Basketball Team Achieves 61-49 Victory Over Northeastern; Freshmen Lose 54-49

Two long-standing Harvard basketball streaks were broken last night. The freshman team's 26-game winning streak was snapped by Northeastern, but more important, a hustling varsity squad brought an 11-game losing streak to an end by routing the Huskies, 61 to 49.

Northeastern has yet to win a game in its brand-new gymnasium, and the way the Crimson looked last night, a stronger team than the Huskies would have had a tough time against Coach Floyd Wilson's squad. In his first game as head coach, Wilson emptied his 12-man bench in an easy Crimson victory.

For the past month, Wilson has had his team working on intricate switching man-to-man defenses. These patterns are similar to a zone defense, but are even more flexible. To operate them successfully, every member of the team must play together as a unit. If one man falls down the defense collapses.

Last night this defense worked even better than Wilson had expected. While his first team of Harry Sacks, Roger Rulger, Dick Manning, Rollin Perry, and Bob Dolven was in the game, the Huskies could do nothing. And when the second team came in, they could do little more.

Harry Sacks, who is a magnet for personal fouls, scored thirteen of them last night. In addition, he tossed in two field goals for a total of 17 points, high for the game. Sacks was also outstanding on defense.

The 6-3 Manning, the Crimson's top re-bounder for two seasons now, played one of his best games. He had a hand in almost every play underneath both boards and scored six points himself, in addition to going a good job on Huskie 6-5 center, Dick Brooks.

The Crimson actually won the game in the first half when its defense was working to perfection. With the Huskies fouling persistently, the team left the floor ahead, 32 to 17. Sacks scored 11 in the first twenty minutes, and Manning his six. But offensively, the stars were also Bulger who was as good a floor man as Wilson could have wanted, and Perry, whose nine points were the Crimson's second highest for the evening.

Sophomores Impressive

The whole Husky offense was built around its captain, 5-10 Ed Ayres who scored 15 in the night, eight in the first half. He took almost half of Northeastern's 62 shots. The Huskies sank 16 of these for a poor 258 average. The Crimson hit on 19 of 58 for a good 327 percentage.

Also impressive for the Crimson were sophomores Ike Canty, Phil Haughey, and Lou Lowenfels. Canty, working out of the pivot, scored six points in a short period of time.

But while Wilson's debut as coach was a success, Bruce Munro's was not. The freshman team blew a 10 point lead to lose 54 to 49. John Bitzer led the losers with 11 points. This ended a winning streak begun in 1953.