Men Cagers Head South For Ivy Battles

Just over a month ago, the Harvard men's basketball team opened its Ivy League schedule with stunning home upsets over pre-season favorites Penn and Princeton.

The Crimson will be travelling to Princeton, N.J. and Philadelphia to start the second half of its Ivy schedule tonight and tomorrow. And it will face the same teams it began its Ivy schedule against. This time, Penn and Princeton will know what to expect.

"We put them off to a bad start from which they haven't yet recovered," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said.

Unfortunately, Harvard hasn't quite been the same either since those games. The Crimson has gone 1-4 in the Ivies, leaving it tied with Princeton for fourth place, a game behind Penn (4-3), and three games behind league-leaders Cornell and Yale.

Two losses would put Harvard at 3-6 with only five games left to play, and put an end to the Crimson's dream of an Ivy crown.

Statistically, Harvard needs at least a split to remain in the running. But if it is really to have a chance at the Ivy title--something it has never claimed--Harvard must sweep both squads.

Against Princeton--a team that sports a bench which scored only six points against Harvard in January--the Crimson came out running and won with relative ease, 78-54. "Our philosophy against Princeton won't change," Roby said. "We'll try to get them into a fast-paced game, get them to play tired, and use our bench to our advantage."

The Tigers, under Coach Pete Carril, are led by 6-ft., 6-in. senior forward Alan Williams (16-1 points-per-game, 4.9 rebounds-per-game) and guard Joe Scott (12 p.p.g. on 43 percent from 3-point range). But the real star of the Team is its tough zone defense. The Tigers have allowed an average of only 64.6 points in their games, while Harvard has been scoring an average of 85.3.

"The key is whether we shoot well or not," Roby said. "If we can hit from the perimeter, we can draw them out of their zone."

When the Crimson enters the Palestra tomorrow, it will face a Quaker team with something to prove.

"I think we left a bad taste in their mouths, especially now that we've beaten them two games in a row," Roby said.

The Crimson battled back from a 19-point deficit with less than 12 minutes to play to earn a tie at the end of regulation in the last game against Penn. In overtime, a key steal and jump shot by Co-Captain Keith Webster at the buzzer propelled the Crimson to an emotional 92-90 victory.

To repeat its earlier triumph, the Crimson will have to shut down Penn's stars and get strong performances from Webster and Co-Captain Arne Duncan. The last time the two squads met, Webster scored 16 points and Duncan 24 to pace the Crimson.

"The key is to keep [Bruce] Lefkowitz to a decent number of points," Roby said, referring to Penn's fine center, who is averaging 19.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. Lefkowitz scored a whopping 33 points in the first game.

Because of Mike Gielen's hounding defense, Quaker guard Perry Bromwell was held to four-for-12 shooting from the field in the first game. The return of point guard Johnny Wilson will push Bromwell to the off-guard spot, where he probably will be more effective offensively.

To stop Lefkowitz and get some rebounds, Roby said he plans to give 6-ft., 10-in. freshman Mal Hollensteiner a lot of playing time at Penn. Roby also said that sophomore Tedd Evers--the Crimson's second leading scorer against Duke--will get to play more on this road trip.