Crimson Five Defeats Yale, 67-63

The varsity basketball team ended its season on a sloppy but happy note, defeating Yale 67-63 at the IAB last night. The win gave the Crimson an Ivy League record of 4-10, good enough for a sixth place tie with Columbia and Dartmouth. This is the same position it held last year, when it finished with a 6-8 mark.

After opening a 17 point lead with only 3:51 remaining in the game, the Crimson evidently decided that the customers should get a little excitement for their money.

Throwing away passes, missing easy shots, and suddenly displaying a porous defense, the Crimson allowed its lead to shrink to five, 64-59. When Denny Lynch hit two foul shots, the fans breathed more easily, happy that they had seen an exciting game.

Dramatic Playing

But the Crimson's sense of the dramatic was particularly acute last night. As a final, cruel blow to the Elis, Jim Hanson scored two fouls and Stu Ludium hit on a drive narrowing the margin to three points, 66-63. Then Joe Deering missed a foul, and Yale had the ball at mid-court with 20 seconds remaining.

As Yale desperately planned a play, the confident Crimson contemplated its victory party at the other end of the gym. The fans, still unaware of the devious Harvard plot, waited intently in anticipation of the final play.

But the Crimson decided the trick had gone far enough. As Bill Madden of the Elis threw a pass to teammate Mare Landrum. Harvard made the ball go off Landrum's hand and out of bounds. After Bob Bowditch made a final free throw, the crowd filed out, content. Little did they know that the whole drama was a masterful Harvard trick!

With Bill Danner scoring from underneath and Gary Borchard hitting jump shots, the Crimson built up an early 13-6 lead. At this point the old plague--sloppy ball-handling--made its appearance, and Yale began to catch up. The second of two straight baskets by Landrum finally knotted the score at 14-14 with 12:25 remaining in the half.

The Crimson regained the lead at 4:50 on two free throws by Pete Kelley, his first points of the game. Yale then opened a five point advantage, 29-24, its largest of the night. But baskets by Danner, Denny Lynch and Gene Augustine put Harvard ahead at the half, 33-31.

Bowditch Stars

The huge second half lead was mainly the work of captain Bowditch, playing his last varsity game after three seasons on the team. Hitting on jump shots and drives, Bowditch at one point scored 10 straight points as the Crimson was building the lead it eventually lost.

Rebounding strength, which showed up in the statistics as a 41-32 advantage, and a tight 1-3-1 zone defense that held the Elis backcourt pair of Madden and Chip Oldt to eight points apiece, were the outstanding features of the victory.

Lynch, who led the scorers with 15, Danner who had 11, and Kelley controlled the boards throughout most of the game. Bowditch after scoring 14 points was greeted with a standing ovation as he left the floor for the last time with a few seconds remaining. Steve Goulding, a 6 ft., 8 in. sophomore, and Landrum each had 12 for Yale.

The Crimson's fine freshman team suffered its second loss in 14 games, bowing to the Eli freshmen 55-47.