Princeton, Penn Triumph Over Crimson on Tour

The cagers received a large dose of some of the best talent in the Ivy League this weekend, getting anesthetized by Princeton Friday night and then swallowing a bitter pill at the Palestra the next night in losing to Penn 66-58.

The Tigers picked apart the Crimson defense with surgical precision, winning by 77-45. "We got our doors blown out," summed up Captain Jeff Hill, as Pete Carril's quintet seems more invincible after each outing.

Princeton shot 66 per cent from the floor, clicked on 15 of 16 foul shouts, and forced 23 Crimson turnovers in an awe-inspiring effort at Jadwin Gymnasium.

"They'll never be that hot again," guard Dave Rodgers said. "They executed perfectly. They really headhunted. When they pick, they really pick."

The hoopsters came out briskly enough in the first half, as forward Gary Ackerman drove the baseline past the Tigers' Frank Sowinski for a couple of layups and hauled down eight rebounds to lead the team.

After the Tigers had legged it to a 39-23 halftime lead, though, the cagers could manage only a distraught shuffle in the second half as play degenerated.

The man mainly responsible for leaving the hoopsters spiritually filleted was 6-ft. 10-in. center Bob Roma. Roma tossed in nine of thirteen field goals and capped his 23-point performance with a couple of slam dunks.

Better in Philadelphia

It was a revamped Harvard quintet that entered the Palestra, as Penn barely managed to stave off Harvard's second half surge.

The Quakers reeled off a 34-19 lead with leading scorer Keven McDonald capitalizing off the boards, but the Crimson cut the advantage to 44-34 on the strength of 56 per cent shooting from the floor.

"We got beat up pretty bad on the offensive boards in the first seven or eight minutes," captain Jeff Hill said. But the cagers went into a zone defense in the second half and shut down Penn's run and gun offense, holding them to only 22 points.

Harvard began to whittle away at the Quakers' lead with Jonas Honick's five buckets down the stretch pacing the rally.

The cagers had drawn within 58-54 with under two minutes remaining when Honick misfired from downtown. Penn rebounded and went into a stall until reserve guard Tom Crowley drove the lane and cashed in on a three-point play to put the game away with the score 61-54.

"We just played a terrific second half," said Rodgers. "We really looked respectable. We should have even beaten--them."