Captain John Stevenson will lead the varsity basketball team tonight when it attempts to cap a losing season with a victory against Yale at New Haven. In a preliminary game, the Yardling team, which Coach Floyd Wilson so far calls his best in three years, will go after its 14th straight against the Yale freshmen.

Besides Stevenson, the varsity starters will be Bill Dennis at forward, Dick Lionette at center, and Ed Condon and Ed Krinsky at the guards. Coach Norm Shepard will take his whole team on the trip, however, and will use as many players as possible in the traditional contest. Shepard singled out Bob Gremp, Woody Hansen, and Bill Hickey as likely to see a lot of action.

Yale should have the edge over the Crimson tonight on the records of both teams. The Elis are 1-9 in the Eastern Intercollegiate League and 11-14 in overall play, while the varsity's record is 0-10 and 5-13. But Shepard and the players think they have a good chance to win tonight, if they can stop Yale's fast break and tighten their own man-to-man defense.

Two sophomores started the last game for Yale, while two of last year's starters rode the bench. Yale Coach Howard Hobson last used sophomore Jim Plecas and John Weber at the forwards, sophomore Spence Schnaitter at center, and senior guards Captain Ed McHugh and Jerry Labriola, but he may change tonight and put in Bob Harding and Dave Sears at the forwards. No matter who plays for Yale, the Elis will have a slight height advantage over the Crimson.

Yardling Coach Wilson expects to win the game tonight if his team approaches the form it has shown in recent games. Roger Bulger, Dick Manning, Captain Rollin Perry, Harry Sacks, and Paul Shaw will start as they have in almost every other one of the freshman games.