Five Defeats Middies With Good Final Half

Overcoming its usual second-half difficulties, the Harvard basketball team ran its way to an 89-72 victory over Navy in Annapolis Saturday night.

The Crimson, whose record is now 7-8, fell behind early in the game, but accurate shooting by sophomore guard James Brown, who hit on nine-of-11 shots from the floor in the first half, helped move Harvard into a 37-33 lead at half-time.

In its two previous games, the Crimson also had small half-time advantages, but in the second half of both of them was outplayed by the opposing team. Against the Midshipmen, Harvard put together one of its best second-half efforts to date.

"At the start of the second half, we started two different players. Tom Mustoe and Jean Wilkinson," said head coach Bob Harrison yesterday. "They did a darn good job for us in the second half and helped get us a lead. Our success was due to an overall team effort," he added.

Navy, whose record dropped to 6-8, was 13th in the nation in defense before Saturday's game, and had allowed no more than 81 points in its first 13 games. But the Crimson poured in 52 points in the second half, and all twelve members of the squad scored.

Sophomore forward Floyd Lewis, who tallied 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, teamed with Brown to pace the second half performance. Brown led all scorers with 27 points, and contributed 11 rebounds, seven of them in the early part of the second half.

Pounding the Boards

With Lewis and Brown and Mustoe pounding the boards, the Crimson quickly jumped to a 42-33 advantage at the start of the half, and continued to stretch the lead. Harvard dominated board play with 57 rebounds to 36 for the Midshipmen.

"We came out and finally put a good second half together." Brown said yesterday. "We gave Floyd [Lowis] a lot of help on the boards, played tough defense, and had a confident team attitude. I think we're going to be a much better team," he said.

The Crimson faces Dartmouth in Hanover tomorrow night, and its impressive win over Navy should give it a good shot at defeating the Big Green again. Dartmouth, which is experiencing difficulties getting its largely-sophomore squad into gear, has dropped its last seven games and is 0-3 in the Ivy League.

"The Navy game was very encouraging from our standpoint," said Harrison yesterday. "It helped get the kids fired up for the Dartmouth game, and though they'll be chomping at the bit for us, we'll have a good chance to finish at 500 before exam break," he said.