Cornell Five Tops Cagers, 73-65; Harvard to Oppose Mighty Lions

"I just don't understand it." said coach. Bob Harrison after watching his team lose its eighth Ivy League game in nine starts to a weak Cornell squad, 73-65 last night in the IAB.

With three minutes remaining in the game, it looked as though Harvard might overtake the Big Red when it narrowed Cornell's lead to 65-61, but a pair of Big Red free throws and rebound basket put the game out of the Crimson's reach.

The loss dropped Harvard, 7-44 overall, into sole possession of last place in the Ivies, while Cornell, 5-13 for the season, upped its Ivy mark to 2-7. The Crimson faces second-place Columbia, which defeated Dartmouth in Hanover last night, 72-58. In an 8 p. m. game tonight in the I. A. B. In a 6 p. m. preliminary. Harvard's freshmen will play Exeter.

If the Crimson expects to stay anywhere near, Columbia, it will have to perform better than it did last night against Cornell, Harvard threw the ball away frequently, often falling to get a shot, and because of poor offensive rebounding, often got only one shot at the basket per offensive play. The result was 19 fewer shots that Cornell had, a crucial factor in the Crimson's defeat.

Aggression

Harvard opened with an aggressive 1-2-? zone that forced numerous Big Red turnovers, but only mounted a 17-14 advantage midway through the first half. Sophomore forward Brian Newmark, who paced the Crimson with 17 tallies, scored four baskets during that stretch.

Then Cornell ran nine straight points on seven straight Harvard turnovers to take the lead. In the final three minutes of the half, the Crimson managed to erase the Big Red's margin with two drives the length of the court, one each by guard Dale Dover and forward Ernie Hardy. The half-time score was tied, 33-33.

Cornell grabbed the lead back at the start the second half, and when the Big Red widened the margin to 57-48, the Crimson went into a man-to-man defense. "When Harvard went into a man-to-man, I think we were able to get better offensive rebounding position," said Cornell coach Jerry Lace after the game.

Even though the Big Red outrebounded the Crimson, 26-18, in the second half, Harvard did come back to narrow Cornell's lead, but couldn't go ahead.

"The turning point came in the first half," said Harrison. "when we were forcing turnovers and then just turning the ball right back. I can't explain why we played so poorly. It seems like we play according to our competition," he said.

Columbia, the competition tonight, is ranked 17th in the nation, and boasts two of the League leading scorers in 6' 5 forward Jim MeMillian and 6' 4 guard Heywood Dotson. The two All-Ivy players also pace the Lions in rebounding with nine and seven grabs per game, respectively.