The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-26
Two Exciting Games of Basket
Ball at the Armory Oh
Christmas Night
LITTLE CHANCE IN
EITHER CONTEST
City Guards Defeat the Yelling
tons-EmmetS Whip the
Battery Team

Some 1000 people at the armory last
evening felt like the lad who discovers
the jar of jam in the pantry when his
mother is talking with a neighbor over
the back fence. There was too much
of good thing. Before they could
conveniently pick up their feet and
walk, they tired of the surfeit of pleas
ure. There were two games, the City
Guards defeating the Wellingtons, and
the Emmets whipping the Battery
team.
Had the games been interesting
enough so the spectators could make
some estimate of the chances of the
contending teams, there would have
been less of that tired feeling" But
there was little chance about either
contest. Singularly, the score which
should indicate the closest struggle
did not by any means represent the
relative merits of the contending teams.
For the Emmets, who defeated the
Batterys by a score of three points to
two, were far and away ahead of their
opponents in playing, while the City
Guards, who won by three points to
one, barely
OUTCLASSED THE WELLINGTONS.
There was an immense crowd and
much enthusiasm The crowd was ev-
identity largely made up of the crowd
that attended the double match of
Thanksgiving night, for it learned a
lesson. Instead of arriving at the ar
mory few minutes before the hour
for play and getting crushed half to
death, the spectators got there long be-
fore the time for calling the first game.
Some of them were at the armory more
than half hour ahead of time Fifteen
minutes before playing time every de-
sirable seat was taken, and all that was
left were few in the back row of
chairs on the floor.
The crowd was admirably handled by
the militiamen. There was no crush
and no trouble. Enthusiasm ran high,
for each team had strong partisans in
the crowd The strongest We're, of
course, the militiamen, who were repre-
scented on the floor by athletes, and in
cidentally by a few who labor under
the delusion that they have special gifts
in an athletic line. The company men
the respective teams caught the en-
thusiasm and showed it, although there
was no attempt at concerted cheering
on their part. The playing was
FAST IN SPOTS,
and there was much cleverness shown
by all teams.
The matches showed how little re-
lance can be placed on the system of
scoring used in basketball. 1t tells
nothing of the relative merits of con-
Tn na firct taI
tween the Emmets and Batterys, the
Emhets played by long odds the best
game. They had the ball in the terri
tory of their opponents nearly all the
time. There We're minutes at a time
when the ball never passed the centre
of the halEtoward the Emmett goal. Yet
the Battefys were defeated by single
point only, on account of two fouls by
Emmett men, which enabled throwing of
two goals. And the injustice of such
scoring comes from the fact that an
official, no matter how expert, cannot
detect all violations of playing rules.
In the other contest which the Citys
won by three points, while the Yelling
tons scored only one. with the exeep-
ton of lucky goal throwing, the Well
ingtons played fully as good a game
as their opponents. There were times
when the Citys outplayed their oppo-
Wellingtons discounted the Citys
With playing about equal. the
WELLINGTON WE'RE BADLY DE-
FEATED.
In the first match the superiority of
the Emmets was easily manifest to
anybody who knew what the trouble
was about Their passing was more
neatly and more clearly done, but the
strong feature of their play was in
following closely to the ball at all
times. They intercepted many a pass
between the Battery men and thus not
only prevented the artillerymen from
accomplishing anything, but brought
to themselves good chances. In team
work they outclassed the Battery lads.
Mcguire played the star game for the
Emmets. He was in it all the time and
his clever handling of the ball en-
abled him many chances for the basket.
Larner did good work at times, as did
Haggerty, Keane and each of the
Kellihers. Capt. Casey was fortunate in
throwing on free tries, and it was a
good thing for his team.
P. Traver was the star of the
artillerymen. He played a fast game
and held his end up. The forwards
played finely at times, more especially
in aggressive work. On defense they
We're not SO strong. Taylor's accurate
goal throwing made the score close. He
got two goals out of three chances.
The first goal came after II minutes
play The Emmets were forcing the
play near the Battery goal. Half a
dozen men mixed up in scrimmage
with the ball under their feet 1t rolled
out to Mcguire, who stood directly I'M
der the basket He jumped and tossed
the ball upward and when it came
down the meshes held it, The half
ended with the score one to nothing
IN FAVOR OF THE EMMETs.
The second half was repetition of
the first for playing. The ball was near
the Battery cage nearly all the time.
But goals came hard for the Emmets.
Two fouls by Emmett men occurred in
quick succession and Taylor Gagged both
free tries making the score two to one
in favor of the Battery Capt. Casey
of the Emmets tossed free basket and
the score was two all. The winning