Quintet Drops Thriller To Princeton in Final Second

For 39 minutes and 42 seconds, Harvard seemed to have bottled up the potent Tiger criss-cross offense in Saturday's basketball thriller enough to be on its way to its second league victory of the season.

But in the last 18 seconds, a combination of magnificent accuracy by George Lawry and a disastrous offensive and defensive lapse on the part of the home forces gave Princeton a close 54 to 52 victory before a capacity crowd in the Indoor Athletic Building.

Coach Earl Brown's charges appeared to have the right formula until the last minute of play, when Lawry's magnificent consecutive string of 12 set shots finally took their toll despite the gallant Crimson defense, which was powerless against the magnificent Sophomore who could tally from any point on the floor.

When Bunks Burditt's basket put Harvard ahead 52 to 50, the crowd started to leave, thinking that the game was as good as over. But Captain Ed Lloyd and Lawry took advantage of the fatal Crimson lapse to score two all-important baskets before the whistle sounded.

The game was close throughout, with Harvard enjoying a small load most of the way, even to the extent of 10 points at times. At half time, the Crimson led 28 to 22.

In the preliminary Yardling combat, Coach Al McCoy's five conquered a weak team from the Boston Boys' Club 53 to 36 as most of the squad saw action in a rather dull game.

The Varsity summary:     gls  fls  pts Lutze  0  3  3 Finegan  1  1  3 Sculty  1  1  3 Burditt  5  5  15 Rothschild  2  1  5 Lutz  4  1  9 Buckley  6  2  14     -  -  -     19  14  52