Hoopsters Drop OT Thriller to Tigers

"It was waiting for us to take it, it was just sitting there." --Senior co-captain Mark Harris

Sitting quietly on a bench in the Crimson locker room following a heart-wrenching 56-54 overtime loss to Princeton, and speaking more softly still, Harris must have been thinking of nearly four years of the Harvard basketball experience.

Slowly shaking a bowed head, almost whispering, the 6 ft. 4 in. forward defined Harvard basketball. "That's the kind of game," he said, pausing briefly and then finishing in a rush, "that Princeton's used to winning and we're used to losing. Somehow we just didn't do it."

But this game--played before a standing room crowd of 2000--signalled--as this whole season has signalled--the arrival of real basketball at Harvard. "I don't think anybody expected us to come this close this year." Crimson coach Frank McLaughlin said," And in only three years of recruiting to come this close, I think is a real tribute to the kids."

The tribute last night came down to the last second of the five-minute overtime period, when a Donald Fleming jumper hit the right side of the rim, skipped over the hoop, grazed the backboard, and skittered to the floor, preserving Princeton's twenty-first straight triumph over the Crimson.

The Tigers had gone ahead by two with just four seconds left in overtime on two pressure free throws by Steve Mills, who was awarded the shots after a dubious foul called on Crimson guard Calvin Dixon. Going for the steal 30 feet out on the left wing, Dixon allegedly hit Mills' hand, and with the Crimson already in the penalty situation, the Princeton guard was granted a one-and-one foul situation.

Although it looks better than Princeton's on paper, the Crimson's 16-for-23 foul-shooting, more than any other facet of the game, hurt the Harvard cause. Crimson shooters--who lead the league in free throw percentage--missed the front end of a one-and-one situation three times in the last eight minutes of regulation time, just as they were struggling to gain decisive control of the game.

"We've won every other game on the foul line," co-captain Tom Mannix said after the game, "It's ironic that we lose the biggest game of the year on foul shooting."

Whatever the result, the Crimson performance shone in nearly every other way. The first has to be the unprecedented second-half comeback, which enabled the squad to push the game into overtime. Down by just four at the intermission, Harvard quickly fell behind by 10 early in the period, at 42-32, with 15 minutes remaining.

The Crimson then put on the brakes, shifting into a full court press and finally neutralizing the advantage of Princeton's yawn-inspiring slow-down offense.

The Harvard defense--led by Harris' brilliant effort--forced turnovers and controlled the boards until Mannix tied the score at 46-all with eight minutes left.

That 20-foot swish by Mannix was the last field goal in regulation time--which ended at 50-50--for either team. The Crimson's forty-ninth point--the first of two Fleming foul shots--marked the junior forward's 1263rd career point, and made him the Crimson's all-time leading scorer, pushing him past Keith Sedlacek who finished his career in 1966 with 1262 points. Fleming led all scorers in the game with 24 points.

A big part of the Crimson's performance was the psyche factor provided by the IAB sell-out throng, which lined both baselines and one of the weight rooms above the gym floor. "The crowd was the greatest, Mannix said. "They were tremendous. It was a feeling we've never had here before."