Saint Michaels College - Hilltop Yearbook (Colchester, VT)

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Leaving their home grounds behind, the Knights took a disastrous trip into New York and New jersey. On the first stop they were trimmed by Hofstra College, then on the second St. Peterls edged them 56-54. In the Hofstra game, which ended 59-49, Markey had 20 points and 5 fouls while Hart garnered 13 points. Hart sparked the St. Peter's game with 17 points while Burzenski picked up 13. In this game also Markey managed to accumulate the number of fouls required for expulsion. After the Christmas Vacation the Knights got into the win column again but just barely. They eeked out a 37-53 overtime victory against Cham- plain in a game that was played without the services of Burzenski and Kruse, both of whom were injured. Eddie Krupinsky came in for scor- ing honors with a neat 14 points. With their two tallest men still out of action the Knights walked onto the Memorial Audi- torium boards to face the boys from the wrong side of the Winooski. Although Burzenski did manage to play a while despite a cast on his right hand, he was not enough to save the Purple cagers from defeat. The Knights jumped to an early eight-point lead, but the Cats soon overtook them, went into the lead and were never headed. Billy Hart was all over the court in this contest. He held UVM star, Eddie Kotlarczyk, to 2 floor goals, while finding time to drop in 17 points for him- self. Walsh hit for 15 and Big Teddy dropped in 9. Final score, 58-50. BASKETBALL TEAM Standing L.-R.-Stafford, Dean, Ziter, Sullivan, Hart, Callaghan, Fioroni. Kneeling-O'Doherty, Krupinsky, Kruse, Burzenski, Fitzgerald, Walsh, Markey, Coach Borgmann. 80 L

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the wrong side of the river. Outdoing the per- formance of the Purple Knights against the Cata- mounts, the Frosh slammed out an easy 28-O vic- tory over the out-fought, out-scored Kittens of the University of Vermont. Led by Simas' trusty right arm and the sprinting of Coggio and Plourde, the Frosh humiliated the Kittens by having everything their own way. The granite- like forward wall kept the Vermonters in their own back yard all afternoon. The Purple Squires rolled over Norwich 39-0 to finish the season in fine fashion. With Plourde's 47-yard jaunt paving the way and the line hold- ing the Mountaineer backs to a 17-yard deficit, the Frosh gave notice once again that they were a power to be reckoned with. These boys, who will bolster the already strong varsity, are young and full of fight. Unquestionably there are some of them who will find first string berths open to them. We can be reasonably certain that next year's varsity aggregation will spell many a headache for rival mentors come the fall of '49. Varsity Basketball HE rosy outlook for the current basketball season became even rosier with the appear- ance on the hilltop of the former member of the original Celtics, Benny Borgmann. Benny took over the coaching duties early and soon had the squad cut down to workable size. He built his team around the stars of last year's Freshman team, keeping only John Diz Dean from last season's varsity club. Along with Dean, Markey, Hart, Burzenski and Walsh made up the starting nve, The rest of the team included Pat O'Doherty, Mike Ziter, Angelo Fioroni, Dan Fitzgerald, George Kruse, Ed Krupinsky, Tommy Sullivan and jim Callaghan. The first two games of the season, against Champlain and New England, although victories for the Knights, were ragged affairs with only occasional flashes of the brilliant play which these same boys had exhibited last year as Freshmen. The Champlain game, close until half time, wound up 51-43, while the New England final was 56-32. Eddie Markey was the sparkplug in both these games, caging 15 points the first time out and 12 the second. ln the Lowell Textile game the boys found themselves and turned in as pretty a win as one could desire. The passing clicked beautifully and they seemingly could not miss the hoop as they racked up a 67-28 win with Markey and Bur- zenski pouring in 16 points apiece.

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At Middlebury the Knights lost their scoring eyes entirely until, in the closing minutes, they went on a wild splurge and took over the lead. They were unable to hold it, however, and the Panthers scored a 55-52 upset victory. After a 39-37 overtime loss to Amherst the boys finally got back into the win column with a 57-28 win over Norwich. This win was easy but very ragged. Burzenski again topped the scorers with a high of 17. A confident and highly rated Clarkson squad was swept off its feet by a revitalized St. Michael's team, 60-34. From start to finish, the Purple made it evident that they were boss. Markey and Bur- zenski led the scoring with 15 and 13 points respectively. The Hawks of St. Anselm's flew in sporting an average of 75 points per game and a record blemished by but one defeat. Due to a 27-point evening by Teddy and a fine offensive and defen- sive game by Billy Hart, the Hawks flapped out minus a few pin feathers. Every man on the team turned in an excellent performance in this game. Final score, 63-49. Running up their highest score of the season and setting a new conference record, the Knights trampled Norwich, 85-52. They were never in any danger whatsoever in this contest as Burzenski and George Kruse found the range for 20 and 16 points respectively. A repeat performance of their victory over the Hawks of St. Anselm's proved that the first one was no fluke. The final score was 83-69. Bur- zenski, Markey and Hart scored 24, 18 and 17 with Hart's speed again being the deciding factor. In the New Hampshire game Big Teddy put on a one-man scoring exhibition to lead the Knights to a 78-61 win. Teddy wound up the game with a total of 50 points which he looped in from all angles. In the A.l.C. contest the Knights racked up a neat 55 points in the second half, setting a torrid pace that the Aces could not come close to matching. The hnal score read 78-61. A complete reversal of form caused the boys to drop a dull and ragged game to the Eagles of Boston College in the Beantown Arena. It was the big game of the year and a good crowd fol- lowed the squad to cheer them on but stayed to see them drop slowly behind and lose by a -14-36 score. Burzenski led the Knights' scoring efforts with a total of 10 points. After this loss the Knights came back to de- feat Middlebury, 55--123 Williams, 63-52, and Clarkson, 71-60, all in one week. With this siz- zling string of victories immediately preceding the Vermont game hopes for a win over the arch- rivals soared to a new high. There were no aches and pains hampering the squad as it took the court, they were in top condition, but through some strange quirk of fate they played one of their poorest shooting games of the season. They controlled the game almost from start to finish, constantly demonstrating their ability to crack the Vermont defense. But despite a multitude of chances, they were unable to find the hoop. Mean- while, Eddie Kotlarczyk, the Cats' mainstay, was going wild. He scored 19 points before being re- moved on fouls. Billy Hart had 14 points for the Knights but he could not win the game alone. Big Teddy Burzenski, who needed only 16 points to tie the Green Mountain conference record, was effectively tied up by Al Neimann. Thus a nip- and-tuck ball game was lost in the last quarter of play, 52-43.