BASKETBALL

Dartmouth's basketball team wasn't expected to produce an explosive offense this season and Coach Dave Gavitt's major concern was to make the opposition play the game at Dartmouth's tempo.

"We're not equipped to play a highspeed, run-and-shoot game," said Gavitt. There's a difference between playing "slow-down" basketball and the deliberate, good-shot style that Gavitt has installed with the Indians this season.

As the season reaches the midway point, the Big Green stands 5-7. Only once, in an 89-53 loss at Bowling Green during the Christmas trip, has Dartmouth been unable to control the game's tempo.

The Indians carried a 2-1 record to Buffalo, N. Y., for the Queen City Tournament and took second place as they defeated Canisius, the host team, 61-58, and bowed to Long Island University, last year's top-ranked small college team, 62-44, in the championship game. Then came the nightmarish encounter at Bowling Green, but on New Year's Eve at Valparaiso University in Indiana, the Indians rallied in the final seconds to take an 82-81 victory.

Returning to New England, a 74-62 victory at the University of Connecticut brought Dartmouth's record to 5-3. The Indians followed with three Ivy League games on the road. Each was a disappointing loss for Gavitt and his gutsy squad.

Princeton trailed the Green at the half but gradually moved . away to a 70-55 victory. One night later at Penn, Dartmouth led for nearly 38 minutes, then bowed in overtime, 72-68. The trip to Harvard was equally bitter as the Green came back in the final minutes to take the lead but couldn't maintain the edge and lost in the closing seconds, 63-60.

The first home game in Alumni Gym in 42 days (after eight straight on the road) pitted Dartmouth against Army, the nation's leading defensive team. The Cadets had lost five straight after winning their first six and showed their defensive muscle by withstanding an Indian rally in the second half and taking a 62-48 decision.

Every game for Gavitt's contingent this season has left the crowd feeling as though it's been through a wringer. "We've got a group that's working as hard as it can and gives a maximum effort every night," said Gavitt. "It's a tremendous credit to them to bounce back with another tough effort after being beaten in a series of close games."

Alex Winn, the 6-7 forward from Saugus, Mass., has been the top scorer for the Indians. He had 273 points for an average of 22.8 points after 12 games. He also has been hampered by fouls in nearly every game and when he has gone to the bench the Indians have been unable to sustain their scoring punch.

Captain Greg Pickering, from Hampton, N. H., has not been a conspicuous scorer (averaging seven points per game) but he is the pivot around whom the offense functions and is Dartmouth's leading rebounder and the top man in assists. An assist is credited on a pass that leads directly to a basket and Pickering had 38 in 12 games.

In the backcourt, sophomore Joe Cook from Wantagh, N. Y., has averaged ten points per game and taken up much of the slack created by injuries to Tom Reddy and Henry Tyson, last year's regulars.

Reddy was lost for the season after three games due to a knee injury. Tyson, an All-Ivy second team selection last year as a sophomore, suffered a kidney injury on the first day of practice in October but returned to play the final seconds against Harvard and most of the game with Army. His scoring ability may relieve much of the pressure on Winn and give the Indians a balanced scoring ability in the second half of the season.

Dartmouth's win over Brown was swimming coach Karl Michael's 200th dual meetvictory since 1939. Al Peterson presents him with a cake, confidently baked in advance, and Captain Terry Robinson waits to present him with a plaque.