Quakers Explode in Second Half to Destroy Cagers

There are many ways to lose a basketball game. You can have a last-minute rally fall one point short in the final seconds as Harvard did against Brown a week ago, or you can be upset by a team inferior in talent but superior in inspiration as was the case in last Tuesday's Harvard-Brandeis encounter.

Or, you can play horrendous, totally lackadaisical basketball, and lose to a team of comparable ability, as the Crimson cagers did last Friday versus Princeton. In each of these contests, however, you at least have a chance of achieving victory.

Playing against the 14th-ranked Pennsylvania Quakers at the IAB on Saturday night, Harvard found yet another way to lose. but in this instance, the Crimson had little to say in the matter. The Quakers chose the opening minutes of the second half to turn a close game into a merciless rout, and once this decision had been made. Harvard never had a chance, falling 103-81.

The Crimson had managed, to the surprise of most in the jam-packed IAB, to make a game of it in the first half. Led by the crashing rebounds of Bill Carey. Harvard actually led (granted, by small margins) throughout most of the half, but a four-point Quaker outburst in the final two minutes broke a 34-34 tie and provided an all too accurate preview of things to come.

At halftime, Penn apparently took off its Ivy League sneakers in favor of its Top Twenty Pro Keds, for in the second half, the Quakers demonstrated why they're at least a three-point play ahead of the rest of the league.

Ron Haigler (21 points), Henry Johnson (23 points, 11 rebounds), and Bob Bigelow (18 and 12) play so well that you'd swear they've been practicing together since the second grade. Throw in the 17-point contribution of John Beecroft, and keep in mind that All-Ivy performer John Engles is out for the season with an injury, and you quickly realize that Penn is not just another basketball team.

The Quakers' precisioned offense, unreal shooting (.618 percentage, rarely missing an open shot), and overall talent advantage simply proved too much for a Harvard team which, considering the circumstances, played reasonably well.

What exactly transpired in the second half occurred so quickly that if you were late in returning to your seat after intermission, you would have missed it. It took less than two minutes for the Quakers, via a Haigler jump shot and lay-ups by Bigelow and Johnson, to turn a 38-34 advantage into a commanding lead of ten, 44-34.

Beginning of the End

Having fallen behind before they were even warmed up, the Crimson managed to trade baskets for the next four minutes. Doc Hines hit a jumper with nearly fourteen minutes remaining, making the score Penn 56, Harvard 45, and although this basket would provide the impetus for an incredible show put on by Hines in the game's concluding moments. It represented the beginning of the end for the Crimson.

The Quakers staged their second explosion of the half immediately afterwards. This time, it took only one minute and twenty-nine seconds for Bigelow to swish two jump shots, a Johnson lay-up, and a Johnson jumper which concluded the eight-point spurt and made the score Penn 64, Harvard 45.

The game then entered the stage that all basketball games, once the outcome has been determined, succumb to. Otherwise referred to as garbage time, this stage involves the clearing of the benches, the abandonment of team basketball, and the flagrant disregard for defense.

This is where Hines enters the picture.

Hines' soaring jump shots, full-court drives, and running one-handers accounted for 22 this career high and point output for the night) of the Crimson's final 38 points.