Crimson Five to Battle Columbia Squad Tonight

This is the last chance for the varsity basketball team. Currently holding down the bottom position in the Ivy League with a 1-4 record, the Crimson will meet Columbia in New York tonight and Cornell in Ithaca tomorrow. A pair of wins would be a great help, both to sagging morale and a losing record, but even one loss would leave the Crimson almost hopelessly behind in their fight to finish in the first division.

Three of the Crimson's four losses came after it failed to hold early leads, and it is these second half doldrums that will have to be remedied. Late games lapses nullified good first half performances marked by strong rebounding and accurate shooting against Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell.

The presence of so many sophomores on the team can explain most of the mistakes, and it is certainly good to allow such promising players at Pete Kelley, Denny Lynch, and Gene Augustine to get as much experience as possible. They will have to be the nucleus of the team for several years to come.

But losing is no fun either, even if it is a "rebuilding year." And if the team can manage to play consistently the type of basketball they have only displayed sporadically, there is still a chance to salvage something from this season besides experience.

Tonight's opponent will be Columbia, which the Crimson defeated 66-61 here on Jan. 13. The Lions, whose roster is also liberally sprinkled with sophomores, have beaten Dartmouth and Penn and lost to Cornell twice and Princeton, as well as to Harvard.

Leading the attack for Columbia are Fred Portnoy, a 6 ft., 3 in. sophmore who plays the right corner, and Ed Auzenburgs, senior captain, who plays the left corner.

The rest of the starting team is sophomore Brick Brikmanis, 6 ft., 7 in. center, the team's leading rebounder, and junior Marty Erdheim and sophomore Bill Martin. Martin and Erdheim man the backcourt positions.

The Crimson's opponent Saturday night will be Cornell, whose 4-2 record places it second behind Princeton's perfect 5-0 mark. The Big Red came from behind to edge Harvard 68-62 on Jan. 14, but lost to the Crimson in the third place game of the Downeast Classic in December.

Cornell's Team

Cornell's top man is captain John Petry, who was named Ivy Player of the Week after his 24-point performance against Columbia and is third in the Ivy League with a 16-point average. Petry, 6 ft., 3 in., is also the team's leading rebounder from his low post position.

Also starting are scrappy guards Gerry Szachara and Ron Ivkovich, and forwards Bill Baugh and Don Shaffer. Baugh tallied 18 against the Crimson in January, and Ivkovich's 10.5 average places him twelfth among Ivy scorers. Szachara is a strong rebounder for his size, and also has a good outside jump shot. Shaffer is a consistent scorer on taps and short jump shots.