Boston University - HUB Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Ready, aim., shoot! excellent shape to meet the invaders and the main question tha.t developed was Whether the Terriers could stop this Long John Wells, six-foot five-inch center. They didn't, even though sophomore star Walter VVil- liams contributed eleven points while playing opposite this tall lad. Using exactly six men to the Terriers' ten, the Biglermen wore the Collardmen out, even Captain Jackie Rotman, whose defensive work was true to its usual brilliancy, having to retire before the game ended. Springfield College came to the B. U. gym on the night of Feb. 3, directly following the mid-year examin- ations. All Coach Mel Collard's men had Weathered the ordeal, but they certainly must have been burning the oil long past midnight for days before, because they looked half asleep on the court. The result: Springfield 493 B. U. 40. The basketeers were never in the game and it was a good thing the undergraduate could skip along to the Arena next door to see how it should be done when B. U. tackled the Vvest Point Cadets on the ice. At least it t.ook away that sour taste of watching too many losers. It was a little lad called Bob Mortensen of the Gymnasts who took home the honors at the gym, running up a total of 18 points for the fray, and had the Collardmen wishing he had stayed in Springfield. The score at half-time was Q5-17 in the visitors' favor, naturally, and although B. U. put on a rally in the next half, as they usually do, they fell short of tying the game. The B. U. quintet now possessed three victories against three losses. The prospects for the next game against Colby, at Waterville, were particularly bright, but B. U. went down to defeat, 47-36. One thing that the Collardmen forgot to heed was the freshman eligibility rule of Colby. The VVhite Mules have a scho- lastic ruling which says in effect that any freshman who VARSITY BASKETBALL is successful in academic pursuits in the first semester is eligible for varsity competition the second semester. This meant that B. U. was facing a strengthened Mule team. The first half ended with 12 points for Colby and 10 for B. U. The game was tight in spots, especially for a second or two in the second half when the Terriers put on their customary rally only to fade again. Captain Rotman led the B. U. scoring with 9 points. The next night Clark came to B. U. Coach Collard was desperately trying to snap his boys out of their slump. He shifted his starting team a bit. A little peeved, he sent subs in to take the place of veterans. Neverthe- less, Clark held the upper hand. Clark is another Uni- versity that holds one of those freshman eligibility rules like Colby's, and B. U.'s mistake was to schedule such games in the second semester when freshman standouts are eligible for varsity competition. It's true the VVorcester school lost its ace Ziggy Strzelecki and another star, Tom Tyborowski, through ineligibility which tended to weaken the visitors, as Ziggy scored 160 points in seven games for the highest individual scoring average in New England. But freshman stars were added to the team and offset the loss of these two players. The game was fairly fast with more color on the part of Clark. Everybody from VVorcester seemed to be in the gym, and B. U.'s cheering sounded like a whisper contrasted with that of their opponent's followers. The final score showed 48 points for Clark and 44 for B. U. Clark scored the winning two baskets in the last minute of play. It was a freshman, Lou Shopes, who tied the score at 44-all, and another yearling, Ray Manarel, put in another basket that proved enough for victory. We ought to break our losing streak, said Coach Mel Collard before the Bates game, but apparently the Hoop leader Rotman I3091

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VARSITY BASKETBALL Collard Conch, DeMerritt '42, Cassidy '42, Purbeck '42, 1KIcCuddy '42, Hutchings '42, Leighton '42, Porshin '40 Mgr. Thomas '42, Williams '42, King '40, Rotinnn '40 Capt., Olson '40, Pnutano '41, Schenk '41 COACH COLLARD called his men out for practice this winter even before the football season had ended, and although many of the players were still with the grid- iron team enjoying the Florida. sunshine at Tampa, much was accomplished. Looking over his squad, there was some excellent veteran material in Captain Jack Rotman, John King, Norman Alpert, and George Pantano, while sophomores fairly flooded the B. U. gym when the football season closed. As had been the case in football, the varsity newcomers were either going to break or make this varsity team and from tl1e outcome of the first game it appeared to be the latter. After Coach hlerrel Collard had brought Boston University its best season ever a year ago, it was good to see the court Terriers start the season off with a thrilling 40-39 victory over Harvard at the Crimson gym in Cambridge on Dec. 16, just before the Christmas recess. The final outcome of this battle gave B. U. undergraduates added hope that the Scarlet and VVhite hoop teams would no longer go through 13 and 14- game campaigns showing just. three or four victories as had been the case altogether too frequently in the past. Jim lNIcCuddy, a sophomore who played the left forward position, proved to be the hero of the initial game when he sank a foul shot with 30 seconds left to play to give his team a. one point. margin of victory. Just a few seconds previously, lvalter VVilliams, sophomore center whom we heard so much about on t.he gridiron last fall, had knotted the score. VVith several weeks of rest behind them, the basket- eers opened their home season by meeting the Brown Bruins at the B. U. gym, Jan. 6. The victory over Har- vard gave the Collard quintet added confidence in it- self, perhaps too much, for the final score read 42-29 in 308 the visiting tean1's favor. The Brown five was rolling on all eight cylinders this winter having gone through five encounters without a defeat. The Bruins played a new kind of basketball which called for set shots and expert passing, the guards doing most of the shooting. On Jan. 10 the Terriers drifted into tl1e north country of Durham, N. H. to meet the State University's quin- tet. At the start, two young gentlemen of New Hamp- shire named Harold Monica and Herbie Adams put the Wildcats out in front. Captain Rotman and VVee VVillie VVilliams of B. U. couldn't stand by and see such things going on, however, and by halftime these two lads had cut the lead to 19-18. Then in the second half the Scarlet and VVhite saw red and brushing the Cats aside, rolled up enough points for a 41-35 victory. Three days later the Terriers met Tufts, and put on an identical show as against Harvard, winning by a 44-43 score largely through the efforts of Walter Wil- liams, who sank two foul shots in the last seconds of the game. There wasn't a great deal of action in the first half and Tufts was leading at half-time 16-14. In the second half a regular fast and furious, nip-and-tuck battle ensued with B. U. taking the lead only to fall back again. Williams was then allowed two shots, and the rest is history neatly tucked away in Terrier sports annals. VVith three victories and one defeat to its credit, Boston University's basketball team went to post, an odds on favorite to defeat Worcester Polytech Institute on the Alumni Gymnasium court at Wforcester, Jan. 20, but the Engineers were first across the finish line with B. U. trailing a good nine lengths. The final score was 57-48 with the Terriers showing nothing but their good sportsmanship. Coach Pete Bigler had his quintet in 1

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VARSITY BASKETBALL Terrier mentor was just a shade too optimistic for his Terriers went down t.o their fifth straight defeat, 42-41, at the hands of this new opponent and left liiel at a loss to explain the shabby showing of B. U. Things were definitely amiss for the Collardmen. Coach Collard was shifting his line-up after each game to no avail. The boys just weren't up to snuff and it certainly looked as though they werenit playing their best game. VValter Vllilliams, the sophomore football flash who was doing good on thc court at the season's start, had l1it a low ebb of play, showing nothing particularly outstanding. The Terriers ran their losing streak to six games on tl1e chilly night of Feb. 20 at the B. U. gym when M.I.T. hopped an ice boat across the Charles Biver to pin a 39 to 37 defeat on the home quin- tet. Wlith only three games left to play, the Colla.rdmen appeared to be heading for some sort of losing record. The highlytoutedsophomores who were putting on great shows in previous encounters were finding the varsity competition too strong at this point in the campaign. This particular game was practically down the Scarlet and lYhite's alley until Tech came to life in the second half. At the end of the first half B. U. was leading 20-16. Soon the visitors took the lead 33-27 and the home club rallied to go ahead near tl1e close by a 37-35 score. However a final burst of Tech magic won the game as tl1e Terriers ran out of pep. On February 24, interest for the most part was cen- tered on the return Boston College-Boston University hockey gameg nevertheless, a basketball game was scheduled which was played before one of the sma.llest crowds of the season. The court Terriers returned to winning ways by thoroughly trouncing their new op- ponent, Assumption, 61-27. It was a pretty drab affair wit.h the Collardmen never relinquishing the lead once. At the end of the half the score was 28-10 in the Scarlet and VVhite's favor and at one time the score hit 50-17. The Terriers were ragged, however, and the season was nearing its climax. On the eve of February 29, the Terriers met the Nor- wich team on the court. Before the game those towering athletes from the military college presented a pretty picture against t.l1e average height of our boys, and things I Reaching for a score 310 looked bad. The fi11al score, however, read 57-37 in B. U.'s favor, which Was all right for B. U.'s indifferent basketball team and Pantano and Fitzpa.trick, high scorers of the game, but one couldn't quite dismiss the picture of those big visiting players from mind. One kept wondering what would happen in that first football game next fall, Norwich being first on the new schedule. Tl1e final encounter of tl1e season, the Saturday night of March 2, saw the Terriers playing a benefit per- formance at tl1e B. U. gym with Massachusetts State for the Finnish Relief Fund. Sydney Govenar, Llan- aging Editor of the B. U. News got the idea and planned a fine program which included a freshman basketba.ll game with Nichols Jun- ior College, and tumbling acts between the halves of the varsity contest. Mass. State had won only one game this sea- son and that was all they were going to win, for B.U. kept the vis- itors in their place all night by pulling through with a 48-22 win. Coach Mel Collard put into action every player on his bench and every boy showed his gratitude by scoring at least one bas- ket. Toward the end, the four seniors on the squad, Bill Olson, Captain Jack Rotman, Johnny King, and Bill Schenk, played the final minutes with Captain - elect George Pantano. Holding the spotlight on the evening's entertainment, however, was a freshman player by the name of Joe Silver who scored 39 points, setting up a new B. U. record for points scored in a game. He looks like a star for one of the future varsity quintets. The freshmen won their game by the lop-sided score of '70 to 3-L The varsity finished t.l1e 1939-1940 campaign showing six victories and seven losses. Soon following the last game, George Pantano of Chelsea, Hrst-string forward on the team was elected captain to lead the 1940-41 quintet. He succeeds Capt. Jack Rotman, another Chelsea product whose Work was one of the high lights on the squad all season at guard, and makes the fourth Chelsea basketball and former Red Devil star to cap- tain the B.U. five in the past half decade. Meanwhile Coach Mel Collard entered the Veteran's Hospital for a minor operation, but came back ten days later feel- ing fit as a fiddle. He was full of new life and rarin' to go. l