Crimson Cagers Clip Eagles in Beanpot Opener

It was three degrees last night at 10 p.m., a lot colder than Friday or Saturday nights. So this time when Harvard put the ball in the refrigerator with 2:43 remaining against B.C. for once they froze it solid and ended up with a well-earned 77-67 victory in the first round of the Beanpot Basketball Tournament.

A paltry 1,149 fans scattered throughout Boston Garden watched as the Crimson took a 38-33 halftime lead and after a few close shaves of losing the lead, moved out to the final ten-point margin while on the stall.

Balanced scoring, a good team shooting percentage, and a rebounding edge of 18 all contributed to evening out the season record of coach Bob Harrison's squad at 6-6. The Crimson posted five players in double figures and were led in scoring by its guards Jim Fitzsimmons and Kenny Wolfe who collected 16 apiece. Tony Jenkins, James Brown and Floyd Lewis had 15, 12 and 11 points respectively.

Harvard shot at a 41 per cent clip, hitting 36 of 87 from the field, as compared to the Eagles 40 per cent on 28 of 69. The Crimson outrebounded B.C. 50 to 32 and committed fewer turnovers, 18-20.

The Eagles were however hampered by the loss of their second leading scorer Dave Walker (13.1 ppg.) who injured his ankle in Saturday's overtime win over Villanova and was forced to watch last night on crutches from the sidelines.

B.C., who is now 6-5 the year after beating such teams as St. John's and St. Bonaventure, was also hurt by the poor performance of leading scoccer Mark Raterink. Raterink, who averages 20 points a game, scored only 12 points and shot a dismal 3 for 18 from the floor.

In all fairness to Raterink, it must be noted that he lost a tooth in the first half thanks to a well-placed Crimson elbow and this did send him to the bench in a very real state of pain. But much of the credit must go to Jenkins who continually hounded the Eagle star, forcing him to take bad shots and never giving him an open one.

Taking up the slack for coach Bub Zeffelato's team was Jere Nolan, a 12.8-point-per-game player who last night hit 11 of 10 shots from the field and added one of two from the line pick up the game's scoring honors with 23 points.

Harvard now moves on to play Northeastern, a surprise winner over B.U. in the opening game last night, 97-87, in the championship game next Monday, only three days after the two squads' regular season game on Friday.

The Friday contest will be at Northeastern and the Beanpot final again at Boston Garden, where possibly the same sign, painted on a white sheet and hung from the second balcony, will greet the hearty few who show at perhaps the last Beanpot game in the Garden.

The lucky greeting said "Hi Al and Curt, Hi NBC, Hi Mom, Go J.B. Rah Crimson."