M. Basketball Notebook

For the second straight game, the Harvard men's basketball team had a 50-point second half.

But unlike last Saturday's 72-62 win over Lehigh, the Crimson couldn't overcome a seven-point halftime deficit, suffering its first loss of the season to Marist, 87-82, last night at Lavietes Pavilion.

As usual, junior forward Dan Clemente led all scorers, with 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting, but it was Clemente's slow first half--in which he scored just six points, going 2-of-4 from the field--that put the Crimson (3-1) in a serious hole.

That defensive stop, plus a 40-32 rebounding advantage that gave Marist (2-2) substantial second-chance baskets, allowed the Red Foxes to survive Harvard's 49-percent shooting for the game.

First-Half Brownout

Clemente's six points in the first half---plus the fact that he didn't even attempt his first three-pointer until just over three minutes remained before the break--was testimony to a nice defensive game plan from Marist Coach Dave Magarity.

Magarity used 6'5 junior Drew Samuels in the early part of the half, sacrificing height for quickness and the ability to front Clemente.

"Marist looked ready for Dan, they looked like they had him really well scouted," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "They used a smaller guy on him to start, which gave them some quickness, and they did a good job of knowing where he was."

Samuels kept his body between Clemente and guards Drew Gellert and Elliott Prasse-Freeman, preventing kickout passes and perimeter looks. Four of Clemente's six came on entry passes into the low post, and the other two came at the free-throw line.

Magarity then switched to 6'9 Tomasz Cielebak, against whom Clemente had somewhat better luck, especially in the second half. But Cielebak was a rare match for the Crimson's leading scorer--he possessed both the size and the mobility to pursue Clemente to the outside.

"I thought both Samuels and Cielebak did a great job on Clemente in the first," Magarity said. "He's such a smart player that he didn't force the issue, but maybe he should have, since he's almost impossible to stop on that step-back shot."

The rest of the Crimson shot just 7-of-23 from the field in the first, getting eight points from junior center Tim Coleman and seven from captain Damian Long.

The offense struggled at times to find replacements for Clemente, and turned the ball over 11 times.

"That hurt our rhythm," Sullivan said. "We look to Dan when we can't get things going."

"Teams are going to focus on Dan all year," Gellert said. "We've got to find ways as a team of getting the ball to him for good shots or else making some shots ourselves."

Glass Houses

Marist's biggest victory came inside, where the Red Foxes used superior size from Cielebak and 6'10 Tom Kenney to control the boards. Cielebak finished with a game-high 10 rebounds and Kenney added seven as Marist got 16 offensive rebounds, including an 11-5 first-half edge.

"Marist can play big at three positions," Sullivan said. "They can put guys above the rim where we can't, especially at small forward, where we're smaller. You try to negate that with better positioning, but we didn't."

Coleman, who continued to play a strong offensive role, scored 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting off the bench, and shocked the Lav Pav by draining a first-half three-pointer, but grabbed only two rebounds and fouled out in 22 minutes of time.

"We need rebounding out of the five and the three-spot," Sullivan said. "There are times when we won't get as many rebounds out of Dan because of the kind of offense we run for him, so it's critical for us to get rebounds out of the five."

Clemente was the Crimson's leading rebounder with six, while Gellert had five and junior Bryan Parker had four.

"Rebounding and defense lost the game," Clemente said. "If we don't do those things, we're not gonna win the game. That's the kind of team Marist is, they put a lot of athletes and slashers on the floor, their guards crash the boards, and we didn't get bodies on them."

With just over two minutes to play and Marist leading 77-66, guard Joe McCurdy, who finished with 12 points, missed a long three-pointer as the shot clock expired, but Donald Vale pulled down the rebound to extend the Red Foxes' possession.

Although Vale eventually missed two free throws, the sequence allowed Marist to run the clock down to 1:30, almost a minute of critical late-game time. The Red Foxes scored 19 points off offensive rebounds on the night.

Big Men

Two Harvard freshmen post players had nice evenings. Forward Onnie Mayshak, who had just four points in three games entering last night, scored six on 3-of-6 shooting and grabbed three rebounds. He also had the loudest basket of the night--a two-handed breakaway dunk off a stolen pass midway through the second half.

Forward Sam Winter, who had nine rebounds in the opener against Washington and Lee, had three boards in just five minutes and sank a pretty turnaround jumper from deep in the left corner in the final minute of play.