Cagers Destroy Terriers, Capture Beanpot Trophy

The Crimson cagers put together their second consecutive winning performance last night as they rolled past Boston University, 86-70, to complete a triumphant sweep of the Beanpot Tournament.

For the second straight night, center Brian Banks and guard Glenn Fine were the driving forces in the Harvard victory. In Tuesday night's 79-65 romp over Boston College, Banks poured in 32 points, hitting 14 of his 18 shots, and Fine quarterbacked the attack with 13 assists.

Last night, Banks was still smoking, hitting 11 of 14 shots on his way to 24 points, while Fine turned scorer and contributed 14 points to the Crimson cause. Bank's two-game total of 56 points broke the Beanpot record, set last year by BC's Bob Carrington. After last night's game, Banks and Fine were jointly awarded the most valuable player award for the tournament.

Back and Forth

Last night, Harvard and BU looked incapable of playing well at the same time, as the teams traded streaks back and forth throughout the game. In the end, however, Harvard had more firepower and steadily built its lead toward the final margin.

The Crimson took charge of the contest from the very beginning. The Terriers scored the game's first basket to take their first and only lead, but Harvard retaliated by reeling off eight straight points.

Then the tide turned, and BU went on a splurge of its own, charging back to tie the contest at 14-all. Just as quickly, Harvard took over again with a 13-4 burst to build a nine point lead.

Six Steady Minutes

The lead held steady over the next six minutes, with Banks and Jonas Honick, who each scored 12 first-half points, pacing a disciplined and error-free Crimson attack.

But the Terriers must have just been catching their breath, because as the half rolled to an end they fired off a 9-4 burst to cut the lead to four at 41-37. As time ran out, Crimson forward Steve Iron hit a shot from the low post to give Harvard and coach Satch Sanders a little more breathing room at the half.

The game was decided in the opening minutes of the second half. Harvard won the tip and Honick hit a long jumper to build the lead to eight, but BU came right back with a basket of its own.

Then Bill Carey rippled the net with a shot from the baseline, Banks came up with a blocked shot, and Glenn Fine penetrated for two more baskets and the lead stood at 12.

But the Terriers were still not ready to roll over and die. They sandwiched eight points around another basket by Fine to cut the lead in half.

At this point, with the game still up for grabs, Harvard iced the game with a rush that was just too much for the Terriers to answer. Doc Hines banked home a shot from in close. A foul away from the ball gave the ball back to Harvard, and Hines came right back with another tally.

BU came downcourt and fed the ball to forward Neil Burns, whose shooting carried the team the whole night, but this time he could not come through, turning the ball over on a travel.

Banks connected on a turnaround jumper for the Crimson, and BU coach Roy Sigler had to call a time-out in an attempt to put things back together. It did not work. Burns missed his shot, and Banks hit again to run the lead to 14 points, 61-49. The game was as good as over.

The Terriers seemed to lose their enthusiasm at that point, and Satch's cagers methodically built the lead to 21 points with less than two minutes left to play. But even then, BU had one little kick left and scored the last seven points of the game to forge the final 86-70 margin which was at least respectable.

Harvard's Edge

Both teams played well at a pace that became furious at times, but, by the time the contest had been played out, it was clear that Harvard's collection of shooters just had the edge over their opponents. The Crimson hit over half its shots (39 of 76) while the Terriers were hitting on a poor 27 of 62.

BU stayed within sight of Harvard with its freethrow shooting, outscoring the Crimson 16-8 at the penalty stripe.

Harvard managed to play a controlled, patient brand of basketball through most of the contest, only rarely falling into the run-and-gun tempo that seemed to signal that the Terriers were ready to go on another streak. Nevertheless, Harvard's ball control was amazing. With Glenn Fine deftly directing the attack, the Crimson turned the ball over only six times. The excellent performance was just too much for BU to match.

Having finally built up a little momentum, Harvard gets back into the Ivy League title race next week with a game against Brown.