Columbia Quintet Bids for League Lead With 76-71 Win Over Varsity

Chet Forte and the other four members of Columbia's quintet moved to within a half game of league-leading Penn Saturday night, checking a late rally by Harvard's sophomores to win, 76 to 71, at the IAB, The loss for the last-place Crimson was its sixth in seven league games, and its over-all record is now 4-10.

The varsity did its best to stop Forte by putting a man on him at all times, and doubling up on him as he drove toward the basket, but it was all in vain. The 5-9 sophomore, hitting on 65 percent of his shots, scored 33 points on 11 field goals and 11 foul shots. He now leads the Ivy League with a 25.2 average in six games.

Sophomores Ike Canty and Phil Haughey were the high scorers for the losers with 21 and 20 points respectively, and Captain Roger Bulger, once again playing a fine floor game, tossed in six field goals for 12 points.

Taking advantage of some poor Crimson ball-handling in the second half, the Lions took a seemingly commanding lead, 71-57, with six minutes left in the game. But in the next four minutes, the varsity surprised the crowd by scoring 11 straight points to narrow the score to 71-68. With Forte able to freeze the ball, however, the Lions held on to win. They had led at the half 37-35.

In a preliminary game, the Fort Devens quintet easily defeated the junior varsity, 76 to 58 and the freshman team defeated Exeter, 74-61, at Exeter Saturday.