Men's Hoops Breaks DII Sacred Heart

There is no substitute for shooting.

Unless you consider the Sultan of Swat.

Four days after shooting 39 percent from the floor in a loss to Marist, the Harvard men's basketball buried Sacred Heart (1-5) by a 79-64 count in Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday, shooting 50 percent from the floor behind a record-breaking performance by senior center Bill Ewing. SACRED HEART  64 HARVARD  79

Plagued by offensive motion problems and frustrating turnovers that thwarted the Crimson against Marist, Harvard (3-2, 0-0 Ivy) continued to improve its interior defense.

Ewing broke his own school record for single-game blocked shots with six. The 6'9" center added 10 points, eight rebounds andtwo steals in 19 minutes of play as game's mostprominent impact figure.

"He was a tremendous spark off the bench," saidHarvard Coach Frank Sullivan. "His blocks wereabsolutely significant."

Ewing and the Crimson stifled the Sacred Heartoffense in the first half, holding the oppositionto 8-of-25 from the floor en route to a 35-22halftime advantage.

Sacred Heart stepped up the defensive intensityin the second half and improved its offensiveeffectiveness, but could not pull closer thaneight while Harvard cruised to victory.

"We were determined to show some pride on ourhome court," said senior shooting guard Mike Beam."We just kept feeding off each other."

The win, however, came at a cost.

After getting his first start this year, theseason of last year's Ivy League Rookie of theYear, sophomore forward Dan Clemente, is again injeopardy. After suffering a minor aggravation onThursday of the ankle condition which willnecessitate surgery before next season, Clementewas helped off the court in the first half aftertaking a charge from Sacred Heart reserve ShawnJones.

Though he remained dressed, Clemente did notplay in the second half and his condition will bemonitored this week.

After its shooting woes against Marist lastweek, Harvard locked the basket in its sightsSaturday. Beam equaled Sacred Heart's JohnRandazzo with 22 points as the game high scorer on6-of-7 shooting, though his total was inflated byeight consecutive free throws in the final minuteswhen Sacred Heart began fouling out ofdesperation.

Beam hit two key jump shots heading intohalftime to give Harvard a comfortable 13-pointadvantage.

Sacred Heart kept the game close in the earlygoing. Harvard missed several open shots early,while Sacred Heart worked the inside-out tandem offorward David Fesko and guard Kurt Reis to somesuccess. The two led Sacred Heart with six andseven points respectively at the half. At the11-minute mark, the Crimson held a slim 12-11advantage.

Then the ball got rolling. Harvard spread thewealth, getting looks for Beam and senior pointguard Tim Hill on the perimeter as well as forEwing and captain center Paul Fisher in the post.Combined, the Crimson made nine of its final 11field-goal attempts in the first half to build a13-point advantage entering the intermission.

"They had good team quickness and we were alittle out of synch," Beam said. "But we passedthe ball well, and our shooting was better."

In the second half, Sacred Heart stepped up itsaggressive, ball-denial style of defense thatforced 17 Harvard turnovers on the afternoon.

Additionally, the Pioneers instituted afull-court press for most of the half thatflustered the Crimson squad which struggled infacing pressure for the first time this season.

"We saw some things we haven't seen yet thisseason," Sullivan said. "We saw full-courtpressure and overplay in the halfcourt. We haven'treally worked on those, but we still had a levelof confidence."

The press forced 10 second-half turnovers bythe Crimson, and the Pioneers pulled to withineight points with 5:12 remaining at 60-52. But inthe next minute and a half, Hill had two assistsand a steal to put the Crimson up 12 and seal thewin.

"They had some streaky players, which is alwaysdangerous," Hill said. "But we contained theirruns and never felt threatened."

Hill put together another fine night in what isfast becoming another superb season. He was secondon the team with 19 points, and tallied fiveassists to go with two steals. Hill had only oneturnover in 40 minutes of action despite theaggressive Pioneer defense.

"Tim handled [defensive pressure] well," Beamsaid. "He's a human pressbreaker."

For the second consecutive game, Fisher cameout strong in the first half, made all three ofhis first-half field-goal attempts for eightpoints, but then cooled off after halftime. Thesenior connected on only 1-of-5 second-halfefforts to finish with 10 points.

This may be an indication that opposing teamsare increasingly clamping down on Harvard's mostpotent offensive threat in the post, or perhapsmerely that Fisher became fatigued by being on thecourt all 20 minutes in the second half.

"We maxed out Fisher's minutes in the secondhalf because of [Ewing's] foul trouble," Sullivansaid. "When he gets rest he's a lot fresher. Weprobably can't expect him to do the whole thingfrom beginning to end."

Another important factor in Saturday's game wasrebounding. In addition to Ewing's eight,sophomore forward Tim Coleman raked in sevenboards to limit the cold-shooting Pioneers to oneattempt each time down the floor. Harvard earnedthe rebounding edge 35-33.

"Rebounding is certainly something we've talkedabout considerably this season," Sullivan said.

Freshman guard Andrew Gellert, who has seenaction in every game this season, made substantialand necessary contributions off the bench.

A deep Harvard squad became suddenlyshorthanded when Clemente went down and Ewing gotin foul trouble throughout the second half.

Gellert saw 19 minutes of action, scored fourpoints and collected two assists.

Beam's 22 points represents a career high forthe senior. Additionally, Ewing's 10 marked thefirst time he has been in double digits sinceHarvard hosted Princeton last February.HARVARD, 79-64at Lavietes Pavilion

Sacred Heart  22  42  --  64Harvard  35  44  --  79

SACRED HEART: Reis 2-3 2-4 7; Hunter 1-94-6 6; Randazzo 7-17 4-5 22; Lydeka 1-5 0-0 3;Fesko 5-12 0-0 10; Jones 4-7 2-2 10; Welch 1-2 4-66; Sandy 0-0 0-0 0; Clifford 0-1 0-0 0; Reeves 0-20-0 0. TOTALS 21-58 16-23 64.

HARVARD: Hill 5-14 9-11 19; Beam 6-7 8-822; Coleman 2-5 2-2 6; Clemente 1-3 0-0 2; Fisher4-8 2-3 0; Long 1-4 3-4 6; Ewing 5-8 0-1 10;Gellert 2-3 0-0 4; Lewis 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-5224-29 79.CrimsonPaul S. GutmanPAUL 10:5: Harvard captain PAULFISHER (L) scored 10 points and grabbed 5 reboundson Saturday.

"He was a tremendous spark off the bench," saidHarvard Coach Frank Sullivan. "His blocks wereabsolutely significant."

Ewing and the Crimson stifled the Sacred Heartoffense in the first half, holding the oppositionto 8-of-25 from the floor en route to a 35-22halftime advantage.

Sacred Heart stepped up the defensive intensityin the second half and improved its offensiveeffectiveness, but could not pull closer thaneight while Harvard cruised to victory.

"We were determined to show some pride on ourhome court," said senior shooting guard Mike Beam."We just kept feeding off each other."

The win, however, came at a cost.

After getting his first start this year, theseason of last year's Ivy League Rookie of theYear, sophomore forward Dan Clemente, is again injeopardy. After suffering a minor aggravation onThursday of the ankle condition which willnecessitate surgery before next season, Clementewas helped off the court in the first half aftertaking a charge from Sacred Heart reserve ShawnJones.

Though he remained dressed, Clemente did notplay in the second half and his condition will bemonitored this week.

After its shooting woes against Marist lastweek, Harvard locked the basket in its sightsSaturday. Beam equaled Sacred Heart's JohnRandazzo with 22 points as the game high scorer on6-of-7 shooting, though his total was inflated byeight consecutive free throws in the final minuteswhen Sacred Heart began fouling out ofdesperation.

Beam hit two key jump shots heading intohalftime to give Harvard a comfortable 13-pointadvantage.

Sacred Heart kept the game close in the earlygoing. Harvard missed several open shots early,while Sacred Heart worked the inside-out tandem offorward David Fesko and guard Kurt Reis to somesuccess. The two led Sacred Heart with six andseven points respectively at the half. At the11-minute mark, the Crimson held a slim 12-11advantage.

Then the ball got rolling. Harvard spread thewealth, getting looks for Beam and senior pointguard Tim Hill on the perimeter as well as forEwing and captain center Paul Fisher in the post.Combined, the Crimson made nine of its final 11field-goal attempts in the first half to build a13-point advantage entering the intermission.

"They had good team quickness and we were alittle out of synch," Beam said. "But we passedthe ball well, and our shooting was better."

In the second half, Sacred Heart stepped up itsaggressive, ball-denial style of defense thatforced 17 Harvard turnovers on the afternoon.

Additionally, the Pioneers instituted afull-court press for most of the half thatflustered the Crimson squad which struggled infacing pressure for the first time this season.

"We saw some things we haven't seen yet thisseason," Sullivan said. "We saw full-courtpressure and overplay in the halfcourt. We haven'treally worked on those, but we still had a levelof confidence."

The press forced 10 second-half turnovers bythe Crimson, and the Pioneers pulled to withineight points with 5:12 remaining at 60-52. But inthe next minute and a half, Hill had two assistsand a steal to put the Crimson up 12 and seal thewin.

"They had some streaky players, which is alwaysdangerous," Hill said. "But we contained theirruns and never felt threatened."

Hill put together another fine night in what isfast becoming another superb season. He was secondon the team with 19 points, and tallied fiveassists to go with two steals. Hill had only oneturnover in 40 minutes of action despite theaggressive Pioneer defense.

"Tim handled [defensive pressure] well," Beamsaid. "He's a human pressbreaker."

For the second consecutive game, Fisher cameout strong in the first half, made all three ofhis first-half field-goal attempts for eightpoints, but then cooled off after halftime. Thesenior connected on only 1-of-5 second-halfefforts to finish with 10 points.

This may be an indication that opposing teamsare increasingly clamping down on Harvard's mostpotent offensive threat in the post, or perhapsmerely that Fisher became fatigued by being on thecourt all 20 minutes in the second half.

"We maxed out Fisher's minutes in the secondhalf because of [Ewing's] foul trouble," Sullivansaid. "When he gets rest he's a lot fresher. Weprobably can't expect him to do the whole thingfrom beginning to end."

Another important factor in Saturday's game wasrebounding. In addition to Ewing's eight,sophomore forward Tim Coleman raked in sevenboards to limit the cold-shooting Pioneers to oneattempt each time down the floor. Harvard earnedthe rebounding edge 35-33.

"Rebounding is certainly something we've talkedabout considerably this season," Sullivan said.

Freshman guard Andrew Gellert, who has seenaction in every game this season, made substantialand necessary contributions off the bench.

A deep Harvard squad became suddenlyshorthanded when Clemente went down and Ewing gotin foul trouble throughout the second half.

Gellert saw 19 minutes of action, scored fourpoints and collected two assists.

Beam's 22 points represents a career high forthe senior. Additionally, Ewing's 10 marked thefirst time he has been in double digits sinceHarvard hosted Princeton last February.HARVARD, 79-64at Lavietes Pavilion

Sacred Heart  22  42  --  64Harvard  35  44  --  79

SACRED HEART: Reis 2-3 2-4 7; Hunter 1-94-6 6; Randazzo 7-17 4-5 22; Lydeka 1-5 0-0 3;Fesko 5-12 0-0 10; Jones 4-7 2-2 10; Welch 1-2 4-66; Sandy 0-0 0-0 0; Clifford 0-1 0-0 0; Reeves 0-20-0 0. TOTALS 21-58 16-23 64.

HARVARD: Hill 5-14 9-11 19; Beam 6-7 8-822; Coleman 2-5 2-2 6; Clemente 1-3 0-0 2; Fisher4-8 2-3 0; Long 1-4 3-4 6; Ewing 5-8 0-1 10;Gellert 2-3 0-0 4; Lewis 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-5224-29 79.CrimsonPaul S. GutmanPAUL 10:5: Harvard captain PAULFISHER (L) scored 10 points and grabbed 5 reboundson Saturday.