Frosh Five Edges Springfield In a Defensive Struggle, 50-49

The freshman basketball squad, which rolled up 80 points against MIT last Saturday, had trouble getting untracked offensively last night, but managed to hang on for a 50-49 victory over a tough Springfield team.

The Crimson five found themselves trailing 12-4 early in the first half, but the defense began to get stingy as the offense scored 17 in a row to give Harvard a 21-21 lead. The Chiefs battled back and only trailed by three, 27-24, at the half.

The second half started out very slowly, with neither team scoring for the first four minutes. The Crimson, however, didn't relinquish their lead until there was only 2:24 left in the game, when Springfield jumped ahead, 47-46. But the freshmen five scored the next four points, in an exciting finish, to win the game.

Non-Starters

Coach John Harvey went with two nonstarters, Tim Hresko and Jim Hughes, in an effort to bolster the offense and strengthen the defense. Both players did a good job, with Hresko and Muliufi Hannemann tying for top scorer with 13 points each.

"I'm happy with the win," Harvey said, "but not with the offense. You have to give Springfield credit for a tough defense, however. We played well defensively in the second half, but our shooting was mediocre and our offense was stilted."

Harvey said that he feels the team has a reasonable amount of depth this year and that he was pleased with the play of the substitutes. However, he will be working to improve the squad's scoring punch before this Tuesday's game with B.U. "If the defense stays good and tough while the offense tunes up, we'll be in good shape," he said.