B.C. Blasts M. Cagers, 121-80

It wasn't pretty. Gosh, it wasn't even ugly.

In the Crimson's home opener last night, Boston College demolished the Harvard men's basketball team, 121-80, in front of 1800 fans at Briggs Cage. The shellacking dropped the cagers' record to 1-2, and was the largest point total ever given up by the Crimson.

"It's embarrassing " Harvard Coach Pete Roby. "There's no other way to put it. Nobody likes to lose by 40 points."

It didn't start so bad.

Harvard opened the scoring when Tri-Captain Bill Mohler hit a pair of free throws. Then, the Eagle pressure defense began to frustrate the Crimson.

Aided by at least eight Harvard turnovers in the first five minutes, B.C. went on an impressive 25-2 scoring run to pull ahead, 25-4, with 14:41 left in the half. Eagle forward Steve Benton scored eight points in the run before the Crimson called for a timeout.

"We wanted to decide how we were going to break the pressure because we were too unorganized," Roby said. "We lost our poise."

The Crimson managed to reorganize, and made a surprising comeback. Sparked by three-point shots by Tri-Captain Mike Gielen and Ralph James, Harvard scored 16 unanswered points to pull within seven points, 25-18, with 11:41 left.

Then Dana Barros started to take charge. The star Eagle guard woke up his squad with a basket under the backboard, and was fouled on the play. Barros, who scored 17 points in the half, made the free throw and started to break the Harvard press.

The two squads exchanged baskets for several minutes, and the Crimson was able to pull no closer than 37-32 after a David Lang jumpshot at the 6:25 mark.

"We got back into the game, and made it a game, and everbody got a sense of relaxation," Gielen said. "It wasn't urgent anymore. People started taking dumb shots, and stopped boxing out, and they took advantage of it."

Facing a looser press, Barros scored nine points--including an amazing 360-degree spin-in-the-air jumpshot that few watchers will forget--to lead a 23-10 Eagle scoring run to close out the half with B.C. on top, 60-42.

Dominance

With three fouls on Mohler and forward Kyle Dodson by halftime, the Crimson couldn't play as aggresively under the boards in the second half. B.C took advantage and controlled the boards.

Six-ft., 9-in. center Corey Beasley scored 15 second-half points to lead the Eagles, who shot an unbelievable 75 percent in the half. When guard Jamie Benton hit Tyrone Scott for an alley-oop slam dunk at the 9:35 mark to give B.C. a 40-point lead, 95-55, the Crimson's fate was sealed.

In the contest, Barros shot 12-for-15 from the field, including two-for-three in three-point attempts to lead the Eagles with 26 points. Benton supplied 19 points and handed out nine assists for B.C.

James led the Crimson in scoring with a career-high 16 points, while Gielen pumped in 14. David Lang scored eight points on four-for-four shooting, and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Crimson.

"Turnovers killed us," said James of the team's 25 turnovers. "We have to work on the press quite a bit. That was just ludicrous the way we turned the ball over."

Ludicrous is a good word--for the turnovers and perhaps for the game itself.

"You want to give people a reason to come back and watch you play," Harvard Coach Pete Roby said. "We certainly didn't do that today."

THE NOTEBOOK: Gielen led the bad-hands people with eight turnovers, while Tedd Evers and Dodson messed up four times apiece...Evers and Dodson were also a combined two-for-12 from the field...Neil Phillips scored his first five points of the season...The previous record for high score by an opponent was held by--of all teams--Brandeis, which scored 117 points against the Crimson in 1972...Senior guard Tom Morrison set a a personal career-high with three points in the game.

B.C. (121): Steve Benton 6-0--12; Doug Able 6-2--14; Tyrone Scott 2-1--5; Dana Barros 10-4--26; Jamie Benton 6-3--19; Bobby Horan 2-2--6; Mike Corcoran 2-1--5; Corey Beasley 6-5--17; Willy Foley 1-2--4; Bobby Francis 4-4--12; Rob Schnatmeier 0-1--1.

Totals: 45-72 25-43 121.

HARVARD (80): Kyle Dodson 1-0--2; Tedd Evers 1-1--3; Bill Mohler 2-4--8; Mike Gielen 5-2--14; Ralph James 6-2--16; Mal Hollensteiner 0-3--3; David Lang 4-0--8; Kevin Collins 2-2--6; Neil Phillips 1-3--5; Scott Gilly 1-0--2; Dana Smith 1-3--5; Tom Morrison 1-1--3; Sean Duffy 1-0--2; Brian Mackey 0-0--0; Brian Ehrlich 1-0--3; Ian Smith 1-1--3.

Totals: 27-70 21-28 80.

Three-pointers: Barros 2, Benton 4; Gielen 2, James 2, Ian Smith. Fouled out: Foley; Mohler, Lang. Total fouls: B.C. 21; Harvard 31. Assists: B.C. 21 (Benton 9); Harvard 14 (Gielen 4). Turnovers: B.C. 16, Harvard 25. Rebounds: B.C. 47 (Benton, Corcoran 7); Harvard 39 (Lang 6).