Cagers Bow to Lions and Cornell As Tough Ivy Season Gets Going

Despite a hot night from Barth Royer, the Harvard basketball team dropped a 80-71 decision to host Columbia Friday in the league opener for both teams.

Royer netted 24 points, with 11 for 17 from the floor, mostly on outside jumpers. Guard Bob Johnson also had a hot night from the outside with 16 points, but the Crimson sorely missed the board work and inside shooting of injured Chris Gallagher.

Roger Walaszek scored 25 for the victorious Lions.

Harvard used a zone defense against the Lions, while they have almost exclusively used man-to-man before this weekend. It was working for most of the first half, and the Crimson trailed by only one point with three minutes left in the half. But bad passes and other mistakes by the visitors gave Columbia a 36-30 lead at the half, and they built it up from there.

Harvard had a higher floor percentage -- 53.4 to 50.9 per cent -- and more field goals, but the Lions won the game at the foul line.

The first one had been close, but on Saturday night the Crimson five got a glimpse of how rough the Ivy League is going to be. Cornell walloped Harvard, 96-62, at Ithaca.

Bob Johnson led the Crimson with 12 points. Johnson, who earned a starting slot when Jeff Grate was moved to forward to replace Chris Gallagher, had his second fine game in a row in a losing weekend. Bobby Beller had 11 points, and Bob Kanuth added 10.

Harvard employed a 1-2-2 zone to contain big Walt Esdale, which worked well for about ten minutes. But then the Big Red broke the zone with outside shooting, especially by Greg Morris (27 points), and Cornell opened up a 42-20 halftime lead.

The Crimson was ice cold from the floor, hitting only about 37 per cent, and far less than that in the first half. The home team hit 48 per cent from the floor, and placed five men in double figures.

The loss made Harvard 0-2 in the League, while Cornell upped their record to 2-1. Harvard hosts Princeton next Friday night and Penn on Saturday in the IAB.