BASKETBALL
This column went to press last month on the heady news of the one-point win over Cornell in the initial League encounter of the season. These gaudy goings-on, as you will remember, were climaxed by the epic of "Hudak's heave," which won the game for Dartmouth in the final second. We wish we could continue in this pleasant vein, but that was the last League encounter the Green has won to date. The team then went into a decline, dropping six League games in a row by the following margins: Harvard 74—Dartmouth 56; Yale 68—Dartmouth 54; Pennsylvania 83—Dartmouth 42; Yale 53—Dartmouth 51; Princeton 82—Dartmouth 54; Harvard 60—Dartmouth 58.
Space limitations fortunately preclude our detailing all of these unhappy encounters, which included one of the first defeats of a Dartmouth basketball team by Harvard since the dark ages of the sport on the Hanover plain. For more college generations than your reporter cares to remember, the Harvards have obligingly rolled over and played dead on the basketball court. Both Eddie Leede and Gus Broberg had some of their greatest scoring nights against Harvard, a situation that now appears to be (temporarily) modified.
The first Yale game was played away from home and this Dartmouth team shares the uncertainty of some of its distinguished predecessors when away from the warming confines of Alumni Gymnasium. The Penn game was played on these hallowed home haunts before a melancholy group of local partisans, just before the boys shut up shop for two weeks of examinations. The Princeton and second Harvard games were also played on the local boards, but that fact didn't seem to do the boys much good.
Yale 53, Dartmouth 57—Before a Carnival crowd and in an atmosphere of mutual irritation, Yale nosed out a fighting Dartmouth aggregation by the narrow margin of a single field goal. The Indians jumped to an early lead, which they managed to hold at the half by the score of 26-17. Yale came back strong after the intermission, however, and rapidly narrowed the gap. For the final ten minutes, the contest was played in an atmosphere of growing hysteria, culminated by a sharp display of fisticuffs between two of the more zealous opponents, who were promptly banished to the bench by their respective coaches. Sophomore Bill Biggs had his best night of the season and served notice again that he is in the great tradition of Dartmouth basketball. He scored 18 points, with most of his 8 field goals coming after a high, arching, onehanded push shot that is a joy to watch. Red Rowe was the only other Dartmouth player in two figures, with 11 points to show for his evening. Captain Emil Hudak had a bad night (for him) with only 8 points, and the rest of the team scored less than that. Billy Biggs thus literally kept the team in the game. But there is only one of him.
Princeton 82, Dartmouth 54—The following week, Coach Lampe's charges encountered the Tigers, led by the talented George Sela, who personally gave Dartmouth such a rough afternoon in Palmer Stadium last fall. This was an even rougher experience, comparatively. Sella led the scoring for both sides with 22 points, and his team practically ran Dartmouth off the floor in the first half. The initial stanza, in fact, was a most depressing one for the Green, with Princeton jumping into an early lead which they constantly widened. Their lead at the end of the half was 40-20. In the second half, the Green played their faster opponents on a more even basis, but by this time the cause was hopelessly lost. Red Rowe was the high scorer for the locals, with a meager 13 points. Bill Biggs had an especially frustrating evening, with his shots refusing to go in. Captain Emil Hudak scored no baskets at all and ended the evening with 3 points. To add insult to injury, Princeton scored the largest number of points in their history. That is the kind of record we are not happy about setting.
Harvard 60, Dartmouth 58—We went to press last month on a close victory for Dartmouth. We go to press this month on a close defeat. In a game that was even all the way, Harvard nosed out an aroused Dartmouth aggregation by the narrow margin of a single basket, scored just as the game was ending. The score had been tied by a free throw by big John McDonald of Dartmouth with five seconds to go. Then Harvard came through with the winning basket, thereby pinning another defeat on the Green. Wes Field was the high scorer for Coach Lampe's men with 17 points to his credit. Red Rowe was second with 12 points, before he fouled out early in the second half. Sophomore John McDonald played a good part of the game in place of Rowe and had his best night of the season, with 10 points. Bill Biggs had another night when his shots curled around the basket and then dropped out. With this game, the Indians were firmly ensconced in last place in the Ivy League, a position to which they are definitely not accustomed.
ACTION IN THE 5-4 VICTORY OVER YALE: Left, Copt. Wolt Crowley, with stick raised at left, has jus, netted Dartmouth', first goal in the game at New Haven. Also shown are Cliff Harrison (4) and Arnie Oss (23).
Right, Oss," who scored three goals for the evening, is on his way to making one of them.
