BASKETBALL
The Basketball team expended its most gallant effort of the current season in a losing cause, f refer to the defeat by Penn by the score of 76-73 at the end of a double overtime. This means that the Quakers were forced to go into not one but two overtime periods to overcome the spirited efforts of Coach Lampe's crew. The boys in green pulled the game out of the fire on two separate occasions with seconds to go, only to lose in what was one of the gaudiest contests ever seen on the local boards. Close finishes in the regular game time are almost routine in basketball especially as played in the contemporary firehouse style. Games often go into one overtime period (we beat Harvard that way earlier in the season). But games rarely go into double overtime amid such mass hysteria as characterized this Penn affair.
Dartmouth played this one the hard way, trailing throughout the entire regular game and playing indifferently on many occasions. With only a few seconds to go in what looked like a certain Penn victory, Captain Eddie Leede caught fire and poured a couple of field goals through the hoop, the last one with only a handful of seconds left. This left the score at 64-64. Penn started out the first overtime period as though they were going to polish off the contest then and there. With the clients keyed to rapturous excitement, however, the Indians did the impossible again, with sophomore Bob Hustek playing the heroic role this time. Just as the buzzer was about to signal a Penn victory, Hustek flicked the ball into the basket with an overhand shot, thereby ending the first overtime all even 73-73-
In the final five minutes, the boys tried to do it again, but to no avail. So Penn came out in front by the aforementioned score of 76-73, and the customers dragged themselves limply from their seats, certain that they had seen the most exciting basketball game of their lives. Captain Eddie Leede, as usual, was the leader of the Dartmouth attack, with 22 points. Emil Hudak also had a big night from his guard position, scoring a total of 18 points with 7 baskets and 4 free throws, the former re sulting from his deadly set shooting from back of the foul line. Wes Field and Red Rowe each accounted for 12 points apiece and Bobbie Hustek made both his baskets count. So all in all, this was really one for the books, even though the boys failed to win.
One that they did win and thereby score perhaps their most impressive triumph of the current campaign was against the Crusaders of Holy Cross. Dartmouth won this one 50-44, taking the lead early in the game and, much to the delighted amazement of the highly partisan crowd, managing to hold it until the final buzzer. The Crusaders are not as strong as they were last year, when they went to the finals of the NCAA tournament, but they are still a potent name in basketball. As the game wore on and Dartmouth was still ahead, the Indians concentrated on retaining control of the ball, refusing several personal fouls and taking the ball outside instead. This tactic was successful and the frustrated Crusaders saw the precious seconds slipping away. Eddie Leede was first in scoring for the Green with 17 points and Emil Hudak was second with 12, the exclusive product of his flat set shots from out of the wild blue yonder. With this contest, the Green returned (briefly) to its erstwhile court glory, only to be humbled in subsequent contests. But this victory was one they could be proud of.
Many of our readers will remember the halcyon days when Dartmouth could beat Yale in basketball merely by showing up on time. That day, I regret to report, is no more. With the great Tony Lavelli of Yale functioning at something less than his usual pace (he only scored 16 points), the Boys in Blue unveiled the best team to play on the local court this season and soundly trounced the Green by the score of 62-41. With a capacity crowd turning out to see Lavelli in action, the Yales demonstrated a team cohesion that was sadly lacking for Dartmouth and, with Tony the Great feeding the ball to his teammates instead of scoring himself, there was no question of the outcome. Much of the credit for holding the Yale ace to a measly (for him) total of 16 points goes to Emil Hudak, who practically climbed inside of Tony's blue jersey in the course of the evening, thereby doing a job of guarding highly reminiscent of Bob MacLeod back in the brave days before the war. But the contest as a whole saw Yale at its best and Dartmouth definitely not at its best (especially Green players were utterly unable to locate the bucket). Eddie Leede again proved his greatness (as though that were still necessary) by scoring 20 points in a losing cause. But this just wasn't enough.
