Harvard Tops Wesleyan In Hardwood Tilt, 83-73

The varsity basketball team evened its season record yesterday with an 83-73 win over Connecticut Wesleyan at Middletown.

Justifying somewhat Coach Floyd Wilson's ball control style of basketball, the Crimson outbounded the luckless Wesleyans, 41-11. Harvard had the height. The tallest man on the Connecticut squad was 6-3. The Crimson giants included 6-9 Paul Wiakowski and 6-6 Roger Barth. The size of the players told the story.

Yet despite the Harvard preponderance in height and rebound strength. Wesleyan was able to stay close throughout the game. With a sharp outside shooting game, the men from Connecticut made up for their defensive deficiencies. The halftime score was 42-37 for Harvard.

During the last seven minutes however, the Harvard height began to tell. A strong scoring spurt garnered the Crimson a 14-point lead--sewing up the game. The pressure tactics of Wesleyan did get three Harvard players--Chris Gallagher, Jeff Grate, and Bob Kanuth--in foul trouble and won free points for Wesleyan in the closing minutes. The three Harvard players rode the last three minutes with four fouls apiece.

Harvard shot 27 for 53 from the floor, a vast improvement over the miserable Crimson percentage against B.U. Gallagher led the scoring with 22, Grate followed with 15, Royer 14 and Kanuth 13. For Wesleyan Sitaz had 20, Wrobel 17, and Spandola 15.

In the rebounds, where Harvard won the game, Royer led the pack with 16. Kanuth followed with 12 and Gallagher was able to grab 11. Manuel, the leading Wesleyan bounder, was able to come up with only six.

Riding on this victory Harvard takes on a tough Navy team Saturday at Annapolis. The first Ivy League match is not until January 12 against Pennsylvania here.