Men Cagers Host Hot Cross

Do unto others as others have done unto you.

In Monday's 79-54 loss to the Harvard men's basketball team, Brandeis, a Division II team, tried to stop time. The Judges employed a game-long stall against the Crimson.

Tonight at the Briggs Athletic Center (7:30 p.m. tipoff, 95.3 WHRB), Harvard (1-3) will use a similar strategy when it meets fast-breaking Holy Cross. Although the Crimson, an up-tempo squad itself, will not attempt to slow things down as drastically as Brandeis tried to do, it will want to keep the Crusaders from hitting triple digits.

"They want to run and press," Harvard Coach Pete Roby said. "They like to make the game fast, even faster than we want it. We'll need to maintain our composure and handle their press."

Holy Cross (3-0) is averaging 94 points a game, and defeated Assumption, 105-94, Monday. The Crusaders, who return 11 of 12 lettermen from last year's team, rang up an average of 87.9 points per game last year, 10th in the nation.

While the Crusaders have several perimeter shooters capable of scoring in double figures any night, and a frontcourt that averages 6 ft., 7 in., per player, Roby says he is concerned with non-scoring point guard Glen Williams. Williams averages only six points a game, but he is Holy Cross's all-time leading playmaker with 470 assists. This year, he is dishing out 12 assists per game.

"We have to stop the penetrations," Roby said. "We especially have to pay attention to Williams. We have to stop him from penetrating and dishing off to the guys on the perimeter."

On the perimeter are a group of sharp-shooters the Crimson must contain. Dwight Pernell, a 6-ft., 1-in. junior, is averaging 28 points a game. Pernell, who averaged 15.7 points a game last year, hit 36 in the season opener against Mount Saint Mary's.

Pernell was limited to 18 points against Assumption, but junior Lorne Davis, who scored only two points in the first two games, came off the bench to score 24 points.

"They have some explosive guards," Roby said. "Pernell is like lightning, he's very explosive. They have a lot of weapons that can hurt you."

If the backcourt is not doing the job, the Crusaders can still win if their frontcourt plays well. The forwards, Glenn Tropf and Eldridge Carter, are both 6 ft., 7 in. tall.

Tropf leads the Crusaders in rebounding (9.3 per game) and averages 12 points a game. But he is most known for his three-point accuracy. Tropf led the nation in three-point accuracy last season, hitting 63 percent (52 of 82) of his triples. He has hit only three of eight three-pointers this year.

Burly 6-ft., 9-in. Grant Evans mans the pivot. The senior averages 10.3 ppg. and 7.3 rpg.

In last year's contest, Harvard controlled the tempo of the game, and eked out a 80-78 win over Holy Cross in Worcester. The key for the Crimson was its proficiency from the free throw line. Harvard hit 29 of 31 free throws.

"Free throws are always a key," Roby said. "We hope free throws will be a key again because we want to make them play defense like last year. We have to play our best game of the year if we want to win."