In a game marked only by listless, sloppy play, the Crimson Varsity stumbled to a 40 to 20 win over a game but hopeless Coast Guard five before a crowd of 300 at the Indoor Athletic Building Wednesday evening. The preliminary game went to the Cadet Jayvees, 52 to 22.
Though effective in spots, the play of the Stahlmen was generally of the upper bracket high school variety; fast breaks, sharp passes, and accurate shooting were entirely absent. The only elements even resembling Grade A basketball were the work of Lew Desci as pivot man and John Gantt's smooth one hand push shooting from the corners.
But They Couldn't Score
On the defense, the Stahlmen were tricked again and again by the Coast Guard's ancient "figure 8" formation. Working pick-offs on Crimson man-to-man defenders, the Cadets boxed Crimson defenders, the Cadets boxed Crimson defenders with vicious regularity. But the Coast Guard just could not hit the basket their absolute-inability to score was the only thing which saved the game for the Crimson.
From the stands, it seemed as if the Stahlen were working only one play, and using it over and over. Mariaschin would take the ball out, feed it to Champion, who would give it to Gray or Desci waiting in the bucket. From there it was pot luck, as the pivot man fed the ball to his forwards coming in for the layup. On these shots the Varsity had a deadly average of 100 percent: they missed them all.
Gantt Tallies Eleven
High scorer of the evening was Gantt, with 11 points. Alternating with Clark in the left forward slot, he played a generally agressive game, particularly under the Cadet backboards.
The summary:
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