BASKETBALL TEAM JITTERY, LOSES
In the annual NCAA basketball tournament at New York late in March Coach Ossie Cowles' Big Green basketeers represented the New England region in the Eastern play-offs for the third consecutive year. However, the Indians were trounced, 46-35, by DePaul University in the first-round contest before a crowd of 16,000 fans in Madison Square Garden. Dartmouth came back on the following night to defeat New York University, 51-49, in the consolation round. NYU was also defeated on the previous night by Georgetown, the eventual winner of the Eastern division crown.
George Mikan, six-foot-eight center, proved Dartmouth's undoing in the DePaul game on the opening night. In addition to leading the DePaul scoring attack with 20 points, Mikan put on a great exhibition of goal tending and time and time again knocked Dartmouth shots away from the basket.
DePaul got off to a fast start and ran up a 15-5 lead before George Munroe was able to connect with Dartmouth's first floor basket after eleven minutes of play. The jittery Indian five was repeatedly missing shots, while the DePaul offensive put the mid-westerners farther out in front. At the end of the half the Big Green was on the short end of a 26-14 score.
The second half continued at the same pace, although the Indians moved up towithin six points of the DePaul five when coach Ray Meyer put in his entire second team. However, Mikan and the rest of the DePaul starters were immediately returned to action, and the Big Green never threatened again.
It was a different Dartmouth five that took the court on the following night to nose out NYU in a tight battle in the consolation round. Blond Bob Myers was the high man of the night with 22 points, while Aud Brindley, freshman forward, was next in order with eight. Although the score was tied at 13-all at the 14-minute mark, Myers and Brindley sparked the Big Green scoring attack to set up a lead that was never lost.
Stan Skaug, the Indians' basketball captain and all-league guard, was selected as the outstanding player in the Ivy court league for the past season on the basis of a poll conducted just before the NCAA tournament got underway. Skaug, who has starred for three years on the Indian five, was unanimously named a guard on the Ivy league all-star team, while high-scoring Bob Myers was chosen for one of the forward positions. Center Jim Olsen was awarded a post on the second team, while left forward George Munroe was given honorable mention.
BIG GREEN BASKETBALL COACH IN NAVY BLUE Ossie Cowles, now a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve and a member of the Naval AviationCadet Flight Selection Board, Third Naval District, congratulates the captain of Wyoming's national court champions at Madison Square Garden, while the captain of St.Johns, runners-up, looks on. Dartmouth was eliminated in the first round.
