Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

Page 262 text:

GUARD 0 GUARD o GUARD o GUARD Q GUARD 260 GUARD 0

Page 261 text:

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

Page 263 text:

could not cope with the Violets aggres- siveness and experience. The Green was still in the fight and for seven minutes held the Violets scoreless. The Iaspers scoring was distributed among Gerry Cohane, Nick Thornton, and Johnny Burke, each of whom notched eight points. - 1 Since the Jaspers XVC1'Cl1it conceded the slightest chance of upsetting the Violets, the wonderful playing by the Green in the first half afforded a great uplift to the spirit of the Green rooters, who had visions of the Jaspers taking the Violets. As is said in Brooklyn, VVait until next year. yl Cl,CbL52 I Trying to snap out of a three game losing streak, the jaspers met Syracuse University and the losing streak con- tinued to four. The Orange team com- pletely outclassed the Green, and that is not a reference to the North and South of Ireland. The Syracuse Five boasted of two skyscrapers while the Green could only boast of steel and concrete sky- scrapers in their beloved city. The final tally was 59 - 36 with the Orange team definitely in the fore. The shooting and fioor work of the Syracuse Five was more than the Green could cope with-but even so, the Green played a hard driving game only to fall victims to the terrific height advantage of their opponents. The first half started with several tal- lies by both teams after hard fought skir- mishes under each basket. Then under the guiding hand of Roy Peters, who was the high man for the night with fifteen points, the Orangemen moved out to a comfortable 33 - l6 lead at halftime. The ,Taspers showed very well at the be- ginning of the second period with Captain Charley Verschuuren and Bob Kelly leading the attack, but the Orangemen were out in front to stay. .SDL 904112 In their fourth and final appearance in the Garden, the Iaspers lost to St. John's University 56 - 30. The game was very slow as both teams missed easy layup shots, threw passes away, and couldn't hit even with their set shots. If the Green had been on at all, the game would have been close as St. John's were anything but the great team that they are. It was the second team of St. John's that finally started to play ball and as a result Joe Lapchick kept the first team on the bench most of the time. Honey Russell substi- tuted every man on the bench trying to get a winning combination but to no avail. The final buzzer was a very welcoming sound to all in the Garden. .Ja SML After losing five straight, Manhattan finally hit the win column with a victory over La Salle College in Convention Hall, Philadelphia. About 4000 fans saw the Iaspers fight off a spirited surge by the Little Explorers in the final minutes. Manhattan dominated most of the first half play but fell behind 27 - 26 at the twenty minute mark as the result of the fourteen point contribution of Bob Walters, high scorer for the Pennsyl- vania team. The second half found the two clubs in a series of deadlocks until the last six minutes of play. At this time, baskets by Johnny Hughes, Gerry Cohane and Johnny Burke gave the Green their Hrst comfortable lead of the half and what eventually proved enough for victory. La Salle fought hard but in vain in the last few seconds, dropping three quick baskets but it was too late.