The traveling squad of the varsity basketball team lost to Princeton, 77 to 42, in its first Ivy League game Saturday night. The Tigers bounced back from a seven-straight losing streak and not themselves a scoring record while they were at it.

John Rockwell, who has been pacing Norm Shepard's attack and who rated among the top ten scorers in the country before the game, produced only nine points: Dick Covey produced a field goal and six fouls to follow with eight.

A good showing against Holy Cross and a two-for-three Western trip had left the varsity favored over the Tigers, but after producing a three-point lead in the first ten minutes of play, Shepard's double pivot attack failed to jell. Princeton won going away. Close guarding by Tiger footballers George Sella and Dick Kazmaler helped hold down Rockwell and Ed Smith, who only made 12 points between them.

Rockwell's Average Suffers

Rockwell's nine points seriously undercut his shooting average; the tall pivot player has been averaging more than 20 points a game, and produced 30 against Holy Cross. Smith, who teams with Rockwell under the basket, was even more disappointing with a field goal and a free throw.

One bright spot in the varsity's play was its foul shooting. Bill Prior netted seven free throws; Dick Covey's half-dozen put him high in the national ranking for percentage of free shots completed. Gerry Murphy also stands high in this ranking.

Bob Bramhall, who worked out with the team all fall but was ineligible to play, moved back into the line-up against the Tigers. The Varsity Summary:   G  F  P Rockwell  3  3  9 Covey  1  6  8 Hickey  1  0  2 Prior  0  7  7 Smith  1  1  3 Gabler  3  0  6 Crosby  0  0  0 Murphy  1  2  4 Bramhall  1  0  2 Lionette  0  1  1 Totals  11  20  42