GREEN DROPS COURT FINAL
Coach Earl Brown's renovated Dartmouth basketball team, after having superbly disposed of its first two opponents Catholic University and Ohio State—in the N. C. A. A. tournament, lost a heartbreaking final in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship to Utah, 42 to 40, in an overtime contest. Not daunted by the loss of three of his starting quintet in February, Coach Brown cleverly molded a new team with Captain Aud Brindley, Joe Vancisin and Harry Leggat, holdovers, supported by Bob Gale and Dick McGuire, newcomers from Cornell and St. John's, respectively. This team when it was right, as it was against Ohio State, was picked by many experts as the best in the Madison Square Garden tournaments.
The Big Green easily disposed of Catholic University in the semi-finals of the N.C.A.A. Eastern regional championship by the score of 63 to 38. The Indians were in full control of the situation from the opening whistle and by the end of the half had a 28-12 advantage. Bob Gale led the scoring with 17 points and Harry Leggat and Captain Aud Brindley followed him with 15 and 13 points apiece.
Against Ohio State, the Indian quintet rose to the occasion and out-drove, outplayed, and outshot and outscored the favored Big Ten champions by the score of 60 to 53. Capt. Brindley who had already been unanimously chosen as forward on the 1944 Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League all-star team in addition to his AilAmerican collegiate basketball honors, went on a scoring spree with 28 points and established an N.C.A.A. tournament record with 13 baskets. In the first half the Dartmouth team put on a powerful exhibition of offensive basketball to open up a lead of fourteen points which was narrowed to a 28-22 count at the end of the first half. The seven point margin which separated the two teams at the end of the contest shed a true light on the respective merits of the two quintets. In winning the Eastern championship of the N.C.A.A. tournament, every member of the Dartmouth team contributed a sterling performance. In the final contest with Utah, the
western N.C.A.A. champions, Coach Brown's quintet was unable to give a reasonable facsimile of its capabilities. Worn out by the long round-trip to Hanover between the Ohio State and Utah games, the team showed little of the brilliance that had characterized their performance three nights before. The boys fought hard, however, and carried the fight to Utah, to cage two baskets and tie the score at 36-all within the final six seconds of the regulation game time. In the overtime, Brindley's basket tied the score at 38-all after Irwin Ferrin of the Utes had caged two free throws, but Wilkinson with three seconds left, secured the all-important two points with a desperate shot from mid-court that teetered around the rim and then fell through.
THREE AGAINST ONE proved disadvantageous to Arnold Risen, Ohio State center (on his back), in this bit of action in Dartmouth's 60-53 triumph over the Buckeyes in the final of the Eastern NCAA play-offs. DJck McGuire (11), Green guard, is about to take the ball away, while Forward Aud Brindley (3) and Center Bob Gale (4) guard against a pass.
