Basketball
Following a disastrous Christmas trip, which resulted in three defeats, the Dartmouth basketball team returned to Hanover to polish off the strong Providence five, then captured two straight league victories at the expense of Pennsylvania and Yale, continued merrily on its way by defeating Colgate, and finally bowed to Cornell in the closing game of the pre-examination period. By virtue of their two league victories and their earlier triumph over Harvard, the Indians ruled the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League up to the time of the Cornell encounter.
The Christmas trip opened at Burlington, where the Vermont five scored a surprising 32-16 victory. Moving on to New York, Dolly Stark's club fell before N. Y. U., 54 to 29, and before C. C. N. Y., 36 to 24. The scores of the New York games, played with two of the strongest teams in the East, were more or less expected, and the experience gained seemed to be put to immediate use when the Indians returned to their home court.
On the second day after College reopened, Dartmouth played host to Providence, and triumphed in a hair-raising contest that ended with a 54-53 score. The Green five played as a well-knit unit in the first half, running up a 33-18 lead. The Friars came back with 17 straight points to lead, 35 to 32, before Thomas dropped in a foul for the Indians. The visitors then increased their advantage to 44-36, at which juncture Parachini and Ratajczak returned to the battle with magical effect. For the next four minutes Dartmouth did all the scoring, and by virtue of 14 straight points, took a 50-44 lead. Providence thereupon forged ahead, 51 to 50, but Captain McKernan and Ratajczak contributed a pair of brilliant baskets that settled the issue. Besides being the principal play-maker, Thomas headed the Indian scorers with 15 points. Ratajczak with 14, McKernan with 10, and Toan with 9 were also prominent in the winning attack.
DEFEAT LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
Dartmouth continued its league campaign three nights later by downing Pennsylvania, the defending champions, 34 to 33, in another thrilling affair. The zip and team-play of the Providence game were sadly lacking, however, and the Indians somehow blundered their way to a onepoint victory. McKernan and Toan led a first-half spurt that gave Dartmouth a 16-13 margin at intermission. The second period was a wild, see-saw session, the Quakers forging ahead to a 21-19 lead soon after the teams resumed play. From that point on, neither side led by more than three points. McKernan and Toan kept Dart- mouth in the running, and with only a minute left to play, the latter scored on a solo dash that put the Green five ahead, 33 to 32. On a double foul, each team tallied one point as the game ended. Barrett, Penn's star forward, was high scorer with 15 points. Toan with 12 and McKernan with 10 were next in order.
Dartmouth's third straight league triumph was achieved at New Haven on January 13, Yale losing out, 27 to 23, in its first league contest of the season. Art Toan was again the spark plug of the Indian attack, his nine points taking top honors for the winners. The Elis went ahead to a 9-7 lead at the start of the game, but Dartmouth suddenly ran up 12 straight points before Yale recovered enough to cut down this advantage to 19-14 at the half. Ratajczak led the 12-point rally with two baskets and two fouls, while Toan assisted with a pair of floor goals. The second half was a slow affair, with Dartmouth getting only two goals from the floor and Yale getting but three. Baskets by McKernan and Thomas, and free throws by Toan, Thomas, Conti and Parachini closed the scoring for the Indians and left them with a 27-18 lead. Yale dominated the closing minutes of play, but the Green defense held off the desperate Elis and forced them to resort to a barrage of long-range attempts. The game was marked by numerous fouls on both sides, and a total of 16 points was made by means of free throws. McKernan and Ratajczak followed Toan with six points each.
Returning to their home court, the Indians ran their winning streak to four games by battling through to a 36-33 victory over Colgate. After a wide-open first half that ended in a 17-17 deadlock, action became rather tumultuous in the second period, with the Green sharpshooters making good on just enough foul tries to provide the margin of victory. After a pair of baskets by Toan, the Red Raiders rang up ten straight points, before Conti opened up a rally that restored the Indians to even terms. Dartmouth clung to a small lead throughout the first ten minutes of the closing period, but Colgate finally brought the count to 27-27. Baskets by Thomas and Conti, and a foul by McKernan, shot Dartmouth ahead, however, and Ratajczak's floor goal and a foul nullified Colgate's scoring flurry at the very end. Thomas returned to the top scoring position, after something of a slump, his ten points leading nine by McKernan and eight by Toan.
CORNELL ENDS STREAK
Before undertaking an 18-day respite for examinations and such, the Green five entertained Cornell on January 18, and went down to defeat, 36 to 34, in the most exciting game in a season of thrillers. The comparative size of the two teams bordered on the ludicrous at times, but Dartmouth's small and shifty club fought desperately and barely failed to make the grade in an uproarious second half. Indian shots were rimming the basket crazily all evening, but scarcely a one went through. Little, unsuspected puddles which leaked through the roof were also the cause of sudden events, and Thomas was the victim of three crashing spills. Cornell ran away to a 16-4 lead before Coach Stark relieved his regulars with taller and heavier men in the persons of Paul Cleaveland, Charlie Moses, Hal Parachini and Jack Dingle, whose father captained the Green basketball team back in 1909. The change was what was needed, and the Ithacans' lead was shaved down to 24-14 at the end of the half. Returning from the rest period, the Indians sank n consecutive points to capture the lead. Thereafter the game was anybody's, with the lead changing hands on nearly every shot. With two minutes to go, Thomas tied the count at 33-32, and after Rich's floor goal sent Cornell ahead again, Cleaveland dropped in two foul shots to even matters. Rich also sank two foul shots, however, and time was lacking for Dartmouth to pull up again. McKernan turned in a great defensive performance by holding Wilson scoreless from the floor, and Thomas was once more the spearhead of the Green attack with 13 points.
