Penn, Princeton Cagers Hand Harvard New Losses

The Harvard basketball team, hitting fewer than 40 per cent of its field goal attempts, dropped a pair of Ivy League contests over the weekend before small capacity crowds at the IAB.

Friday night, Princeton's title contenders overwhelmed the Crimson, 76-65, behind Geoff Petrie, Tom Chestnut and Chris Thomforde. The next night, in a game marked by some unusual officiating, Pennsylvania's offense and potent guard combination of Steve Bilsky and Dave Wohl outlasted Harvard, 75-70.

Adding to Coach Bob Harrison's woes. 6-3 senior letterman Bobby Johnson left the team last week for personal reason. Rookie coach Harrison had already lost two other pre-season starters, forwards Bob Kanuth and Barth Royer, to injuries.

Tigers Too Much

Princeton was too strong for the Crimson. The game was close for the first ten minutes and then with five minutes left in the half, after two quick Harvard baskets cut the lead to five, the Tigers scored 12 straight points to take control 6-7 junior John Hummer made six of his eight points in the clinching burst.

By halftime, Princeton led 43-26, and, while Harvard regained a degree of organization in the second half the Tigers were never in trouble again. Petrie, a strong, quick, 6-3 guard, finished with 23 points on shots from all over the floor. Chestnut took advantage of Harvard's sloppy rebounds to score 22 and Thomforde, the 6-8 center, added 18.

For Harvard, Chris Gallagher contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds. Dale Dover had 17 points and Eric Gustavson nine. Harvard outrebounded Princeton 49-45 but was outshot 51 per cent to 34 per cent.

Against Pennsylvania, it was a different plot, although the conclusion was the same. Time after time, Harvard would start a surge only to see the Quakers' Dave Whol or Steve Bilsky convert a jumper or a lay-up to blunt the drive.

Wohl scored 16 points in the first half as Penn took a 38-31 lead, but Jay Noble--Starting his first game for Harvard--caught up with the Quaker's moves after intermission and held him to six points in the second half.

Frustrating Story

The second half was frustrating for Harvard suporters. Penn jumped its lead to 10 points within two minutes of the tip-off, but Noble set up first Mike Janczewski and then Joe Stanislaw--both sophomores--and the Crimson pulled to within four with 12:57 left.

The teams traded hoops in the final period. With eight minutes left and Harvard down seven, the strangest officiating of the year stopped another Crimson drive.

Noble was fouled. The scoreboard said it was the fifth team foul against Pennsylvania, but by the calculation of everyone in the stands, it was actually the seventh and thus Harvard should have received the bonus one-and-one situation. Noble made his first shot, but no one alerted the referee who allowed Penn to take the ball.

Harrison roared up from the bench to confront the official scorer--a Harvard student. The coach--arguing the officials should recognize a "correctable error"--ordered the scorer to press his buzzer, stopping play. Penn had shot and missed and Harvard had the ball, but, when the scorer stuck to his five foul tabulation, the officials tagged Harrison with a technical foul. Osowski made the technical foul shot and then Bilsky dropped in a jumper.

Wohl had 22 points and Bilsky 18 for Penn and their center Jim Wolfe had 11 rebounds. Gallagher hit double figures again--20 points and 11 rebounds. Dover had 14 points and eight rebounds while Gustavson had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Again Harvard won the rebounding contest, 57-36, but was outshot, 42 percent to 38 per cent.

Harvard, now 5-11 overall and 1-4 in the Ivies, faces Yale and Brown at the IAB this weekend.