Crimson Cagers Cast for the Spoiler, As Princeton, Penn Revue Plays IAB

The Crimson cagers have faded from the limelight of Ivy contention thanks to a 77-76 upstaging by Brown last weekend and now assume the role of spoiler as the second half of league play gets underway tonight against Princeton.

Harvard is in fourth place in the Ivies, a full two games behind league leading Penn. And Harvard coach Tom Sanders is realistic over his squad's chances of stealing the show. "We'd have to expect an awful lot to happen for us to have a shot at the top spot now," Sanders said yesterday.

However, the Crimson does have the opportunity to add some drama to an otherwise dull Ivy League script.

The Tigers' roundball repertoure is led by a cast of juniors. Six ft in Barnes Hauptfuhrer is both the top scorer with 15 points per game, and top rebounder. Hauptfuhrer is lent strong support from co-captains Armond Hill and Mickey Steuerer, hitting at 14 and 12 point clips respectively.

Jim Flores, a 6 ft. 8 in senior who helps shore down a tenacious Tiger defense which ranks in the top ten of the nation, and Tim van Blommesteyn, a swingman with a 10-point average and a sticky hand for the steal, round out the starting five.

Princeton handled Harvard easily earlier in the year, winning a 67-57 contest, but despite this victory Tiger mentor Pete Carril is concerned. "Harvard has the talent to beat anyone in the Ivy League and they play well at home against the top Ivy teams. We're scared about tonight's game. If we lose we are out of the title race," Carril said.

The Crimson's task of taming the Tigers will be the easier of its weekend chores, as the main bill at the IAB will be the Ron Haigler and company floor show. The Quaker five is currently ranked 14th in the nation and captain Haigler can take considerable credit for that.

Formidable Front Three

Penn boasts a formidable front three with Haigler, who is hitting for 22 points per game and hauling down 11 rebounds, 6 ft. 11 in, junior Henry Johnson and sharpshooting 6 ft. 7 in forward Bob Bigelow.

Although junior standout John Engles has been sidelined for the season due to an injury sustained since Harvard's 103-75 drubbing by Penn, the Quakers have shown no ill-effects.

Sophomore Mark Lonetto has filled in nicely and All Ivy guard John Beecroft maintains his role as backcourt director of the Quaker offense, which is hitting at an excellent 51 per cent from the floor Penn also brings to town a run of seven straight wins and a thirteen game streak over Harvard.

For the Crimson to redeem itself it will need to improve on its slapstick performance of Tuesday evening's 95-88 loss to Brandeis "We are a better team than when we last met Princeton and Penn and the guys feel they have a score to even Sanders said.