Ivy Race Closer After Tigers Beat Penn

Don't count the Harvard men's basketball team out of the Ivy League race just yet. The Crimson got some help from Princeton--the team it beat last Friday--when the Tigers upset league-leading Penn, 53-43, last night at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J.

Harvard (3-3 Ivy) now trails the Tigers (4-1) and the Quakers (4-1) by one-and-one-half games. Dartmouth and Yale are tied for third place with 4-2 records.

Princeton Captain Bob Scrabis stole the ball from Penn Captain Walt Frazier, Jr. twice in the last minute, and the Tigers hit several free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.

Penn led by four points at halftime, but was outshot by the Tigers, 55 to 29 percent, in the second half. Scrabis and junior Matt Lapin each hit three three-pointers in the second half and finished with 16 points.

Frazier, the Ivy League's leading scorer, was limited to 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the field.

And For my Next Trick, I'll Right a Book: When asked to describe how he became an integral member of the Penn basketball team in just a couple weeks, Quaker freshman walk-on Paul Chambers replied, "I'm not going to say. I'm going to write a book."

Chambers played football in the fall and, having "noting better to do," contacted Coach Tom Schneider about playing hoops in the winter. Schneider gave him the opportunity to play J.V., and after a rash of injuries hit the Quakers, the 5-ft., 10-in. guard was allowed to practice with the varsity.

"He's really earned everything he has," Schneider said. "He sparks these guys in practice, hustling all the time, and we need guys like that around."

"This is the story of someone truly playing his way into college basketball," the Quaker coach added.

Playing in only his fourth varsity game, Chambers was one of the key factors in Penn's 67-63 win over Harvard last Saturday at the Palestra. Against the tough Crimson press, Chambers was able to spell starting guards Frazier and Tyrone Gilliams--enough to allow the duo to be fresh for the crucial final minutes of the game. Frazier scored nine of the Quakers' 11 final points.

Chambers played 21 minutes, dishing out six assists and committing only two turnovers. He pickpocketed the ball from Harvard's Ron Mitchell with 58 seconds left in the game to preserve a two-point lead.

"Chambers did a terrific job against the pressure tonight," Schneider said after the game. "He's very quick, takes pressure off of Walt and Ty and allows them a little bit more freedom."

Chamber's only problem was shooting foul shots. He missed two front ends of one-and-ones in the final minute of the game.

Concentrate on the Front of the Rim: Speaking of missing foul shots, Harvard continued its inability to hit from the charity stripe late in the game.

While Mitchell nailed 14 of 16 foul shots in Harvard's 93-91 overtime loss to Dartmouth last Tuesday, sophomore Ralph James missed the front end of a one-and-one, which would have clinched a victory, in the last 30 seconds of regulation time.

In the last five minutes of last Saturday's game, junior center Fred Schernecker and James each missed one of two foul shots and then failed on the front end of a one-and-one.

Co-Captain Neil Phillips has hit only one of his last nine foul shots spanning the last four games.

Pressure Cooker: Harvard's press continues to strike fear in the minds of opposing coaches and probably is the top reason for the Crimson's improvement during the last six weeks.

"When you're going to get after people and run and press, you don't fear anybody," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "Pressure is an attitude, and that attitude is helping us to win."

Princeton and Penn committed only 21 turnovers in the Crimson's two games this weekend, but the press took both teams out of their offensive rhythm in the half-court offense.

"As long as we can press," Phillips said, "we play our style of basketball. I do think that Penn did a good job of bringing the ball up the court, but we didn't lose because of that."

Big Wins Are Hard to Come By: "Where we've come from in four years when these guys were freshmen, it's like night and day," said Roby, referring to the direction of the Harvard basketball program. "We just have to continue to get better and get a couple big wins under belt to let people know where our program is."

Pretty tight belt, coach. Harvard is 1-3 against the Ivy's other top three teams, Penn, Princeton and Dartmouth. The Quakers are 2-1, the Tigers are 2-1, and Dartmouth is 2-2. The Crimson won't win its first Ivy title without beating the Penns and Princetons in this world. Weekend Games

Friday

Yale at HARVARD

Princeton at Columbia

Penn at Cornell

Brown at Dartmouth

Saturday

HARVARD at Brown

Yale at Dartmouth

Penn at Columbia

Princeton at Cornell