Quintet Edges Brown by One Point

It took 15 minutes to play the last two seconds last night as the varsity basketball team edged Brown, 49 to 48.

Brown coach Bob Morris claimed that the Indoor Athletic Building clock showed two seconds to go when the final buzzer sounded and referee Dick Rollerts retrieved both teams, cleared the floor and played off the rest of the game.

A pair of out-of-season athletes almost beat the varsity. Morris put football end Frank Mahoney and high-jumper Zeke Creswell on John Rockwell and Ed Smith, and the brilliant guarding of the fast Bruins held the varsity to an 18 point first half.

Brown's tricky attack and tight defense weakened in the second stanza, and the varsity was able to see-saw ahead, leading by five points at one time.

With three minutes to go, Rockwell penetrated a Bruin freeze and sank a driving lay-up to put the varsity ahead, 48 to 47. The varsity then sank a foul and capitalized on the lame duck two minute rule to work into its own freeze, a nicely executed fast criss cross.

Brown picked up the ball on a bad pass, hit with a foul, and had the ball under the varsity's basket when the automatic timer registered the end of the game. Coach Morris jumped from the Brown bench claiming a discrepancy between the timer and the Blockhouse clock, and referee Roberts ordered the ball jumped at mid-court. Gerry Murphy took the tap and dribbled until time ran out for the second time.

High scorer for the varsity was Ed Smith with 14 points; Brown's Mahoney also made 14. Both Smith and John Rockwell were crowded in their double pivot attack, with the Bruins concentrating defense men under the basket, and the tall forwards were helped out by Gerry Murphy's book shot, which produced nine points, and Cliff Crosby's work from outside. Crosby tied Rockwell with 11 points.

Norm Shepard modified his man-to-man defense last night with his outside men frequently shifting to handle Brown's fast passing and quick-break ball. Both teams were far off in their shooting and fouling was frequent; the varsity made only 15 of its 25 free tosses.   G  F  P Rockwell  4  3  11 Bramhall  0  0  0 Smith  4  6  14 Prior  0  2  2 Crosby  5  1  11 Murphy  3  3  9 Hickey  1  0  2   --  --  -- Totals  17  15  49