St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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game was played, allowing Ed Courtney's Reds to crow over a barely-beaten five that had Ed Murphy for a leader. The Red edge was 29-28, Dan Sullivan figuring prominently in the winning of the placque. Looking back over the season with its grist of three wins in ten games, we could not help but pride ourselves on the fact that the School's quintet had met notable foes and had given all to realize that the court game was on the rise at St. Sebastian's. The hoop campaign of our Junior year was rather slow in getting under Way, chiefly because of the fact that, just before the season opened, the team was deprived of the coaching of Fr. Collins by his departure for Catholic University. Inasmuch as the Hockey squad was absorbing all of Mr. Murphy's time, it became necessary to replace Fr. Collins with Fr. john Redding, a young priest of the Archdiocese who had, in his pre-Seminary days, played extensively in school-boy and semi-pro circles. With some weeks of drilling under their new mentor behind them, our basketeers embarked upon a schedule similar to that of the preceding year. Nine games were attempted, and the net results totaled five victories against four defeats. To open the season shortly after the Christmas holidays, we played host to neighboring St. Columbkille High and paid the penalty for not cashing in on free tries by dropping a 28-21 verdict. To make matters worse, Belmont Hill took us into camp in our second game 36-22, a certain sharpshooter named Nemrow scoring almost half of the enemy's total. The tide soon turned over, however, and the Red and Black chalked up four successive victories to give the situation a different hue. First victim was Sacred Heart of Weymouth in a game that never left the 27-12 issue in doubt. A thriller-diller was next in order when we pulled a 36-34 decision out of the fire by scoring six points in the final two minutes of play to top St. Gabriel's, Rivers too paid tribute to our aggressiveness by bowing 28-25 in a tilt that saw us consistently taking the OPENING WHISTLE Hilton Collupy and Nangle of Sacred Heart ready for the tip-off , ball off the backboards and thereby domi- nating the play. To make it four in a row, we tacked a second and decisive defeat on St. Gabriel's with a 33-15 count. Our streak ended, unfortunately, when Belmont Hill faced us again and emerged with a 28-22 edge. That we could come back strong was demon- strated when we took on Rivers for a second time and sailed over their quintet by a 29-20 length. Cambridge School, however, was strong enough to repeat its success of the previous year against us, forcing us to bow, 26-15. That, in brief, is the chronicle of the wars of '44-'45, and obviously it represents an advance over the achievements of the team we cheered in our Sophomore year. Five wins in nine starts certainly justified us in looking for the day that Basketball would bring notable trophies to St. Sebastian's. In our Senior year, Basketball took on all the earmarks of a major sport on Nonantum Hill. Working on the theory that our basketeers could not help but benefit from competing with high-grade teams, the School authorities had arranged a twenty game schedule that brought us face to face with quintets that had long been formidable in Catholic League and private school ranks. With this prospect ahead, Fr. Redding called out his candidates early, but it was our mis- fortune to find, in mid-January, that the pressure of parish duties and special assign- ments would not permit him to continue in

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the capacity of St. Sebastian's Coach. At that juncture, Coach Vin Murphy, although already burdened with the responsibility of directing the Hockey team, stepped into the breach and handled the hoopsters for the remainder of the season. For the most part, the team that wore the Red and Black colors in 1945-46 was made up of Captain Dan Sullivan and Bob McNabb, forwards, Hilton Fish Collupy at the jumping post, and newcomerjack Cremmen and Bill O'Leary at the guard stations. Later in the season, Football Captain-Elect Bill Harwood teamed with Cremmen under the basket, to be spelled from time to time by Bob McGarty. Senior Bill White and War Veteran Jim Logue also were destined for frequent service. Inasmuch as the hoop season of our Senior year was the most ambitious one in our four years at St. Sebastian's, we feel that its individual games should be summarized briefly. ST. SEBASTIAN,S 18- ST. CHARLES or WALTHAM 39 Alilicted with opening game jitters, we allowed the potent visitors to pile up a 27-8 lead by the half, and then came back to hold them to a 12-10 margin in the second. Fish Collupy with 7 points, including five fouls out of six, was top man for the home team, while Dan Sullivan placed second with 5. That our play lacked aggressiveness was in- dicated by the fact that we had only three fouls called against us during the entire contest. ST. SEBASTIAN'S 28- ST. CoLUMiaK1LLE's 30 We were a much improved quintet when we faced the green-clad warriors whom Fr. Flanigan was so anxious to beat. Taking the lead from the start, we showed deceptive ball-handling and good team-play that enabled us to chalk up an 18-11 superiority at half-time. From that point, however, We faded and the visitors' whirlwind finish nipped us 30-28 on Leo Buckley's 11 second- half points. Sull's 13 markers was the day's bright spot, but we could attribute the de- feat to our failure to convert free tries into points. ST. SEBASTIAN,S 8- BROWNE AND NICHOLS 21 Our third game was played in B8cN's ice-box gym that completely stifled us, used, as we were, to the wide open spaces of our own cage. Finding ourselves so completely cooped up on the small court, we even lost our eye for foul tries, failing to rack up one out of eight tries. McNabb's 4 points con- stituted our best individual effort. ST. SEBASTIAN'S 12- ST. MARYVS or WALTHAM 28 Three days later we entertained the re- nowned Walthem quintet, and were too courteous to offer them serious opposition. In the first quarter only were we in the run- ning, for thereafter the foe pulled away from us steadily. Our grist for the day was a meagre 3 baskets and 6 fouls-not much to talk about during the Christmas vacation. ST. SEBAsT1AN's 22- ST. MARY'S or LYNN 49 Back from the holidays, we again played the perfect host, bowing to the North Shore powerhouse 49-22. Trailing by 8 points at the half, we rallied to within 2 baskets of the foe, but their experience and reserves allowed them to gallop away from us at the finish. Bob McNabb had his eye, at least, and personally accounted for 13 points-more than half our total. ST. SEBASTIAN'S 19-RIVERS 16 Using a make-shift line-up, we finally scored our first victory by a narrow margin. McNabb led the parade with 8 markers,