Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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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.

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Fordham continued to hold a slight lead for almost fifteen minutes of the second half, when the fireworks began. Captain Charles Verschuuren, a member of the '42 Jasper team, started it off by hitting with a long range set. Jack Byrnes and John Hughes dropped in a basket and a foul apiece to give the Jaspers the advantage at 38 - 37. At this point, Manhattan decided to freeze the ball, but the Rams succeeded in dropping in two points. With twenty seconds remaining Bob Kelly threw up a one-hander that -bounced off the rim into the hands of Joe Stewart who put a one-handed shot through the hoop with five seconds left in the game. Fordham was unable to get the ball up the court before the whistle ended the game. Jack Byrnes was high man for the Green with thirteen and Charley Verschuuren trailed him by one. Sf. jranciri In their third appearance in the Gar- den, the Jasper Five, an eleven point favorite, lost to St. Francis. The fighting Terriers from St. Francis College showed that there was plenty of bite left in their ragged teeth by walloping the hapless Manhattan quintet 40 - 36 before a packed Garden. Brother Jasper must have revolved in his grave when he viewed from his spiritual seat the lacka- dasical team that represented the Green and Wliite. Small consolation could be raised in the fact that V erschurren and Kelly were high scorers of the game with eight points apiece. Absence of jack Byrnes from the line-up made a decided difference in the bucket plays and the recovery of rebounds from the back- board. Nick Thornton, playing his first game since '42 when he was with joe Daher, showed plenty of drive and ability to set up plays. 25 M CLFLOUCL Arriving in Villanova ten minutes be- fore game time, cramped from the long bus ride, and playing a fresh team on a strange court, the Jasper quintet faltered in the final periol giving Villanova a 42 - 40 win. The two teams were evenly matched, but the Wildcats had that extra ounce of energy stored away for a strong finish. The game started off rather quickly, with Charley V erschuuren keeping the Green in the lead with his long set shots. ln the second quarter, Nick Thornton took over matching shot for shot with Villanova's Joe Lord, and at the half the Green led 27 - 23. In the third quar- ter, Verschuuren and Thornton put the Green ahead by six points, their largest lead of the game, but in the last stanza the Jaspers tired quickly. The VVildcats, seizing this advantage, racked up eight quick points against Manhattan's two, knotting the count at 40 - 40 with four minutes to play. The following 'three minutes were strictly defensive, for neither team dented the hoop. Then with forty five seconds remaining, Joe Brehmer of the Wilclcats tossed in a long one-hander to settle the game 42 - 40. Wea! MWA Mn. iuerd if? Manhattan suffered its sixth loss of the season at the hands of a great New York University team. The 61 - 37 score be- lies the fact that Manhattan led through most of the first half. It wasn't until two minutes remained in the first half that the Violets went ahead on a nine point splurge. The -laspers played a very good first half, but running true to form they could not keep up the pace in the second half. As the second half opened it became increasingly evident that the Jaspers