BASKETBALL

The Indian basketball team has had its troubles since our last report, losing three games to a trio of the nation's top teams, plus two Ivy League encounters which could just as well have been wins instead of losses. The balanced scoring punch which was evident before Christmas vacation has failed to materialize with the exception of maybe one or two games.

The holiday road trip proved to be the toughest assignment a Dartmouth basketball team has had in recent years. The University of Kentucky Wildcats had little trouble rolling up a 36-17 halftime lead and coasting from there to a 95-49 victory. Mike Buckley led the Green with 16 points, but the usual big guns of Steve Spahn and Davis Blaine were almost silent, as they scored only seven and eight points respectively.

The next night the Indians gave a good account of themselves against the 1962 N.I.T. champions, the Dayton Flyers. They led by five points through most of the first half and were down only 26-24 at intermission. Dayton's height and experience, however, paid off in the second half, as the Flyers won 62-45. The back court twosome of Spahn and Elson clicked for the Green and collected 16 and 13 points.

The final road game found the Indians bowing to a superior Butler University team 89-55. Blaine had his best night of the trip with 14 points, but the other Indians were unable to hit consistently.

With the opening of the winter term, the Dartmouth basketball team took on a new look as sophomore Pete Coker made his appearance. The highly rated center, who was captain of last year's freshman team, was ineligible during the fall term. The current Green line-up finds Coker at the center position, with Barton and Blaine the forwards, and Spahn and Elson the guards. Buckley has become the number six man in the line-up.

Bill Madden, former Big Green quarterback, is also seeing considerable action at forward, along with Fran Hanlon. Walt Lillard is Doggie Julian's number one replacement at guard.

Coker began his varsity career in fine fashion, playing a good defensive game and hitting well as the Indians upset favored Boston College 58-50 at Boston. Blaine was high scorer with 19 points as Dartmouth overcame a six-point B.C. lead in the second half, tying the score at 40-40 and moving on to win.

It was expected that the rejuvenated Indians would have little trouble with Harvard, but whoever wrote the scripts for that game and the two that followed took them from the same mold. In all three Ivy League games to date, the Indians have blown leads of four or five points late in the second half, losing two games and managing to pull one out in overtime.

Against Harvard the Indians played what might well be their poorest first half of the season, trailing 26-19. Led by Blaine, Coker, and Barton, they rallied to tie the score and move ahead in the second half. Coker tied the game at 31-31 and with about two and a half minutes remaining, the Green led 39-33. In the time that remained, however, Harvard outscored the Green 12-1, to win 45-40. It was a case of too many mistakes. Blaine had 18 points for the night, but the back courtmen contributed only six points between them.

The Columbia game was the same story, even though the Indians played a better floor game. With the Lions out in front 35-31 at the half, the Green came roaring back to lead 46-41 late in the game. With two minutes remaining, Columbia knotted the score and went on to win 55-51. Blaine again was high man with 12 points, while Elson had 11. The game was lost at the foul line, where the Green hit on only 11 of 21 chances, while the Lions connected on 17 of 19.

The Cornell game, postponed to Sunday afternoon, January 13, because bad weather kept the Big Red in Ithaca, appeared headed for the same type of finish. The visitors, trailing by five points late in the second half, began to chop away at the lead, until a jump shot with two seconds remaining tied the score at 57-57 and forced the game into overtime. In the five-minute period that followed, Spahn and Buckley cashed in on free throws to provide the Indians with enough margin to win 71-66. Spahn broke out of his scoring slump against Cornell and netted 30 points.