Cagers Humble Penn in Shocker, 93-86

It was one of those incadescent moments in sports. Jubilation reigned supreme at the IAB Saturday night as Harvard's Cinderella cagers and a capacity crowd of 1500 savored every second of the Crimson's radiant 93-87 win over perennial Ivy League powerhouse Pennsylvania.

In a no-holds-barred, plexiglasspummeling performance, the Crimson outshot, outrebounded and outhustled Penn and did it all with unexpected elan.

Been A Long Time...

The Quakers came to Cambridge leading the Ivies with a 9-0 record, having won 14 of their last 15 games and 19 in succession over the Crimson.

Trailing by 12 points at one stage in the second half. the cagers simply refused to kowtow. When Cyrus Booker swished a pair of free throws with 2:03 left to play, the hoopsters took an 85-83 lead which they held onto with something bordering on cold fury. "You could see the determination in their faces," said coach Frank McLaughlin. "Tonight we decided to do it all together."

Fine On The Line

Indeed, the entire squad tripped the light fantastic. Center Brian Banks gave a bravura performance with 24 points while converting on 10 of 12 fool shots. In fact, the team hit on 20 of 38 from the stripe while Penn picked up only nine points from the line.

Bob Hooft snagged 22 points on 10-for-18 shooting. Fellow forward Booker cashed in with 12 points and ten rebounds, and guard Gleen Fine shoveled off nine assists, then rippled through six consecutive free throws in the final 40 seconds to clinch the game.

The game started auspiciously for the cagers with Hooft barreling down the lane for a driving scoop shot and a 6-2 lead. The Quakers took a 9-8 lead when Keven McDonald, the league's premier forward, scored his first points of the night. McDonald led all scorers with 29 points but was bottled up in the second half, shooting only 36 per cent from the field.

Harvard was back ahead, 17-15, when Bobby Allen popped from 20 but McDonald hit his third bucket of the half to even it up. Midway through the first half Frank Konstantynowicz netted a fadeaway baseline jumper as the Crimson's lead mounted to 26-21. The Quakers regained a 31-30 edge on a Tim Smith layup with 7:33 left in the half and never fell behind again until the closing minutes.

Harvard still had some first--half histrionics waiting in the wings, however. Hooft pumped in a solo jumper and Allen scored off a Konstantynowicz steal in quick succession to notch the game at 47-all with exactly a minute left in the half and raise the IAB crowd to a fever pitch.

Quaker Breaker

The audience was wondering whether they had seen the real M0cCoy in the first half when McDonald and Co. made short shrift of the Crimson defense with a second half sortie that gave them a 65-53 lead.

Then Hooft decided it was time for a soliloquy. He bagged a double pump drive, picked up a bucket underneath and dropped a brace of corner jumpers. Allen then drilled home a pair and the gap was cut to 69-65 with 10:20 left to play.

Fine fed Banks with a backdoor pass for a three-point play that kept the Quakers holding on by a thread, 71-70. Booker hit a foul shot to tie it at 71 apiece. For the next six minutes the score tipped back and forth deadlocked as both teams traded roundhouses in the closing donnybrook.

Booker uncorked a slam dunk to notch it at 75-75; Banks scored from straight away to keep it at 77-all; Fine arched in a jumper he had waiting in cold storage in Melrose Park, Pa. to make it 79-up with 4:04 left to play; and Hooft tied it with a pair from the line with 3:00 showing. Booker finally cut the Gordian Knot when he netted those fateful free throws to give Harvard an 85-83 lead, its first of the half.

Cashing In

On Harvard's next sally down the hardwood, Banks upped it to 87-83 with 1:18 remaining when he sunk a pair from the line. Hooft and Banks both picked up one-and-ones in the final minute and both missed the first free throw only to have Booker haul down the rebound (he had ten on the night) and retain control for the Crimson.

Fine flitted through the Quakers in the final seconds and drew three fouls. He sank six straight points from the line to give the cagers their final margin of victory in this, their finest hour.

Coach McLaughlin, aglow after the win, put it best when he said: "I don't know of a better day in Harvard basketball history."

HARVARD SCORING: Ackerman 2 0-0 4, Hooft 10 2-4 22, Banks 7 10-12 24, Allen 4 4-6 12, Fine 2 7-8 11, Booker 3 6-8 12, Konstnatynowicz 1 0-0 2, Cox 1 0-0 2, Hadley 0 0-0 0, Bengel 1 0-0 2, Stenhouse 1 0-0 2,

PENN SCORING: Smith 6 0-2 12, McDonald 12- 5-7 29, Prince 10 3-4 23, Crowley 5 1-2 11, Greene 5 0-0 10, Salters 0 0-0 0, White 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Kuhl 0 0-0 0.

LEADING REBOUNDERS: Booker (10), McDonald (10) Price(9), Banks(7), Hooft(7).

TOTALS: Penn 39 9-15 87, Harvard 32 29-38 93