Quintet Defeats Columbia

The basketball varsity took a night to recover from the exam period lay-off, but then played magnificent ball against Columbia to gain a split for the midterm weekend. Friday, Cornell overpowered the varsity 89-69; on Saturday, the Crimson ran past the Columbia Lions to a 93-73 triumph.

Columbia fought gamely in the first half, but slick ball handling and superb field goal shooting kept the Crimson just out of reach. Captain Gary Borchard consistently destroyed Columbia hopes for tying the score with unstoppable drives for lay-ins and alert defensive work.

Enthusiastic fighting for rebounds in the first half led to a total of 23 first half fouls, 15 of them on over-eager Crimson men.

The second half started out at a torrid pace, but the five point Harvard advantage at halftime remained unchanged. Then Pete Kelley hit a lay-up and a long pivot jump shot, Denny Lynch pocketed two free throws, and Gene Augustine connected on two long jump shots to give the Crimson a 13 point lead with five minutes gone.

Columbia refused to wilt, and quickly narrowed the margin down to five again. At this point, Tom Tangeman came off the Crimson bench to spark another Harvard scoring burst. He scored all his 13 points in the final 11 minutes of the game.

Crimson Takes Defensive Rebounds

Under the pressure of the furious Harvard fast break and the precision of the Crimson offensive pattern, the Lions lost ground steadily. Nearly total domination of the defensive boards by the Crimson corner men severely hampered Columbia scoring.

Borchard topped all scorers with 22 tallies.

On Friday night the varsity gained a fleeting lead five minutes after the opening buzzer. Then, a 13 point scoring spree by the Big Red in the next four minutes effectively ended Crimson chances. Cornell's beanpole center, Gerald Krumbein, paced the team with 16 points in the first half on long jumps.

Pete Bisgeier kept Cornell moving in the second half when Krumbein picked up his fourth foul and began to play more cautiously.

The win gave Cornell possession of first place in the Ivy League.