Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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his McGuire-Boykoff team, the Kelly Green caught on fire with an eleven-point splurge which narrowed the margin to eight points, but the clock was against us. Bob Kelly was the Jaspers ' top scorer with fifteen points. The jinx that the Garden seems to hold over Manhattan teams continued, as defeat number three was suffered at the hands of nationally promment Syracuse. The boys in Kelly Green outfought and possibly t)ut- played the upstaters, but could not cope with their superior height. Royce Newell, 6 foot 9 inch Orange center, contributed eighteen points to his team ' s total, and most of them were garnered on rebounds. The Jaspers kept the score close until the closing minutes of the first half, but Syracuse broke ahead to lead at the intermission, 31-25. hi the second Six Skymnki. Cciilt half they gradually increased their lead. Poppe carried the scoring burden for Man- hattan with sixteen, followed by Cohane with fourteen. An injury in the Syracuse game sidelined Bob Kelly for the next four games, but he was missed most sorely in the first of these, the encounter with ' Villanova, which was Bill K ' uuds Rings Bell Ay,.iiint Brooklyn Inst, 56-T(). The Jaspers lacked their usual dri e and hustle, and as their set-shots were oft ' , the outcome was inevitable. They trailed, 26-20, at the half, and could not make up the deficit. Joe Lord of Villanova led all scorers with eighteen, while Sig Skronski had twelve for Manhattan. The second road trip led to the Boston Garden and an encounter with Holy Cross. The Jaspers met with no success, as the Cru- saders put on a strong second-half drive to win going away, 58-49. The winners, com- posed mainly of New York bred basketeers, gained an early 11-0 lead, and appeared to be heading for an easy triumph, but the Jas- pers gained steadily, and a foul shot by 251

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allowed the Tommies to stay N ' ith them throughout the hrst half, but after ten min- utes of the second had gained a ten-pomt lead, which they maintained. The squad was playing without the service of Sig Skronski, first string center, which partially accounts for the eighteen points netted by Scranton ' s Tom Notchick. For the Jaspers, Veryzer had thirteen and Cohane elexen. What was possibly the largest cro d e er crammed into the Akimni gymnasium was on hand to see Manhattan edge out a strong spirited lona team. 69-62. in the inaugural of a series with cur t;ro ini ' neiL;hbors from New Rochelle. The i amc was close to the ,1I.(. Sa.imhU. Si. ]-.hii ' , G-iph end, but the Jaspers greater experience showed against a team composed mostly of freshmen. The isitors |umped to an early 9-1 lead, but the b.iys from Rn-erdale went ahead for good midway in the first period, and led at the half. .t ' i-.tC). lona came close to knotting; the ct)unt in the wanint; minutes juhi! Hughes of the game, but the fast-breaking Jasper squad pro ed more ettecti e. Gerry Cohane hit the season high for points in a single came, with twenty-two markers, scored mainly on dri e-in shots. He was followed by Sig Skronski with fifteen, while Fred Pericas of the losers had eighteen. The start of a fijur-trame losintr streak was in store for the Jaspers as they began the aforementioned poor second half of the sea- son by losing to St. John ' s, 55-44, before a capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden. High Harry Boykotf, who had been most in- effectne earlier m the season, found his eye against Manhattan, to ruin our chances with twenty-two points. The Jaspers were unable to get untracked during the first half, which closed with our team on the short end of a 3 ' i-l6 count. When Joe Lapchick took out 250

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Poppe |ust at the end of the half tied the score, 22-22. High scorers for the night were John Burke of Manhattan and Ken Hag- gerty of Ht)ly Cross, formerly co-captains at Andrevs Jaci son High Scliool, with eleven points apiece. This good showing against Holy Cross was later emphasized as the Cru- Ktlly Y ilihi. ' i V.itlDiiiiilh L.nt ScumbU ' saders became National Champions in the Invitation Tournament. Ihe Jaspers got hack in the winning col- umn at Albany on January 2°), when they gained a hard-fought victory over Siena Col- lege. The seven-point advantage held at the half by the hoine team seemed tenable until a late drive gave the Kelly Green a 50-47 de- cision. The score was tied at least a dozen times, but with one minute remainintr, and the ciiunt knotted at -i7-l7, John Hughes netted a foul shot and Hank Poppe scored under the basket, to provide the winning margin. Poppe was high for the Jaspers with sixteen, but the game high of eighteen was scored by George Weber, a former Man- hattan student. A strong Vermont team was the next to trip the Jaspers, and they turned the trick by the score of 64-58 in their home town of Burlington. The game was one of the best played all season, but was not in the books for a Jasper victory, even though the River- dalers led at half time by the score of 31-24. Sparked by one of the finest ballplayers en- countered all season in Larry Killick, the northerners went ahead midway in the final period, and staved off a strong closing bid by a desperate Manhattan team. Gerry Co- hane led all scorers with twenty-one points. The less said about the next two games the better for all concerned. The victors were St. Francis, 53-52, and ViUanova, 77-60. In the first of these, the Jaspers led, 50-42, with John B nit 252