New Yorkers Vandalize Men Hoopsters

While much of the Harvard student body was skiing in Vermont over the intersession break, the Harvard men's basketball team was hosting Cornell and Columbia.

And the way things turned out, the Crimson might have been better off heading for the mountains, as the squad dropped both games to its Ancient Eight rivals from New York, 8-81 to Columbia and 80-73 to Cornell.

The losses dropped Harvard's record below .500--both overall (7-9) and in the Ivy League (2-3). The Crimson also fell from its previous first-place tie in the Ivy League, now occupying the sixth spot in the league standings, one-half game behind both Princeton and Penn.

In both games, the lack of competition during the two-week break for exams was evident, with the team very rusty at times and breaking down mentally during key streches of the contests.

"Right now, we have a mental problem," said Head Coach Pete Roby. "We have the personnel right now to win, but we lack a toughness in concentration that is vital."

Against Columbia, Harvard fell behind early and was never able to get back into the game, thanks in part to the shooting of the Lions' Sean Couch. Couch scored 33 points in the contest, including 21 in the second half while also pacing his squad with six rebounds and five assists.

"We had to be much tougher defensively," said Roby. "We scored 81 points in the game, and that should be enough to win. Couch is a good player, but we let him go crazy and you can see what happened."

Neil Phillips led the Crimson in scoring, posting 17 points and three rebounds. Webster put in 15 points, including 12 on three-pointers, before fouling out with 47 seconds left. Arne Duncan was also in double-figures for Harvard with 14 points.

The Lions led from start to finish, moving out to a 14-point lead after 10 minutes of play, 24-10. The Crimson closed the lead to five points with 13:22 remaining in the game, 51-46, on a Mike Gielen layup off a feed from Keith Webster, but two quick baskets by Columbia stretched the visitor's lead back up to nine points.

Harvard made one last run with 57 seconds to play, when a Neil Phillips three-point jumper pulled the squad to within a six-point margin, 81-75.

Again, however, the Lions were up to the challenge, as four straight Tony Chiles' free throws sailed through the net to ensure the win.

Misfiring

The Crimson was plagued by erratic free-throw shooting thoughout the contest. Harvard shot 43 percent (nine-for-21) for the game, and under 39 percent (five-for-13) in the first half.

Many of those missed free throws in the first stanza were especially fatal for the Crimson, as they came at the front end of one-and-one situations, thus preventing additional free-throw opportunities.

In the first half, Harvard failed to connect on six straight attempts during a five-minute span before halftime, including five straight misses in one-and-one situations, three by Kyle Dodson alone.

"Shooting poorly at the free throw line was part of the problem," Roby said. "If we had connected on some of those one-and-ones, we wouldn't have had such a big hole to climb out of, and the entire style of the game would have changed.

One of the few highlights for the Crimson in the Columbia game was the surprisingly strong play of sophomore Fred Schernecker.

Averaging only 3.3 points per game, Schernecker came off the bench in the second half to net 10 points in 12 minutes of play, including two three-point shots. His six rebounds led the Crimson in that department.

Red-Faced

In the Cornell game, John Bajusz came off the bench for the Big Red to lead all scorers with 24 points, including 12 from the free throw line and 17 in the second half.

Sophomore Mike Gielen led the Crimson in scoring with 13 points. Arne Duncan and Phillips finished with 12 points apiece.

Harvard again allowed itself to fall behind early, but a key mental mistake by the Crimson down the stretch assured the weekend sweep.

The cagers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and were outscored by a 16-3 margin in the first six minutes of the second half to fall behind, 54-32, with 14:34 left in the game.

Harvard made a gallant comeback effort, going on a 21-6 tear to reduce the Cornell lead to seven points, 60-53, with 7:48 left.

The lead was still seven with only 2:31 to play, 70-63, when Dean Kartsonas connected on a layup underneath to put the Big Red up by nine.

Never Say Die

But the Crimson refused to quit, and four straight free throws by Dodson and Duncan, followed by a short bucket by Gielen, brought Harvard to within three, 72-69, with 1:08 left in the contest.

The Crimson got the ball back with 45 seconds left on a traveling violation, but Schernecker was whistled for an offensive foul underneath, sending John Bajusz to the line at the other end.

Bajusz missed the front end, and Webster was fouled on the rebound, sending the senior guard to the line with only 20 seconds remaining. Webster hit both shots, and a lead that was once 22 points was cut to one, 72-71.

Phillips intentionally fouled Bajusz on the inbounds pass, and Bajusz hit both free throws to make the margin three again, 74-71. Harvard advanced the ball to mid-court, where it called its final time-out with 18 seconds left to set-up a game-tying three-point attempt.

But it never got the chance. A strong defensive effort by the Big Red prevented Webster from inbounding the ball, who then called time out to avoid a five-second violation.

In doing so, Webster collected an automatic technical foul for calling for a time out with none remaining.

Cornell hit both free throws in the two-shot technical, as well as both ends of a one-and-one two seconds later to ice the game.

"That's my fault," Roby said afterward. "It was a terrible play. I'll take sole responsibility for it. Not only was it terrible but it was inappropriate."

The Crimson was much more effective from the charity stripe against Columbia, hitting 23 of 30 attempts, including 14-for-16 in the second half.