Springfield Stops Quintet, 59-55, With Late Splurge

SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 20 Here, in the city where basketball was invented, Norm Shepard's quintet dropped its second straight road game, this time to Springfield College. The score was 59 to 55.

Once again, a strong varsity second half rally was unable to produce a victory. Springfield concentrated a tight defense on John Rockwell and Ed Smith, and forced the Varsity to shoot from outside.

Rockwell piled up 26 points, but he did not get started until the second half; ten of his points came on foul shots. Ed Smith was second high man with 13. Gerry Murphy's set shot was the only outside shooting effective against the close Springfield guarding.

In the second half, the Varsity settled down after trailing, 24 to 16, at the half; the team began to work the ball into Rockwell, and with one-and-a-half minutes to go, it led, 53 to 50. During the remainder of the game, Springfield dropped in seven free throws and a field goal, with Rockwell, Stiles, and Covey fouling out in the process.

Shepard modified his usual tight man-to-man defense, frequently changing to a localized zone with Rockwell and Smith Shifting men under the basket. Watching the game from the sidelines was last year's quintet captain Chip Gannon, now coaching at Springfield's American International College.

The Varsity summary:   G  F  P Rockwell, rf  8  10  26 Stevenson  0  1  1 Murphy, lf  3  0  6 Cohodes  0  0  0 Stiles  0  0  0 Smith, c  5  3  13 Prior  2  2  6 Crosby, rg  0  0  0 Gabler  0  1  1 Hickey, lg  0  0  0 Covey  0  2  2   --  --  --   18  19  55