Basketball

Dartmouth's basketball fortunes under Coach Doggie Julian are on the way up, but it is now apparent that Big Green rooters will have to wait until next year for a possible Ivy League title. The Indian hoopsters have an overall record of twelve wins and five defeats. However, four of the five losses came in league play and Dartmouth's 4-4 record in the Ivy League is good for fifth place only.

Since the last report the Big Green team has been blowing hot and cold. The Indians lost two late January games to Yale 83-79 and Williams 67-49. During Carnival they turned the tables on Princeton by handing the Tigers a 66-56 defeat and three days later confounded the experts and proved their New England Tournament title win no fluke by stopping Connecticut easily 69-54.

The Big Green couldn't hold the pace and was trampled by Columbia in New York 63-51, but it struck back with vengeance the following night by upsetting Penn at the Palestra in Philadelphia, 78-70, the first time in seven years Dartmouth has defeated the Quakers in Philadelphia.

Coach Julian takes the games in stride, although admitting that his unpredictable team, largely staffed with sophomores, has been testing his nerves rather severely this winter.

Sophomore forward Ron Judson is still leading scorer with 85 field goals and 55 fouls for 225 points in 17 games and a 13.2 points-per-game average. Jim Francis, the Big Green's towering center, has a nifty 13.0 average, compiled mostly in recent contests, and is also the teams' leading rebounder. Francis has come along fast and his play is one reason for Dartmouth's fine showing.

Captain Glenn Wilson, who like the team blows hot and cold, ranks third in

scoring, averaging 11 points per game from his guard post, while reserve guard Larry Freier and sophomore forward Tom Donohoe with a 7-5 and 7-3 average, respectively, are the other top scorers for the Indians.

Defensively, sophomore guard Gene Booth, who is ineligible this semester because of grades, has been a standout. Booth was particularly effective in the Connecticut game, breaking up plays time and again by stealing the ball or picking off rebounds. Dartmouth reserves like guards Toby Julian and Larry Freier and forward Gene Givens have also been very effective, and Coach Julian has used them frequently to spell the regulars.

At this point, six Ivy League games and two games with Holy Cross remain on the schedule. Dartmouth should win most of these and, if so, will have compiled the best record since Julian took over the team in 1950.

But Julian's hopes for next year rest not only with the current crop of sophomores, but also with the freshman club being developed by Coach Al Maguire. The '58 team has gone undefeated in five contests and there are at least three or four top-rated players who should add to varsity strength next winter. Mike Carruthers, a sharp-shooting guard, is probably the best varsity bet, but he has been out sick during most of the winter. Captain Henry Hoff, Hal Douglas and Jim Preston are the scoring leaders for the freshmen, with Hoff shooting well from the outside and Crawford leading the team in rebounds.

Captain Dana Hennigar '55, the hockey team's first-string center

All eyes follow the ball on an attempted field goal in the Winter Carnival basketballgame, won from Princeton, 66 to 56.