Crimson Five Explodes, Surprises Eagles, 79-65

Harvard's struggling basketball team gave its fans something unusual last night, a victory at the Indoor Athletic Building, and an impressive one at that. The occasion was the first round of the Beanpot Championship, and the 79-65 victim none other than Boston College's disappointing Eagles.

The victory catapults the Crimson into tonight's final against Boston University, the upset victor over Northeastern in the other opening round matchup.

The patient was pronounced dead with about three minutes left in the game, as the combination of Harvard guard Glenn Fine's spectacular ball handling and the red-hot shooting of center Brian Banks sped the inspired Crimson to an insurmountable 70-59 lead over the expiring visitors.

The long-awaited emergence of Banks as a quality ballplayer finally became reality last night, as the 6 ft., 9 in. junior rippled the nets for 32 points, hitting a torrid 14 of 18 shots from the floor.

With Banks dominating the lane, despite the presence of B.C.'s highly-touted forecourt combination of Will Morrison and Bob Carrington, Fine took control of the ball-handling, feeding off five of his game-high 13 assists in the critical span that saw Harvard break open a tight 59-55 contest.

The heavily-favored Eagles trailed only once in the first half, 17 seconds after the opening tap when the Crimson's Muliufi Hannemann took a pass from Banks to give Harvard a short-lived 2-0 edge.

From that point, the game settled into the expected pattern, as the Eagles utilized their frontcourt power and the shooting of Carrington to pull away to what was to be their largest lead of the night at 28-21.

B.C.'s game plan was obvious from the start, with Carrington going one-on-one with the Crimson's Jonas Honick and his replacement Jeff Hill.

Though Carrington pumped in 16 first-half points and added 14 in the second, the plan effectively nullified the rest of the Eagles' offensive power, and Harvard slowly but surely began to take advantage of its opponent's offensive doldrums.

Behind at Half

On the strength of Hannemann's play inside and a typically exciting spree from Doc Hines, Harvard pulled to within two points at 32-30, and eventually left for the halftime locker room trailing 39-36.

The Crimson was all business in the second half, however, and with Banks pulling down 13 of his game-high 18 rebounds and Fine deftly directing the offense, Harvard steadily drew clear.

Bill Carey and Banks each hit two quick jumpers, and the Crimson moved from their halftime deficit to a 46-41 lead, then held off the Eagles until it was time for the game-icing surge.

Carey finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for the 4-10 Crimson, while Hines hit for 15 and Hannemann for eight.