UMass Stops Crimson, 74-65; Skinner Spoils Satch's Debut

AMHERST--Thomas "Satch" Sanders' collegiate coaching debut looked promising through three quarters of Saturday night's basketball opener with the University of Massachusetts.

Promising, that is, until lightning-quick Minutemen captain Al Skinner struck twice in the same spot in the second half. Skinner's quick scoring sprees broke the game open and UMass went on to 74-65 victory.

The night began well for Sanders. A frenzied crowd of 4200 in Curry Hicks Cage, the former haunt of Julius "Dr. J." Erving, greeted the former Celtics forward with a standing ovation.

Sanders' starting quintet of Tony Jenkins, Lou Silver, Arnie Needleman, Mike Griffin and Ken Wolfe gave him a first half full of the fundamentals he likes to see--stinging defense and tight ball control. And his Crimson jealously guarded a 40-35 lead with 14:24 left in the game.

Skinner then added three rapid buckets to center John Murphy's 20-footer on the baseline to push the Minutemen in front, 43-42. Harvard did not snap out of its defensive lull until it gave UMass a seven-point lead and lost point-man Griffin on fouls, with 12:15 remaining on the clock.

The Crimson regrouped, swapped baskets and played five minutes of even basketball. Sanders' squad even threatened to regain lost ground when UMass forward Greg Duarte picked up a technical foul with the score 53-46 with 6:45 left.

Jenkins missed the free throw and two consecutive jumpshots, but set the stage for Skinner's second explosion. The All-Yankee-Conference forward went wild, hitting on a jumper, stealing the in-bounds pass, and scoring again on a twisting lay-up through three Crimson defenders.

Skinner's second blow proved to be the death knell, putting the Minutemen out of Harvard's reach, 59-48.

Sanders was pleased with his team's overall performance. "We looked very sharp on defense, with the exception of those three or four minutes when things got out of control in the second half," he said afterwards in the locker room.

Sanders' big men, Jenkins and Silver, never put together a solid half of play under the boards. Jenkins cashed in on seven of eleven field-goal attempts in the first half, capitalizing on his baseline fall-away specialty, but made only two rebounds.

Minutemen Outrebounded

Silver, shut out in both departments in the first half, came on strong to finish with 13 points and eight rebounds. The Minutemen outrebounded the Crimson 46-31 for the game.

Harvard's three diminuitive guards in its 1-2-2 offense, Needleman, Griffin, and Wolfe, "gave us all the direction we needed," Sanders said. "The leadership was there, definitely."

Sanders cited Wolfe for his defensive job on UMass standout Bill Endicott. "You saw Wolfe giving up three inches [in height] to Endicott, but he was right on top of the case," Sanders said. The trio lacked punch on offense, though, chipping in only eight points apiece.

"Our offense is one of interchangeable parts, so that the guards have to rebound when the big men are out from underneath," Sanders said. "We'll definitely have to go back and learn some more fundamentals, especially working the boards."

The Crimson played a man-to-man game, except on two occasions in the first half, when Sanders called for a 3-2 zone with a chaser.