Crimson Five Edges Penn, Drops Close Cornell Game

For thirteen minutes the Ivy Basketball League had a new, and unfamiliar contender Saturday night.

In the first seven of those minutes (in the second half of the Cornell-Harvard game at the Blockhouse), substitute guard Lou Lowenfels completely stopped Big Red scoring ace Chuck Rolles, and the Crimson advanced from a 43-33 deficit to a 50-43 lead.

For the next six, the teams traded baskets, and the Crimson stayed close, close enough to give hope that this year's team might go somewhere in the Ivy League, might even have a chance to bring Harvard its first championship in the loop's 54-year history.

But then the team ran out of gas, and Cornell won, 75 to 68.

The unaccustomed superior feeling was not unreasonable. By winning, the Crimson would have tied Princeton for first place in the League; Friday night the team had come from behind to upset a good Penn club, 86 to 78. Ike Canty had poured in 12 points in the last seven minutes, and the team had scored on a phenomenal 49 per cent of its field goal attempts.

In beating the Quakers for the first time since March 4, 1947, the Crimson came from nine points behind after 5:30 of the first half. The zone defense which Coach Wilson had hoped would stop Penn's Joe Sturgis was successful in that respect but had to be abandoned when Lou Bayne of the Red and Blue tallied ten points in the first ten minutes.

Canty Totals 50 Points

Penn led, 43 to 41, at the half, but in the second half the Crimson moved the ball crisply and Bob Hastings, in the back-court, passed too quickly for Penn's zone defense. Sturgis was scoring now, too, however, and Penn led by 61 to 55 after 9:30. Then Canty, who had been benched since late in the first half with four personal fouls, came back in.

Sturgis was high scorer with 31 points, and Canty had 26. Phil Haughey, whose soft hook shots kept the Crimson close, had 25.

The Crimson blew an early 26-18 lead against the Big Red as the diminutive Rolles showed why he leads the Ivy League in scoring. He was faster than anyone covering him in the first half, and the visitors led, 35 to 31, at the intermission to go.

Rolles and Canty tallied 24 each, and Haughey 18.