Men Cagers Send Brown Tumbling Down

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Guards Keith Webster and Mike Gielen combined for 54 points as the Harvard men's basketball team snapped a 22-game road losing streak while knocking off defending Ivy League champion Brown, 108-90, last night before 1323 fans here at Marvel Gym.

Webster, the Crimson's 5-fit., 11-in. co-captain, scored a career-high 30 points, including a perfect 14-for-14 from the foul line, and also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

In posting the highest single-game total by a cager this season. Webster vaulted into a tie for the team scoring lead with Co-Captain Arne Duncan.

Gielen, a sophomore averaging less than 10 points per game going into last night's contest, also set a career best by pouring in 24 points off the bench. He also handed out a season-high eight assists, as Harvard defeated the Bruins for the first time in five games.

The victory, the Crimson's first away from Briggs Athletic Center since February 16, 1985, snapped a three-game Harvard slide and evened the squad's Ancient Eight mark at 3-3 (8-9 overall).

Going into tonight's match-up with Yale in New Haven, Conn., the hoopsters stand in a three-way tie for second place in the Ivy League.

After lapsing into its characteristic first-half lull, in which Harvard fell behind by as many as 12 points, the cagers came storming back in the closing minutes before the intermission.

The Crimson, whose 108 points represent the seventh-highest total in team history, tied the contest on a three-point basket by Gielen and took the lead for good when sophomore guard Tedd Evers scored off a rebound.

Evers, averaging a mere 2.7 points per game on the season, had his finest night as a cager, connecting on all five of his field goal attempts and netting a career-high 13 points (11 first half).

"This is a helluva win for us," a jubilant Harvard Coach Pete Roby said. "Someone just reminded me that this was my first [road] win in this uniform," the second-Year mentor and former Dartmouth player exclaimed, pointing to his jacket and tie.

The efforts of Webster, Gielen, and Evers overshadowed a fine performance by sophomore guard Neil Phillips, who after coming off the bench in each of the cagers' first 14 contests has earned a starting role in each of the past two games and figures to start the rest of the season.

Phillips was the fourth Crimson player to set a personal season-high last night, scoring 18 points, including seven of 10 shooting from the floor.

Overall, Harvard shot 56 percent from the field, taking advantage of 22 Bruin turnovers by converting numerous fast-break opportunities into easy baskets.

"I've been telling these guys all year that I want our offense to be generated out of our defense," Roby said. "Once we establish a rhythm and play as a unit instead of as a bunch of individuals, we'll play [the way we need to play to win]."

Harvard took control of the contest midway through the second half, sparked by a beautiful fast-break lay-up by Duncan's basket gave the Crimson an 11-point lead which later ballooned to 20 when the cagers paraded to the free throw line down the stretch.

Duncan, who sat out nearly 13 minutes of the first half after scoring only two points and committing two fouls, finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds.

Also noticeably absent from the Crimson line-up for much of the evening was junior forward Kyle Dodson, the squad's third-leading scorer going into last night's match-up.

Dodson played only five minutes in the first half and sat out the entire second half.

"I pulled Arne because he was not stopping anyone [on defense]," Roby said. "He has to understand that we need him to play both ends. He doesn't regard his defensive game as highly as his offensive game so he doesn't go out there and try to stick to people."

"With Kyle," Roby continued, "We just weren't getting any production there, so I felt we had to make a change."

Sophomore forward Fred Schernecker started in Dodson's place and scored eight points.

Crimson, 108-90 at Marvel Gym

HARVARD (108): Kyle Dodson 1-0--2; Arne Duncan 5-1--11; David Lang 1-0--2; Kevin Collins 0-0--0; Keith Webster 7-14-30; Neil Phillips 7-4--18; Bill Mohler 0-0--0; Fred Schernecker 3-1--8; Mike Gielen 9-2--24; Tedd Evers 5-3--13.

Totals: 38-15--108.

Brown (90): Pat Lynch 9-5--26; Todd Murray 2-2--6; Anthony Katsaros 7-2--16; Dom Taylor 2-2--6; David Visscher 5-5--15; Sean Moran 0-0--; Marcus Thompson 6-6--19; Mark Randolph 0-0--0; Dick Whitmore 0-0--0; Bernard Muir 1-0--2; Todd Klock 0-0--0.

Totals: 32-22--90.

Three-pointers: Duncan, Webster 2, Schernecker, Gielen 4, Lynch 3, Thompson. Fouled out: Mohler, Lang, Taylor. Total fouls: Brown 25, Harvard 27. Assists: Brown 17 (Taylor 5), Harvard 21 (Gielen 8). Turnovers: Brown 22, Harvard 17. Rebounds: Brown 39 (Katsaros 11), Harvard 40 (Webster 8). Brown   50-40--90 Harvard  54-54--108

A: 1323