'52 Five Enjoys Good Season; Lacks Height

"Adequate" is probably the best adjective to describe the 1948-1949 edition of the freshman basketball team. Its record is scarcely awe-inspiring (two losses out of six), but if spunk and alertness are criteria of good basketball performance the Yearlings are having a successful season.

Coach Lloyd Harper thinks "they're a mighty fine bunch of boys," and he thinks so because his players have done wonders with their physical potentialities. Harper has only one really rugged man on his team--Captain Bill Hickey. Hickey, to use an old cliche, is the sparkplug of the '52 quintet. He starts most of the plays, makes accurate, quick passes, and on defense keeps the nerves of the opposition well frazzled.

The other aren't 97 pound weaklings, but 40 minutes of basketball are tough on lean men like center John Stevenson and Jerry Murphy, who are the tall men on the team. Stevenson stands six feet three inches, has been handy in the bucket on offense, and equally useful in grabbing rebounds off the board. He probably played his best game when the freshmen beat Trinity 43-37 on December 16. Just before exam period Harper began using Al Switzer at center with considerable success to lessen the load on Stevenson.

Murphy is "best all around player," according to Harper. He's a good shot, competent on defense, but his greatest attribute is plenty of basketball know-how. Murphy played with a state championship team in his high school days and later spent some time on a top grade service team.

Jim Downey and Bill Borah have been the other two consistent starters. Both seem to be competent.

Harper's boys started the season auspiciously with a 46-40 victory over Brown December 4. In their Cambridge debut the freshmen lost to Northeastern 71-52. Then they travelled to Hartford on the 16th to administer a 43-37 defeat to Trinity.

In their first game after vacation they took a 64-38 shellacking from Hartford but bounced back to defeat Tufts 58-33 six days later, January 12. Just before exam period began they chewed Tabor apart 63-40. The freshmen will return to action February 9 against Newman Prep.