Be-Deviled Hoopsters Hit The Road

As the Harvard men's basketball team puts aside its 37-point loss to Duke last Monday in Durham, N.C. and prepares to re-enter the Ivy League fray, the basketball notebook this week takes one last look at that 89-52 Blue Devil victory.

Duke sealed the game by running off to a 40-19 lead at halftime. Included in that period were streaks of 7-0, 8-0, and 5-0.

On the other hand, the Crimson (who dropped to 4-11 overall) could not manage to string together more than two points (one basket) at any time during the half. And the halftime score reflected that fact.

Meanwhile, a new craze seems to have afflicted several members of the team: dunking mania. After a long dunk drought, forwards Neil Phillips and Kyle Dodson each 'threw one down' during last Saturday's romp over Brandeis.

While complete records are not available, it is thought that Dodson's dunk--the first of the two against the Judges--was the first by a Harvard player since Ken Plutnicki's slam in the final contest of the 1983-84 season, a span of almost 40 games.

Several times in the season, Phillips has shunned dunkery on breakaways, prefering instead a finger-roll lay-up.

But that may be a thing of the past. Both Dodson and Phillips attempted repeat performances Monday against the Blue Devils, but each was fouled and missed the shot.

Several other Cantabs--notably 5-ft., 10-in. Mike Gielen--had breakaways in the rather sloppy second half of that game, but--to the great amusement of the Duke crowd--none attempted dunks.

"It's not really a conscious thing," Phillips said after the Duke contest, "but a couple of times if you get the opportunity...."

The freshman sensation added that, "I've dreamt about dunking against Duke."

Two cagers, Phillips and Junior guard Keith Webster, are currently in a dead heat in the race for scoring leadership of the Crimson. Phillips held a 169-168 lead in points going into the Duke game, but Webster tied him with an 11-10 edge in that game.

The forward does have the advantage of having played 15 relatively complete games, however. Webster logged only two minutes in the cagers' opener against Merrimack before suffering a slight concussion while diving for the ball and having to sit out the rest of the contest.

Other than that zero-point night, Webster's lowest game total of the season is eight (against Dartmouth and Penn). He has scored in double figures in 11 of the Crimson's 15 games.

Phillips has been similarly consistent, with a five-point performance against Brandeis his low (he collected a season-high 11 rebounds in that game). The Germantown, Md. native has reached double figures in 10 contests.

Center Bill Mohler is the only other cager (with Phillips) who has tallied in each contest this year. Mohler is averaging six-and-a-half points per game overall.

The loss to the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium kept alive a number of streaks. It marked Duke's 33rd consecutive non-conference victory--its 13th straight in the current season.

It was also the Blue Devil's fourth straight triumph over the Crimson.

Meanwhile, Harvard has dropped seven consecutive road contests this season, giving the squad a nine-game road losing streak stretching back to last year.

But perhaps most important, Duke's victory lowered Harvard's record in Monday night games against Division I school this decade to 0-8.