New Britain herald., 1926-12-23

The Meriden Endees on their home floor, outroughed the New Britain National Guards in a rough and tumble tackling match last night in the Community building in the Sil- yer City and through accurate foul shooting snatched victory out of the fire by the score of 9 10 17. There was little basketball played because of the laxity of Referee Bar nikow in spearing brazen violations of the foul rules and he let the game get beyond him. Almost any thing went during the 40 minutes of play.
 The game was vewed by a fair sized crowd which was, for the greater part. made up of New Brit ain rooters and the questionable tac- tics used by both teams while the referee failed to call the players, made the game one of the poorest contests viewed this season.
 New Britain lost the game through its failure to take advantage Of it's foul shots. Meriden scored 3 out of 20 free tries while the best the Guards could do was to sink five out of r. New Britain caged six held baskets to Meriden's three.
 During the last three minutes of play. the Meriden cam, leading by the slim margin of two points. went entirely on the defensive and here Referee Barnikow drew down the censure Of even the Meriden rooters. Time after time, the New Britain players would fight the ball near to the Meriden goal which was set up in front of stage. The home rules called for a center jump when the ball landed on the stage and the Meriden team, cornered near the basket, deliberately delayed the game by throwing the ball onto the stage 10 get out of danger. These repeated acts failed to draw penal ties for delaying the game and as it was impossible for the New Britain players to get a shot without risking broken necks, the technical fouls, which should have been called at this stage of the game would most probably have decided the result.
 Neither team displayed anything that could be classed as good bas- ketball The size of the court, com bined with the poor officiating at the game. turned the contest into a roughouse only few short minutes after it had begun. New Britain failed to find the ba. Eet in the first half for more than one shot and cag- ed oEly one foul goal out of nine tries. The Meriden players gave the locals a real good lesson in tossing the ball in from the free throw line. Billy Cook led the opposition with six points out of six free tries. while his mates made at least half of their losses good.
 The New Britain team ended the first half on the short end of a 1S to score but in the second half, came to within two points of tying the score. The battle was intensely exciting in the last five minutes as the Guards peppered the back board from a distance. In the last 10 sec onds of play Johnny Sheehan pop ped one of those shots that go in and come out. The aim was good and true and the ball bounced off the blackboard, juggled on the rim, rolled around and finally dropped of, killing the chances of the locals to send the game into an overtime period.
 Just why the Meriden team con- tinues to employ a referee of Bar nikow's caliber, is question that cannot be answered here. Queries directed at the officials of the club after the battle last night, developed the information that the Merden club is well satisfied with Barnikow's work. If last evenings nightmare Is criterion by which to judge the results to be obtained by visiting teams on the Community building floor, then the Endee club has good reason for being perfectly satisfied"
 Winning games for the purpose of 1mpressing the basketball public throughout the state is one thing while sending a team into a fren- zied madhouse like last night where player rislied his neck. arms or legs on approaching the basket Is a horse of a different color"
 Already there are several teams about the state who have been loath 10 sign with the Meriden Endecs for a game in Meriden while Barnikow handles the whistle Certainly the Guards had enough of him last night On the surface, the National Guards are | much surcr bet than the Endees on the state armory floor in this city under an efficient referee.
 A spectacle such as was presented to the public last night in Merden doesn't do basketball any good. Where a referee isn't capable Of keeping q game within at least some bounds without letting it dc grade into 'ree-for-all football match Of the style played in the early years Of the century, roughor by far than professional basketball ever could be, then he shouldn't be retained as an official The person- nel Of either team would not have remained in the game over 10 min ntes in last nights encounter with Dillon on the floor, so many would have been the personal fouls New Britain was as much at fault in this respect as Meriden because it would have been ltra-foolishncss 10 have remained passive while being buffet cd around by the Endee players.
 The score
 National Guards
 Fla IT I'll