Cagers Win On the Road -- Finally

New York--To win on the road oh, what a feeling!

The Harvard men's notorious streak of 16 straight road defeats in grand style last night with a hard earned 79-71 victory over Columbia at Levien Gymnasium.

The win thrust the Crimson into a four-way first place tie in the Ivy League, evening its overall record at 7-7, 3-2 in the Ivies.

In other league action Brown, Penn and Dartmouth lost, helping the surprising in Ithaca, N.Y. the Crimson battles Cornell in a crucial year-of-mediocrity Ivy contest.

Harvard controlled the game's tempo through most of the contest, but midway through the second half it looked like the Crimson was destined to swallow defeat number 17 at the hands of the Lions, who did not start their leading scorer, George Meikle, for disciplinary reasons.

For five minutes, Harvard lost its composure with a flurry of turnovers and series of poorly chosen just plain bad--shots. That, coupled with the timely pinpoint outside shooting of Lion guard Mark Settles and forward Mark Lay (18 and 11 points on the night respectively), ignited a Columbia rally which gobbled up a six point Harvard cushion and turned it into a 63-62 Columbia lead with 4.04 remaining.

Columbia's advantage, however, proved quite fleeting as a strategic Harvard timeout quieted the fearsome thunder of the New York crowd. When the Crimson returned to the court, it was able to slow the frenetic pace and regain control of the contest.

Two Joe Carrabino (22 points) layups within twenty seconds and several Bob Ferry free throws (a game-high 23 points) capped the victory as Harvard put itself up by eight with 30 seconds to go. The surge put an end to Columbia's threat--and the 16-game losing stretch.

"Those kinds our there are not going to crack." Harvard Coach Frank McLaughlin said of his cagers after the game, "they're hard-nosed...I said to them that they hustled too hard for 36 minutes to let it slip away through their fingers. We knew that we had the psychological edge because we are the number one free throw shooting team in the country."

The first of Carrabino's two crucial buckets resulted from a gorgeous shovel pass in a congested lane from freshman guard Keith Webster Webster is Harvard's newest starter replacing Co-Captain Ken Plutnicki--and in his appearances so far he has demonstrated a Calvin Dixon-like ability to handle the ball well and home in on the basket for the shot.

McLaughlin said of the 5 ft.-10 in. Webster, "He is a natural athlete."

Harvard played perhaps its finest 20 minutes of basketball this season in the game's first half, tallying 43 points. The Crimson thoroughly dominated the boards, boxing out the puny Lions at will--Columbia's tallest starter is 6 ft.--4 in--and gabbing several offensive rebounds. In the half the Crimson committed only four turnovers. What kept the Lions within reach was a 57 percent perimeter shooting average.

However, McLaughlin's continued use of substitutions was perhaps the game's most encouraging aspect Until the Crimson's game against New York University last week the coach had been criticized for not using his bench, but last night's game--in which four guards received a starting nod--saw the substitution of forwards Greg Wildes and Monroe Trout and center Plutnicki into the lineup at key moments.

"Your have to have an eight to nine man rotation." McLaughlin said "with that you can play enough guys in the first half to discover who's performing well."

But in the end. Harvard will remember the game as the one that broke the streak, proving that, yes, the Crimson is capable of winning away from the well-lit, secure confines of Briggs Cage.

"This road victory here gives us a tremendous psychological lift." McLaughlin said. Harvard 79, Columbia 71

At Levien Gymnasium

HARVARD (79)--Bob Ferry 9-5-23. Arne Duncan 40513: Joe Carrabino 9-4-22. Pat Smith 0-0-0. Keith Webster 3-2-6; Greg Wildes 1-0-2, Ken Plutnicki 4-1-9, Monroe Trout 1-0-2: Totals 31-17-79

COLUMBIA (71)--Mark Lay 4-3-11; Karl Scholz 3-2-8; Tom Gwydir 2-0-4; Mark Setteis 9-0-18. Dale Smith 1-0-2; George Meikle 4-0-8; Sean Couch 4-0-8; Paul Lee 1-0-2; Todd Williams 4-0-8; Chip Adams 1-0-2; Scott Thomas 0-0-0; Chris Pruitt 0-0-0; Kevin Mclvor 0-0-0; Totals 33-5-71.

At Levien Gymnasium

HARVARD (79)--Bob Ferry 9-5-23. Arne Duncan 40513: Joe Carrabino 9-4-22. Pat Smith 0-0-0. Keith Webster 3-2-6; Greg Wildes 1-0-2, Ken Plutnicki 4-1-9, Monroe Trout 1-0-2: Totals 31-17-79

COLUMBIA (71)--Mark Lay 4-3-11; Karl Scholz 3-2-8; Tom Gwydir 2-0-4; Mark Setteis 9-0-18. Dale Smith 1-0-2; George Meikle 4-0-8; Sean Couch 4-0-8; Paul Lee 1-0-2; Todd Williams 4-0-8; Chip Adams 1-0-2; Scott Thomas 0-0-0; Chris Pruitt 0-0-0; Kevin Mclvor 0-0-0; Totals 33-5-71.