Princeton Drops Crimson, 90-46

It was no contest Friday night before 1100 fans in the IAB. Princeton scored when Princeton pleased, controlled the rebounding off both boards, and passed the Harvard five to death, 90-46.

The Tigers got five double-figure performances, and an incredible job of play making and nuisance defense from Gary Walters, who looked good enough to make any team in the nation.

The Crimson had one moment of glory -- early in the first half, when it switched from a man-to-man defense. Trailing 18-5, Coach Floyd Wilson brought Dan Martell into the lineup, benching Gene Dressler and moving Bob Johnson back to guard. A steal by Jeff Grate, a steal by Bob Kanuth, and suddenly it was 18-10.

But the Tigers shrugged it off, plopped in nine points in a row, and there was nothing but frustration from then on. The Crimson could not contain 6 ft. 9 in. Chris Thomforde, who netted 18 points.

Harvard got a couple of encouraging performances from two men who have not been seeing a great deal of action. Guard Bobby Beller had nine points, and sophomore Ric Gustavson looked impressive and scored eight.

For the Tigers, it was win number 12 against a single loss -- to second-ranked Louisville. It looks like they won't find much of a challenge in their Ivy schedule.

Penn 71 -- Harvard 68

Harvard almost broke into the win column in Ivy League basketball Saturday night, but it could not find the key shot in the final minute against Pennsylvania. The Quakers edged the Crimson, 71-68, before a sparse IAB audience.

Down 67-66 with a minute left, Harvard worked the ball around for half a minute. Bob Kanuth, who was high man with 19 points took a jump shot which fell short. Penn got the rebound, and called time with 23 seconds left.

Harvard had to foul, but Quaker Tom Northrup, who did not make a bucket all night sank two shots on a one-and-one basis, and Harvard died its most painful death of the young season. A jump shot by Dan Martell made it close, but two more Penn foul shots with two seconds left closed the scoring.

In addition to Kanuth, the Crimson got fine performances from Barth Royer (15 points), Martell (14 points) and Jeff Grate (13 points).

Bob Johnson, who replaced captain Gene Dressler at guard, scored on four points, but made one of the most eye popping defensive plays of the season. Johnson stopped a layup by 6 ft. 10 in. Tom Mallison, deflecting the ball high in the air. Almost in the same motion, Johnson leaped out of bounds to save the ball with an in-bounds bounce pass. Magnificent.

For the Quakers, sophomore Jeff Osowski netted 21, mostly from the outside, and Mallison and Frank Burgess controlled the offensive board.