St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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CHEER FOR THE OPPONENTS The season was beginning to wane very definitely by this time, but interest in the game with New Prep was heightened by the appearance of an old friend, Elmo Freda, in the visitors' line-up. As a contest, it lacked the close competition of our previous game, for we took the lead from the opening gun and were never headed or very seriously threatened. By the mid-way mark we had lengthened our first period advantage of 10-6 to 18-12 and that margin was main- tained pretty well for the rest of the fray, although the visitors put on their best offen- sive in the third frame, holding us to a 14-13 hair. We were a trifle strong for them in the final stanza and at game's end we were a 44-34 winner. Bob Kelly and Bill Brooks were high scorers at 12, Andy McAuliffe reached a new personal peak with 6, Frank Kett and Bill Carey tallied 5 each, while Charlie Hearn found the range for 4. St. Charles of Waltham were our next foe and we had heard that they would not be at their best because they had lost the -l l27 services of several players who had been regulars. During the first half we had things pretty much our own way, scoring on the opening tap and amassing a lead that at one time reached 9-1. In the second period, however, the visitors were able to slow down our surge somewhat and find their shooting eyes to cut our supremacy to 18-11. Whatever they were told between the halves made them roar back and outpoint us for the rest of the day, even though we managed to stagger through to victory. The assault reached its peak in the final frame when Ahern, McCabe and Hines filled our hoop to take over a 29-27 edge. By the time the automatic sounded, Kett had caged a set shot and Kel had added ae free try to put us in front again, 30-29. At that point, Mr. Hines scored a goal and then repeated the feat when Kett came through to nullify his earlier effort. As the minute hand started its last trip around the clock, we were behind 33-52 but we received an unexpected break when a Waltham player stepped out of the court and the ball was awarded to us under the enemy 1-

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hoop. With Kel handling the ball, Brooksie came in fast to take the pass and deposit it skillfully in the ring, giving us a 34-33 de- cision. Whatever the contest lacked in its opening stages it made up in the closing minutes, and we breathed a sigh of relief when the gong sounded. Besides winning the game for us, Brooks set the pace to register 14 points, Frank Kett hung up 10, while Bradshaw, Kelly, Hearn and Collupy finished in 4, 3, 2, 1 order. Our athletic relationship with Hopkins Country Day School of New Haven was extended to Basketball for the first time when they appeared on our cage floor to hand us a 41-15 defeat. Using a highly effective zone defense that proved tougher as the game went on, they capitalized on the play-making ability of their japanese defenseman, Nakaso, to overtake our 4-1 lead and remain in the saddle for the rest of the afternoon. Although Nakaso scored only 2 points himself, he con- sistently fed bullet passes to men that got free and during times out he traced the pattern of play on the dirt floor. The 6 points we registered in the first chapter was our best effort of the day and Frank Kett's 6 proved to be our best individual achieve- ment. Hilt Collupy and Charlie Hearn were responsible for 3 each, while Bill Brooks and Hugh Bradshaw had to be content with 2 and 1 respectively. The end of the season's long road was reached on Sunday, February 29th, when we opposed Our Lady's of Newton on the fioor of the Boston Arena as part of an all school- boy program. Hilt Collupy won the tap but travelling was called on Hugh Bradshaw's fine attempt and we lost possession. Shortly thereafter, Nally arched in a goal from quarter court, but Brooks matched it with a lay-up. Thus began a nip and tuck battle that found Our Lady's in front 10-8 at the quarter and 20-19 at the half. Offensively, Brooksie was our spark with five goals in the first two frames and defensively it was Hilt Collupy who took us out of danger time and time again by clearing our back- board. Almost as soon as the third period opened, Bradshaw sunk a free try to put us on even terms and, seconds later, Fish tapped in Hugh's rebound to put us out in front. There- after we were never headed, although our margin was slight enough to keep us anxious. When the third period ended, the electric scoreboard favored us 27-24 and in the final frame we gradually extended our lead until it reached 37-30 at game's end. One of the outstanding plays of the day occurred in the last chapter when Hilt Col- lupy roared down the floor on a break-away play, waiting artfully until the desperate rival guard had committed himself before passing to Bill Brooks who laid-up the tally. Three minutes before the contest ended, Hugh Bradshaw was banished for making the proper preparations to defend himself from a blow, and, when this technicality was called, St. Sebastian rooters felt that they had seen everything. In the emergency created by Hugh's absence, Tom Hartnett entered the fray and did a beautiful piece of relief work, teaming nicely with Charlie Hearn whose handling and passing was superb all day long. In the newspaper accounts next day, Brooksie's 16 was high, Fish's 9 second, Hearn's and Kelly's 4 third, while Kett and Bradshaw trailed with 2 apiece. After our triumph at the Arena, we were pleasantly surprised to be invited to partici- pate in the Class C bracket of the Private School Tournament together with Middlesex, Browne and Nichols and Rivers School. Since the tournament play was scheduled for March 9th and 13th, we were able to play off the inter-squad Red-Blue game in the meantime. Two Seniors, Hugh Bradshaw and Tom Hart- nett, were named the respective Blue and Red leaders, but, when the team lists were compiled, it was discovered that the prepon- derance of the Varsity strength was in the Blue ranks. Despite that fact, the traditional nip and tuck battle resulted with both sides covering very closely and anticipating the favorite techniques of each other. Bill Brooks put the Blues out in front with a basket set up by Hugh Bradshaw, but the first period was almost at an end before the same team -I 128 1-