Bunks Burditt didn't go off the floor of the basketball court under his own power last Saturday night. He was carried off--for the last time, on the shoulders of his wild-eyed teammates, whom he had just led to one of the most brilliant upset victories in the history of Harvard basketball.
Bunks passed out of the Crimson court picture, Air Corps-bound, in a game that saw a hitherto unbeaten Princeton basketball team, victors over "unbeatable" Dartmouth, leaders of the Eastern Intercollegiate League (considered one of the nation's best this year) and called third best in the East, beaten, and beaten convincingly by a Harvard team that had spent a miserable season in the League cellar, unable, till Saturday night, to live up to its pre-season press notices. The score was 36 to 32. There was more to it than figures can tell.
Poor Tiger
With the same grit and crude determination that resulted in last October's Comeford to Lyle miracle at the expense of another Tiger team, Earl Brown's rags-to-riches quintet never stopped fighting, running, scrambling. Not until they had shown their Nassau "superiors" who was boss under the backboard, and out in the keyhole, where the pivot and jump shots of Burditt, Dean Hennessey, Hugh Hyde, and George Dillon put Princeton's pot-shooters to shame. shame.
All through the first half, while Burditt fidgeted nervously with the mask that he wore to protect a broken nose, the Crimson offense functioned in low gear as the team concentrated on harrassing the Princeton sharpshooters, Bill Vogt and Jack Palmer.
After Princeton had jumped off to a four point lead, the Harvard attack, paced by Burditt and Dillon, matched the Nassaumen point for point till the buzzer sounded for the half with the scoreboard showing Harvard 17, Visitors 23.
Tide Turns
The second half brought the turning point in 1942-1943 Harvard basketball, and the Merriwell fadeout of Athletic Council, PBH, Student Council president, Captain Bunks Burditt. After Princeton's high-scoring Palmer, who led with 16 points, had put his team seven up from the foul line, Burditt rid of the troublesome mask, and Hyde, assisted by Dillon and Hennessey, rampaged for a total of 13 points while the Tiger big guns, outjumped under the backboards and their shooting erratic as a result of Crimson defensive tenacity, were fatally silent.
Before the harrassed Bengals got their feet back on the ground and their eyes back on the basket, Bunks and the boys had racked up a 28-24 lead, a margin they held through the tense five minutes till the final buzzer sent the crowd streaming onto the floor.
The Tigers, though they knew they were beaten five minutes before the finish, hustled desperately to get possession of the ball. But Brown's boys, scenting that the Tigers were on the ropes, played their offensive game to the last, with control of the backboard obviating the necessity for stalling tactics.
The Harvard summary:
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