League for two years, took the first tap off and went the floor length for a basket.
What may come in the future is not known, but our predictions of the present would say that Dartmouth has one of the greatest basketball combinations seen on the Hanover court in years. They look greater than Jimmy Picken's championship five of 1927 and it is by far and large the greatest material that this writer has ever seen gathered on a basketball court. When two full teams have strong ability, that is news, but when two teams can be used exclusive of three men who played as regulars during the greater part of the previous year, why that is unusual.
Columbia sits in the third position of the League due to a victory over Cornell, which seems to be the door-mat this year. The Lions have their last year's championship team intact save for one position that of center, where the giant Negro captain, George Gregory, has departed. The Lions, however, have felt the loss of this great player and key-man more than any one factor.
Next month will be the issue for basketball, and by that time Dartmouth will be either in or out. For at present the League schedule is not even at the half-way mark and much happens down the line. The Green does not play again until February 3, when Yale is met in Hanover.
STARTING THE SEASON Dolly Stark and Bill McCall, Coach and Captain of basketball, go over tech- nique at the beginning of what looks like a strong season.
