Bill Barclay, obviously a devotee of the free substitution rule, tried 14 different combinations last night, but none of them was able to stop Princeton, which won a 51 to 46 basketball game at the Garden. In the preliminary Holy Cross edged Loyola, 59 to 58.
In running its losing streak to seven straight, the Varsity was unable to cope with the fast-moving Tiger give-and-go patterns and at the half was behind by a score of 31 to 20. A subsequent rally led by Ed Smith, who dropped in four classy layups, narrowed the margin to 46 to 44 with two minutes to go, but for the ninth time this winter, it was no cigar.
Six foot four inch Bernie Adams, Princeton center and high scorer, with 17 points, worked in the bucket for most of the evening and scored or set up two-thirds of the Tigers' points in the first half. His passes and fakes made the Princeton plays work, and it was the second half before the Crimson started guarding effectively enough to upset the Tiger system.
With Smith hitting from the bucket on sneaks behind Adams, and Steve Davis and Walt McCurdy contributing from the outside, the Varsity started coordinating a bit better as the clock was running out. But the jitters, similar to those of previous games, came back in the last two minutes and settled any chances of victory.
The Varsity system of cuts from the guards and pushshots from the foul line vicinity worked poorly all evening, and most of the Crimson points came by dint of individual effort and Tiger defensive lapses.
Both teams were hampered by meticulous officiating which saw the Tigers pick up four points on pickoff rulings in the first three minutes of play. John Rockwell, George Sella, and Adams fouled out midway in the second half, and all had to operate carefully prior to ejection.
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