Varsity Edges Amherst Five In Close Win

An underdog Amherst five gave the varsity a scare last night, but the Crimson, sparked by Ed Blodnick and Ed Condon, pulled out a fourth quarter, 56-51 victory at the I.A.B.

The win was the fourth in a row for the varsity, which now possesses a 9-5 season total.

The Lord Joffs, trounced soundly by the Crimson during Christmas, stayed up with the winners for the first half. Then, paced by center Doug Hawkins, they outscored the varsity 17-11 in the third period is take a 42-41 lead.

Within the first three minutes of the final period, however, the two Eds scored six points to put the Crimson ahead for good. Blodnick collected three on a rebound play, and Condon tossed in foul and drove in for two more.

On Blodncik's three-point play, Hawkins, Amherst's top rebounder, fouled out. With the big pivot man out, the Crimson pulled away to as much as a nine-point lead in the final minutes.

Harry Sacks led the scoring with 15 points on five field, goals and five fouls. Bull Dennis, Blodnick, and Condon each had eight points. Tony Mahar, the Jeffs' captain, was high for the losers with 14 points. Hawkins had ten points.

With Dennis hitting on two sets and a jump shot, the Crimson forged out to a 12-9 first quarter lead. The varsity increased the lead to 30-25 at half, but in the third period sophomore Hawkins, who in averaging 15 points a game, hit on four out of six shots to push the Jeffs ahead by as much as 40-35.

Showing the effects of its two week layoff, the varsity did not look too sharp last night. Except for Dick Manning's first period rebounding, it failed to control the boards, and was guilty of loose ball handling.

Amherst was even more rusty. It scored on only 17 out of its 60 shots for a poor 29.3. pr cent. The Crimson, when it had the ball, had 19 for 42 field goal record, a452 average.

The varsity, with the best defensive record in the East, faces Navy in its next home game on Saturday night.