There's Too Many

The Crimson's finest offensive effort in six years overtaxed the two-digit IAB scoreboard, which registered the final as 94-7, Yale.

It also buried a potent but ragtag Eli squad along about the middle of the first half, when sharpshooter Tom Mannix scored eight of his 16 points inside three minutes, helping Harvard spurt from a one-point lead to a 38-24 advantage.

The blowout that ensued enabled Crimson coach Frank McLaughlin to get some mileage from his lesser lights, including sophomore center Bob McCabe who, far the first time in his brief career, stayed around long enough to foul out.

But before the Winchester native picked up his fifth personal with 10 minutes remaining in the game, he put in his finest night's work in a Harvard jersey. The 6-ft., 10-in. McCabe, sidelined all of the past two seasons with knee problems, scored ten points and blocked four shots (including two during the three-minute spurt), a performance which earned him a hearty round of applause after his final foul.

"It's really about the earliest (McLaughlin) has put me in," he said. "I played the last three minutes against Cornell last time."

McCabe helped out Mannix and Monroe Trout (21 points) with a 5-for-5 performance from the floor.

His 15-minute outing was especially pleasing to McLaughlin, who hadn't counted on the tallest hoopster to play any kind of role until next year.

"We were pretty much writing this year off," he said when asked about McCabe's knee, "but I looked at the films of the Cornell game and saw that he played well for the time he did play, so I decided to put him in earlier. This is a definite bonus."

Although the knee isn't strong enough to enable McCabe to play anything like a full game yet, the sophomore feels that when he does play, he is playing full strength.

That was apparent when, with the score 28-25 in the early going, McCabe swatted away a Tim Daaleman jumper, took a pass from Calvin Dixon on the two-on-one break, and cruised on home with a graceful lay-up.

"When I'm in there, the knee is one hundred per cent," McCabe said. "It's probably never going to let me play a full forty minutes, but with Monroe (Trout) and Joe (Carrabino) around, coach doesn't need me to."

But even with the two freshmen, the Crimson will need McCabe's height and defense if it is to challenge for the Icy title. And with the path of destruction the squad has left in its wake--four league opponents and a scoreboard--an Ivy Championship, more of a possibility now than in year past, may rest on the fragile knee of the sophomore center.