Men Hoopsters Down Cornell

Ithaca, N.Y. --The Harvard men's basketball team kept its chances for an Ivy League Championship alive last night at Barton Hall with a come-from-behind 52-51 overtime victory.

Don Fleming spearheaded the hoopsters offense with 28 points as the Crimson upped its Ivy League mark to an even 4-4, a game and a half behind league-leading Penn.

Last night, however, it was the Crimson defense that made the difference as Harvard forced 18 Big Red turnovers while out-rebounding the home side, 27-24.

"We were real strong on defense," said Fleming after the game, "helping each other out and especially boxing out."

The defensive performance came despite she absence of defensive stalwart Monroe Trout, who did not make this weekend's trip due to an elbow injury.

"We just had to play harder," guard Calvin Dixon said of Trout's absence. "It forced was to play together more on defense and concentrate on our fundamentals."

Uphill All the Way

Harvard never led by more than two points throughout the game, and spent much of both halves fighting back from a deficit. Harvard cut a five-point Cornell advantage in the first stanza and then rallied again from a seven-point disadvantage in the second stanza.

In the first half, Fleming, who scored 14 of his points in the first 20 minutes, took control of the Harvard offense early on, swishing two early jumpers to give the Crimson a 4-2 lead.

Cornell, however--sparked by three 20-fit buckets by forward Brad Bomba--eventually built an 18-13 lead midway through the period.

Harvard then tightened its staunch 3-2 zone and Fleming recovered a loose ball, drove the length of the court and sank a fall-away six-footer to bring the Crimson within three. Dixon then followed Fleming's efforts with a 13-ft, jumper of his own to cut Cornell's lead to one.

Joe Carrabino, who scored 14 points on the evening, took control of the offense, answering three Cornell buckets with three of his own His final basket--a six-footer from the key with 204 to go put Harvard in the lead 23-22.

The lead then switched hands twice more before Fleming got the half final basket with a 9-ft jumper that swished at the buzzer and sent Harvard into the locker room on the short end of the 27-26 score.

More of the Same

After the intermission, Cornell again went out to a lead this time a 7-point one, leading 37-30 at 15:58. The Crimson, though overcame the deficit with four straight baskets shutting out the Big Red for more than four minutes.

Down 40-37, Cornell backcourt man George Hall then tied things up the next time down the court as he converted a layup and was fouled in the aftershooting His free throw was good, knotting the score at 40.

In the final ten minutes, the score was tied three times--at 46, 48 and finally 50. Dixon put the hoopsters ahead, 50-48, with a pair of free throws at 1:21, but the game went into overtime as Hall converted a 15-footer from the top of the key with 21 seconds remaining.

In the overtime period, Carrabino stepped to the line after a backcourt foul, and with 4:18 remaining he calmly sand both shots to give Harvard a lead they would never relinquish.