Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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spirited and aggressive play that kept them in the game. Charley Verschuuren was outstanding not only offensively, net- ting ten points in the half, but also de- fensively. The second half began just as the lirst ended, nip and tuck, but the class of the team from Utah soon began to show as they slowly piled up a convincing lead. Manhattan was not to be beaten so easily though and rallied midway in the second half to draw within three points, trailing by 39-36 only to have the Cougars take command and increase their lead to a comfortable margin. john Hughes with seven points in the second half kept Man- hattan in the game. Chico Cohane and Charley Verschuuren were high men for the Green with eleven points each. .14 Arigdf One half hour after arriving in Read- ing, the Jasper team took the floor against Albright College. Although stiff and tired after the long ride, the -laspers found little competition in Albright. Gaining a quick lead on a goal and a foul by Joe Stewart the Green never were behind and had no trouble in defeating an outclassed Albright team. Scoring honors went to Bob Kelly who tossed in sixteen points, hitting for seven from the floor and two from the foul line. As usual the attack was centered around captain Charley Verschuuren who in addition to making ten points proved the steady play- maker on an otherwise wild team. The final score read Manhattan 58, Albright 41. KO! eg? After a two year lapse, Manhattan and City College resumed basketball relations in the Garden. Remembering the 59 - 46 drubbing at the hands of the '43 Jasper 2 team, City avenged itself by defeating the '46 Green team 53 - 45. As with Brig- ham Young, it was a case of the jitters that beat the green Green team. The young Jasper team gained an early lead and had the Beavers bewildered, they played so well. Manhattan trailed four to two and then made twelve points in a row to take an astounding lead. A tremendous upset seemed in the making. Then with five minutes remaining in the first half and Manhattan leading 18 - 7 the roof caved in. The Green live which had been setting up their plays with the coolness of veterans and had been performing so well, suddenly reversed their form and allowed City to catch up, the Jasper lead being whittled to 20 to 19 at the half. The Beavers led by Captain Paul Schmones proved to be the better team for that nightls second half. The eventual result seemed evident in the first few minutes as City quickly went ahead and began to increase their lead to ten points before Manhattan could begin to keep pace. 'M CLIZOUCL In a surprisingly close but well played game the Jaspers downed a stubborn Villanova live 57 to 47. The score was tied five times in a thrilling first half at the end of which Manhattan led 29 - 27. Although the Wilclcats have not fared well this season, for a while it looked as though they might upset the Iaspers as they began to click with their long shots. The Villanova team were putting in some amazing shots and it appeared that every time they shot the ball went in. However the accurate shooting of John Hughes, Bob Kelly and Jack Byrnes kept the Green on top. Byrnes was the star of the game making nineteen points for scoring honors and playing a brilliant floor game. Hughes and Kelly each made twelve. 55

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M'00L!gl'l Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute proved to be a breather to the jasper Five and the Green had little trouble downing them 63 - 40. Honey Russell started his first team but yanked them after only eight minutes of play with the score 18 to 8. The second and third stringers finished the game as the Jaspers won their ninth game in twelve starts. Scoring honors went to Johnny Murphy, six foot five third string center who gathered fifteen points. Cl Cl,l'lt0l'l. Scranton University had the distinct honor of being the only team to lose two games this season to the Green. After beating the Tomcats at the Fordham Gym, the Jaspers traveled to Scranton and defeated them on their own court. Blowing a huge fifteen point lead built up in the first five minutes, the Green had a tough time defeating Scranton in the second game. Sensational set shooting by Bob Kelly during the opening minutes paced the Iaspers to their early lead. VV ith the game only seven minutes old, Manhattan led 16 - l and Kelly had made eleven points. Then the Green be- came ragged and allowed the T omcats to close the gap to 24 to 20 at the half and then tie it at 26 all after two minutes of the second half. T he Iaspers finally pulled away again with a lead of eight points but Scranton again started to close the gap. Timely baskets by Jack Byrnes kept Manhattan ahead and the hnal score was Manhattan 46, Scranton 42. The all-time record between Manhattan and Scranton now stands at four wins and four defeats for each school. 2 CLl'Ll'l0l'l. Leaving Scranton, the jasper Five traveled on to Buffalo to meet Gannon College in Buffalo's Memorial Auditor- ium. The Manhattanites completely out- classed the Gannon Five to gain their fourth straight victory by a score of 43 - 32. The defeat spoiled the debut of Gannon into the big time as the small school from Erie, Pa. showed little ability to score. The victory was the Iaspers eleventh in fourteen games. j0l'6!LCl.l'l'l February lst was very nearly a night of mourning for the jaspers when they barely nosed out their traditional rivals Fordham. The last time these two teams met on a basketball court the .Rams handed the Jaspers one of their two de- feats of that season. That game took place in the 1942 season, at the end of which both teams were contenders for the National Invitation Tournament Champ- ionship. The Manhattan fans who ambled over to the Rose Hill Gym, expecting to see the Jaspers blow over the Rams with- out difficulty, were unpleasantly sur- prised. ln a highly spirited contest, in which Fordham refused to concede a thing, it took Manhattan right up to the final whistle to gain a decision. The final score was 40 - 39. The game was tight from the very start, with the score tied eight times. The Iaspers were unable to click from the beginning, while FO1'Clll31ll,S long shots just couldn't stay out. Manhattan tricky plays which had bewildered more experi- enced fives, did not show themselves at all. In the first half it was the bucket shooting of Jack Byrnes which kept Man- hattan ahead in the scoring column. The half ended in the Ram's favor 22 - 21.