Seniors, Clemente Provide Fond Farewell

The Harvard men's basketball team saved its best basketball of the year for its final homestand against perennial Ivy League powers Penn and Princeton.

Led by its seniors, who were determined to go out a winner on their home floor, the Crimson played inspired basketball, nearly pulling off an upset of Penn on Friday night, and then coming back the next evening to do the seemingly impossible--defeat Princeton.

The 81-75 loss to the Quakers was a tough one to swallow, as Harvard outplayed Penn for much of the game. Nonetheless, the Crimson did not have a let down against the Tigers, as they came out smoking, winning for the first time in 17 tries against Princeton, 87-79 in overtime.

King of the Hill

The value of senior point guard Tim Hill was never more evident then on this history-making weekend of Harvard hoops.

Hill was sensational in the contests against Penn and Princeton, making his claim to First Team All-Ivy honors against the two premier teams in the league.

In the two ball games, Hill scored 44 total points, dishing out 14 assists with only one turnover in a whopping 82 minutes of action. In the process of leading the Crimson to its biggest victory of the season, the senior star became Harvard's all-time career assist leader, passing Tarik Campbell '94's 570 by one with two games left to play.

On Friday night, Hill faced off against the Quaker's super-talent, junior Michael Jordan, in round two of the highly anticipated match-up of the league's two best point guards. In their first meeting neither of the two had the clear advantage, with Hill scoring 11 points with three assists versus Jordan's 10 points and four assists.

This time around, it was again a close call between the two.

Hill took the upper hand early on, scoring 14 points, to go along with six assists and no turnovers in the first half. Jordan, meanwhile, had 10 points at the break, but dished out only three assists and was forced into six turnovers, getting four inexplicably on travelling violations.

"He's real fast," Jordan said of Hill, "and he was hitting his jump shots, which he didn't the first time. It was me and Hill one-on-one most of the time, and he just made shots."

In the second half, foul trouble forced Hill to switch off of Jordan, and the junior star proceeded to score 14 points after the break to lead the scoring with 24 overall. He finished with four assists, but had nine turnovers in the game.

Jordan scored seven more than Hill, but Hill easily won the assists and turnover battle, helping to keep the outmatched Crimson in the game.

After the tough Penn loss, Hill remained focused, stepping up once again to lead the Crimson to victory against Princeton, to leave his home court a winner, defeating the Tigers for the first time in his four-year career.

"Without a doubt, it's the best win of my career," Hill said. "This is the only team in the Ivy League that the seniors haven't beaten, and we couldn't have asked for a better night."

For the game, Hill shot 8-of-16 from the field, including 10-of-12 from the foul line, to lead all scorers with 27 points. He also dished out four assists--with the final one being the record breaker--against one turnover for the game.

With his great play this weekend, hill has made a strong statement for First Team honors in the League. His play--as usual--was vital to Harvard's success.

Senior Pride

In addition to Hill, the weekend was also marked by the great play of a couple of other seniors.

Center Bill Ewing continued his solid inside play in the absence of captain Paul Fisher--sidelined for the season with mononucleosis--this weekend, and shooting guard Mike Beam played a crucial role down the stretch in the victory over Princeton.

Ewing more than held his own against two of the Ancient Eight's best centers, Penn's senior Geoff Owens and Princeton's freshman sensation Chris Young.

In the loss to Penn on Friday, the 6'9 Ewing showcased some impressive low-post moves on the offensive end against the 6'11 Owens, scoring a career-high 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. Ewing also blocked three shots on the evening.

Against the extremely talented 6'10 Young, Ewing also had a strong night. He scored 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, and added 13 rebounds (four offensive) for the game. He also provided a good presence inside, blocking four shots against the Tigers.

Owens and Young were not controlled by any means by Ewing and the Crimson; Owens scored 17 points and Young netted 19 of his own. But despite allowing the two to score, Ewing performed admirably against two of the best the Ivy has to offer.

Hill was not above ribbing his teammate over his outing against Owens. Witness the following dialogue during the post-game press conference.

"Truthfully, it was in the back of my mind that Owens and I are close in the Ivy shot-blocking race," Ewing said. "I just wanted to show him that he couldn't get my shot."

"He got four tonight, B," Hill answered.

"How many did I have, three?" Ewing asked. "You've got to stop driving so much."

Beam, meanwhile, was clutch in the crucial moments of Saturday night's victory at Lavietes Pavilion.

Beam starting slowly in the first half, shooting 0-of-2 for no points. He did not, however, miss another shot all evening.

With only two points after hitting a jumper midway through the second half, and just three minutes remaining, Beam began to feel his rhythm.

With a little under three minutes left, Beam hit a falling jump shot from the right corner to tie the game at 62.

But it was in overtime where Beam made his mark. He opened the scoring in the extra period with a three-pointer from the left corner giving Harvard a 71-68 lead. After Princeton's Brian Earl tied it up with a trey of his own, Beam answered the call once again, drilling yet another three, giving the Crimson a 74-71 lead that it would never relinquish.

Beam added a free throw later in the period, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from distance.

Beam's line form the Penn game was very similar as he netted 11 points as well on 4-of-6 from the floor, hitting 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

Clemente's just Dan-dy

Sophomore forward Dan Clemente continued to carry much of the scoring load for the Crimson this weekend, scoring 38 points over the games against Penn and Princeton.

Despite not having his best shooting performance against the Quakers, going 8-of-24 from the field, Clemente led the Crimson in scoring with 22 points. He remained the best scoring option for Harvard down the stretch, with his ability to create his own shot.

And like his senior floormates, Clemente came up big down the stretch in the win over Princeton.

Clemente picked up his fourth foul with over 12 minutes remaining in the game, forcing him to the bench. But with his scoring prowess in great demand, he returned to the floor with seven minutes left in regulation.

And, fortunately for the Crimson, Clemente demonstrated much maturity and control, going the final 12 minutes of the contest without picking up his fifth foul, allowing him to provide some heroics of his own.

With the game tied at 62 and under two minutes left in regulation, Clemente received the ball at the top of the key, well beyond the three-point line. Unable to find a man to his left or right, and noticing that no Princeton defender was coming out to cover him, Clemente let fly a high arcing shot from 26 feet that found nothing but net.

A timeout was called, as the Harvard faithful erupted, and Clemente backpedaled down the floor with arms raised high as teammates mobbed him.

Finally in overtime, Clemente helped ice the game, hitting all four of his free throws in the extra period, including the final two for Harvard.