Cagers Dump Engineers; Subs Strut Their Stuff

With five seconds on the clock, Crimson guard Jeff Sinek took a pass from teammate Tom Clarke, dribbled to the right side of the foul line and arched a graceful 15-ft. jump shot. The buzzer sounded, and...swish! Sinek had his ninth and tenth points of the season, and Harvard beat MIT, 68-47.

Sinek and back-up center Bob McCabe led the Crimson subs for the final ten minutes of last night's laugher at the IAB, while the first string rested up for this weekend's crucial contests against Cornell and Columbia.

Everyone on the Harvard side seemed to enjoy the annual tune-up for the Ivy League season, but several personnel problems are still plaguing the 5-6 cagers, and they prevented the Crimson from blowing the Engineers off the court earlier than they did.

Dixon Sitting

For the second straight game, point guard Calvin Dixon sat in the grandstands, watching the action mournfully and nursing some badly torn knee ligaments. Dixon will be out for at least a month, and without him to lead the offense, Harvard had trouble in the first half getting the ball inside to big men Joe Carrabino and Monoe Trout.

Another reason the Crimson took a mere 27-20 lead into the locker room was the inconsistent play of captain Don Fleming, who hit only two of 11 field goal attempts and turned the ball over six times.

Fleming has yet to find his scoring touch this season and recently suffered a tragic loss in his family, which seems to have distracted him further this past week.

McLaughlin Upbeat

Despite these worries, coach Frank McLaughlin sounded confident about upcoming Ivy confrontations after last night's romp. Would his team falter against live competition? "No, we're just about where we want to be at this point," McLaughlin said. "We haven't played great, but we'll be concentrating a lot harder when Columbia and Cornell come in."

Looking a little more concerned, McLaughlin said that he didn't know if Fleming--last year's Ivy scoring champ--would start this weekend. The 6-ft., 4-in. senior hasn't started a game since before winter vacation.

Working in the Crimson's favor is the current disheveled state of the Ivy League standings. Powerhouses Penn and Princeton have stumbled at the starting blocks, with the Quakers dropping their first two league games and Princeton losing one. Lowly Brown has 12 losses overall but is 2-1 in the league.

"The way things stand, it's really up for grabs," said McLaughlin, and if we can pull through these early games without Calvin, we'll be in great shape going down to Penn and Princeton." Harvard has a 1-0 Ivy record, with an early-season win over Dartmouth.

Engineers Tough

The race for Ivy gold doesn't make much difference to the Engineers from down Mass. Ave., but they gave it the old technical institute try last night and may have startled the Crimson early on with their determination.

Five-ft., 10-in. guard Mark Branch led all scorers with 21 points and somehow managed to sneak under the towering Harvard zone for a series of classy under-handed lay-ups.

MIT plays a so-called "reverse-action" offense, which features a lot of motion through the lane and is similar to the strategies employed by Columbia and Cornell. "Only the other teams do it better," said McLaughlin with a smile.

Indeed, the Engineers ran out of steam after a valiant first-half struggle, and Harvard quickly widened its lead to 20 before the subs from both benches swarmed onto the floor.

Who Are These Guys?

The entire Crimson squad saw action last night, and no one made into double figures. An enthusiastic reading period crowd of about 100 people saw some razzle-dazzle from unfamiliar sources: Bob McCabe rejecting jump shots into the fourth row and scoring eight points; Tom Clarke handling the ball confidently and chipping in two buckets and two assists; and Jeff Sinek, the hero at the buzzer, netting three of four from the floor.

Freshman Kyle Standley (two points) still looked a little shaky filling in for Dixon, but third-stringer Kevin Boyle turned in another solid performance in only his second game for the varsity.

NOTEBOOK: The Crimson incorrectly reported Monday that Crimson Travel sponsors the half-time Bermuda Shoot contest at Harvard home games. Raymond and Whitcomb & Co. sponsor the contest...Weekend action: Friday, Cornell; Saturday, Columbia...Both games start at 7:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of Mt. IAB... "If it's close, I'm convinced the fans will make the difference," says coach McLaughlin in all seriousness. "It would be great if the other teams come in here and really get the treatment."