Lions' Rally Downs Quintet, 62-52; Second Half Collapse Costs Game

The Columbia basketball team has been holding its opponents to an average of 53 points per game, and Harvard almost hit it on the nose Tuesday evening in the Arena. The Lions won, 62 to 52, before a capacity audience of 70,045, most of which came to see Holy Cross beat RC in the second half of the double-header.

Columbia trailed for 13 and a half minutes, then tied the score on a set shot by little Sherry Marshall, and went ahead on Norm Skinner's layup. After that, the score was tied twice and the lead changed hands four times.

Strong Start

Harvard ran up an early lead, mainly on the shooting of Ed Smith and Gerry Murphy, and had opened a ten-point gap midway through the first period. But in the last ten minutes, the varsity scored only five field goals, two of them coming within the last two minutes and enabling Harvard to tie the score, 30-30 at the half.

Smith, who scored 14 points and did some admirable rebound work in the first half, was limited to a basket and a free throw in the second. In the last 20 minutes, Harvard could not move the ball through Columbia's effective man-to-man defense, while the Lions fed Lewis and John Azary and were able to work through the keyhole.

At the Blockhouse in the afternoon, Captain Dick Lionette of the freshman team scored 32 points to lead the Yardlings to an easy 78 to 47 win over Nicols Junior College. Lionette sat out the last quarter as the contest turned into a rout. It was the Yardlings' ninth victory in 12 starts. HARVARD (52)   FG  F  P Rockwell, lf  4  4  12 Crosby, rf  0  0  0 Bramhall  3  0  6 Smith, c  7  3  17 Prior  2  2  6 Hickey, lg  0  1  1 Covey  0  0  0 Murphy, rg  4  2  10 Totals  20  12  52