Basketball
The Big Green basketball team has divided four league contests since the midyear hiatus, and at this writing stands second in the Eastern Intercollegiate League ratings with five victories and three defeats. Triumphs were registered at the expense of Harvard, 29 to 22, and Cornell, 37 to 27, while Yale downed Dolly Stark's courtmen in the Carnival encounter, 28 to 25, and Pennsylvania tripped them, 36 to 23, in the Philadelphia Palestra. In the only non-league contest played during this period, the burley Syracuse five downed Dartmouth at Hanover by a 40-30 score.
In the Carnival game, Yale's zone defense was too much for the short Indians, who had difficulty in dropping in floor goals. Larry Kelley and Bob Miles of the Elis were not similarly afflicted, meanwhile, and their joint production of 18 points spelled victory for the visitors. The Green five had a 14-7 lead at the half, thanks to the work of Captain McKernan, and at one point in the second period was ahead by a 19-11 score. Yale tied the count at 20-all, however, and Kelley and Miles accounted for the remaining eight points as Coach Stark inserted Dingle, Carrick and Cleaveland in an effort to offset the Elis great advantage in height. McKernan, with 7 points, led the Green scorers, while Art Toan was but one point behind.
Dartmouth's diminutive line-up included Thomas and Ratajczak, forwards; McKernan, center; and Toan and Parachini, guards.
This same line-up played the Harvard game without substitution two nights later, and on the strength of its superior team play defeated the Crimson, 29 to 22, at Cambridge. Dartmouth ran up an 18-13 lead in the first half, after the opening minutes had been nip and tuck, and was almost overtaken early in the second period when Harvard came back with a rush that carried to within two points of the Indians. Faced with the loss of its advantage, the Green five speeded up its game and coasted home after baskets by Toan, Thomas and Parachini had restored a commanding lead Toan was high scorer of the evening with 11 points.
The Indian courtmen travelled to Philadelphia for their next league encounter on February 15, and found the lowly Quakers reversed enough to hand the Big Green a 36-23 trouncing. The home team got the jump at the very start and never gave up. Running away to a 14-5 lead, Pennsylvania held an 18-8 advantage at the end of the half, and matched Dartmouth goal for goal in the second session. The Indians made only one floor goal in the opening half, but came back well enough in the second period to enable Art Toan to tie Roger Hanger of Penn for scoring honors at 10 points each.
Dartmouth moved on to Ithaca to meet Cornell two nights later, and regained second place in the league standings by downing the Red five, 37 to 27. The Indians displayed close guarding and a clever offense to earn their decisive victory. The first half was an even fight, with the score standing at 11-all when intermission arrived. Dartmouth ran up a 12-point margin in the early minutes of the second half, however, and was never pressed during the remainder of the game. The Indians kept close watch on Freed and Downer, and despite their vigilance, the latter broke through for 16 points and the individual scoring honors of the evening. Held scoreless in the first half, Thomas ran wild for Dartmouth in the final period to score 15 points. Along with Thomas, McKernan and Ratajczak figured prominently in the spectacular drive which the Green five uncorked immediately after the rest period.
