Pare 17

HIGH BASKETBALL SCORES
By Louis Effrat

NEW YORK TIMES, Jan, 1, 1941-----
Geneva 72 St. Francis 68
R, I. State 74 St. Joseph's 66
Rice 73 Albright 65
Long Island Univ, 61 Rice 57

Sooner or later the charge of "lively ball," a cry frequently heard in
baseball, may find its counterpart in basketball circles unless somewhere, some-
how, some inzenious coach can devise a workable defense against the unprecedent-
ed scoring sprees throughout the country, When teams can tally anywhere from 50
to 65 points and still wind up on the losing end it becomes apparent that a prob-
lem does exist,

Perhaps Mr, Basketball Fan is not concerned with such matters, but Mr.
Coach is --- or should be, For while the primary purpose is to outscore the op-
position, it is, at least, secondary that some attention be given the . defense,
What, then, has happened to that defense? Whatever became of those 28-26 scores
of yesteryear?

It is obvious that in a game where one team scores 72 points and the other
68, thrilling and crowd-pleasing though it may have been, there must have been
a flaw, All signs would indicate a neglect of the defense, Could it be that leg-
islation in recent years has streamlined the sport to an extent where a quintet
hasn't time to set up an adequate defense?

7 Surely, there must be fans who remember when a player boasted more of hav-
ing held his man scoreless than of his own point production; when he played his
man more then the ball; when the man-to-man defense was an integral part of the
game and when the enigmatic zone defense came out of Western Pennsylvania to
cramp further the style of the would-be scorers,

Then the powers that be began to tinker with the mles, Elimination of
the center jump, the ten-second and three-second regulations, the additional
time out -- suddenly a premium was placed on speed, speed and more speed. Defen-
sively, there was so much to be done, so little time in which to do it,

The results to date would anpear to be helter-skelter, hit-or-miss basket-
ball, featured by one-hsnded twist shots, two-handed push shots and some indes-
crible freak shots, Failure to score has meant little, It is only a matter of
seconds before other opportunities will again present themselves, Thus the oft-
en incredible point totals of today, when three or more offensive men overwhelm-
ing a lone defender is commonplace,

Judging by the tremendous turnouts, such as the 17,082 Garden crowd Monday
(en off night) when L.I,U, and Rice scored a total of 118 points,it may be that
the fans prefer the game as it is played now. No one can deny that it was a
thrilling and exciting game--but was it basketball?

NEW GARDEN RECORD

When Illinois defeated Manhattan College 56-40 in the opening double head-
er at the Madison Square Garden, the Illini set a Garden record, in converting
every one of their 18 foul tries.