PROVIDENCE, Feb. 3--A last place Brown team and the two-week exam period lay-off combined forces tonight to hand the Crimson basketball team its most apathetic defeat of the season, 61 to 51, in the Marvel Gymnasium.

The varsity, while missing over 75 per cent of its shots, half the time could not even hit the basket rim, and several times completely missed the backboard.

The Bruins, only slightly more adept than the awkward Crimson, managed to jump to a 37-20 lead in the first half with the smooth play of their high-scoring forward, Joe Tobo, who ranks third in the Ivy League scoring race, netted 22 points in the game.

Offense Confused

The Crimson's erratic offense looked slow and confused in the first half as the team's seasonal high scorer, Ike Canty, failed even to attempt a field goal. Later in the game, after a defensive change had slowed down Brown's attack, a Crimson quintet of substitutes managed to gain a slight edge over the Bruin reserves, but the 17 point deficit at the time could not be overcome.

For the Crimson, the only bright spot in the game was the outside shooting of forward Bill Riggs, who was high man with 14 points.

This loss brought the Crimson's league record to two wins and three losses, and its overall mark to six and seven.

In the preliminary game the Brown cubs delighted the partisan crowd with a fast 84-80 victory over the Yardlings. The Bruins' winning points came on foul shots in the final two minutes. Tomorrow, the freshmen meet Exeter in the Blockhouse at 4:15 p.m.