Clemson, Syracuse Outleap Hoopsters; Crimson Five Cursed by Cold Hand

Coach Tom Sanders's charges journeyed south of the Mason-Dixon line this weekend to tap-off their hardcourt campaign in the thirdannual IPTAY invitational tournament. The hoopsters did not find any Southern hospitality awaiting them, however, as host Clemson knocked the Crimson out of title contention with a 78-64 win Friday night and the Orangemen from Syracuse finished the 1-2 combination with a 83-70 thrashing in Saturday's consolation round.

There were some bright sports in an otherwise bleak opening weekend as Harvard Captain Bill Carey garnered a spot on the All-Tournament first team for pumping in 36 points and hauling in 20 rebounds during the two-day event.

The Clemson contest started off innocently enough with Carey hitting inside for two and the action see-sawing back and forth for the first five minutes But the Tigers, led by 7-ft., 1-in. Wayne "Tree" Rollins, began asserting themselves and edged out to a 16-10 lead. Enter Doc Hines.

Hines, who had left the team earlier in the month to devote more time to other activities, reconsidered his decision and was back in time to take over the sixth man spot on Friday.

Hines netted his night's output over a five-minute span in the first half. And his inside bank shot at 6:34 of the stanza brought the Crimson back to a 24-24 tie with the homefolk.

A Tiger timeout seemed to turn the trick however as the Clemson five returned to the court to rattle off eight unanswered points and head for the dressing room at halftime with a 36-30 lead that would, largely, go unchallenged in the second half.

A key factor hampering the Crimson in the first half was Brian Banks, the cagers' premiere big man, riding the bench saddled with three fouls. This allowed Rollins to control the boards--the Tree grabbed 22 rebounds in the course of the night.

Not at All Sharp

Crimson mentor Tom Sanders was not at all pleased with his squad's opening game performance. "Clemson was a fairly good team but we did not play good basketball at all," he said. "You can call it first-game jitters, but we were simply not at all sharp."

That was painfully evident in the game stats. Harvard hit the mark only every third time around, finishing the game with a poor 54-per-cent clip from the floor.

Clemson started the second half with a run of 15-6 and never looked back. And although the Crimson came back to within five with over ten minutes to go, it just didn't have enough to sustain the comeback.

Joining Carey (22 points) in the double figures market were junior guard Joe Leondis with 12 points and Hines with ten.

Against the Orangemen from Syracuse, Harvard had even a harder time guiding the ball through the hoop. The Crimson stayed close with the New York squad that made its way to the final four in last year's NCAA playoffs for about the first seven minutes of the game, but after that it was all catch-up ball.

While Syracuse was popping them in at a 50-per-cent clip, the Crimson cagers were scrapping and scraping with a horrendous shooting percentage of only 26 per cent from the field.

Honick Takes Charge

Jonas Honick took responsibility for generating the offense in the middle of the period and Hines was the man who kept things in control at the tail-end of the half, but despite their efforts the cagers still went into intermission down eight points, 37-29.

Again it was a Crimson lapse at the start of the second half that put the game out of reach. Earnie Seibert sandwiched a basket and a free throw around potential All-American Chris Sease's 20-foot jumper to lead a 7-1 spurt at the outset of the half, and give the Orangemen a 44-30 lead and a comfortable cushion to coast on.

Harvard's sophomore center Cyrus Booker began to get untracked in the late going of the second half, making good on two underneath. Booker ended the evening with 11 points. Hines and Carey shared scoring laurels, each chipping in 14. Honick was close behind with 13 points.

"I figured Syracuse would be the weaker team," Sanders said, "and while we were better, we were still not good."

The Crimson hosts traditionally strong UMass on Wednesday at the IAB.