Hoopsters Mutilate Passive Warriors

I score, you score, Joe Carrabino scores (23), Don Fleming scores (14), George White scores (2), everybody scores in Harvard basketball games.

The Crimson almost did it again Saturday afternoon--falling just short of the magical 100-point mark--belting a weak Merrimack College squad, 99-79, in basketball action at the IAB.

The win was the Crimson's seventh in a row, a streak which equals the seven-game skein of the 1970-71 season, and ups the team's overall you-gotta-believe 11-4, including a 4-0 Ivy League start.

The 99-79 final tally doesn't sound close, and the game wasn't as close as it sounds. The Crimson led from the opening tip, controlling the boards at both ends and shooting a hot 61 per cent from the field to crush completely the Division II Warriors.

Coach Frank McLaughlin mixed and matched 13 players, with Carrabino leading the squad with just 25 minutes of playing time. This situation contrasts sharply with most games this season, in which five or six players have played between 30 and 40 minutes each.

"The game gave us a chance to play some other guys, and to give them some game experience. I think the game was a tune-up; it gave us a chance to get ready for a big week," McLaughlin said.

The hoopsters' week includes three big Ivy League contests, all on the road. The squad travels to Hanover, N.H., on Tuesday for a match with the Dartmouth Big Green (1-2 Ivies), and then goes south for the all-important Penn-Princeton double-whammy over the weekend. "We can't look past the Dartmouth game," McLaughlin said, "after Tuesday we can worry about Friday and Saturday."

The team (in its collective consciousness) didn't have to worry about much of anything Saturday, outrunning and outgunning the Merrimack man-to-man defense. The Crimson plays best when its highly mobile motion offense is functioning, and the Warriors proved only too accommodating trying to press and run with the Crimson.

At times, Merrimack's full court press bottled up the Crimson attack, but only for short periods. The Warriors never managed to claw closer than three points, which they did at 21-18 and 32-29, before the Crimson extended its lead to 26 points at 72-46 with about 11:00 to play.

The Crimson had built that imposing lead with a lineup of Fleming, Carrabino, co-captain Mark Harris, Calvin Dixon and Bob McCabe. When the lead hit 26, McLaughlin took advantage of a Merrimack time-out to put Chris Mitchell, Dave Kohn, Tom Clarke and Robert Taylor into the game.

Clarke, in particular, played well, chalking up 12 points and hauling down four rebounds in about 16 minutes of play. The rugged junior guard has been responding well to increased playing time.

McCabe has become increasingly more mobile over the season, and is rapidly developing into a true defensive force inside. He rejected two Merrimack shots on Saturday, and holds the team lead in blocked shots, recording a total of seven in the last three games.

HARVARD 99, MERRIMACK 79

MERRIMACK (9-14): Lancaster 0 0-1 0; Herrion 1 0-0 2; Campoll 2 0-0 4; Keefe 2 3-4 7; Herenda 1 0-0 2; Boyle 1 0-0 2; Cook 2 2-2 6; Hartel 3 0-0 6; Lavelle 9 5-6 23; Bouchard 1 0-0 2; Dickson 7 0-1 14; Uhlar 4 3-3 11; TEAM 33-82, 40 per cent, 13-16 79; 31 rebounds

HARVARD(11-4): Harris 2 0-0 4; Fleming 7 0-0 14; Carrabino 9 5-6 23; Dixon 5 0-0 10; Kohn 2 0-0 4; Mitchell 3 0-0 6; Taylor 2 0-0 4; Clarke 5 2-2 12; Trout 5 1-2 11; McCabe 1-2-4 4; Plutnickl 0 0-0 0; White 1 0-2 2; Murnin 1 3-4 4; TEAM 43-71, 61 per cent, 13-20 99; 46 rebounds