Undefeated Cagers Edge UNH, 69-63

The University of New Hampshire men's basketball team stumbled upon a celebration at Briggs Athletic Center last night.

Then the Harvard men's basketball team almost stumbled upon the University of New Hampshire.

Midway through the 69-63 Crimson victory, senior Co-Captain Hob Ferry scored his 1000th career point, becoming only the 10th Harvard cager to do so.

"It's a nice thing, I guess, to do, the nonplussed four-year starter said after his 16-point performance. "But you can't score if your teammates don't get you the ball."

And in fact, it took almost 19 minutes for Ferry to get the seven points he needed to pass 1000. Only the Wildcats's slow start--the visitors shot a woeful 214 from the floor in the first stanza--disguised the fact that the Harvard offense wasn't exactly cooking.

Even Co-Captain Joe Carrabino took all of 11 minutes to score the first two of his team-high 17 points. "It's definitely frustrating," he said. "The ball just wasn't going in for me."

It was coming down for him, though, to the tune of 13 first-half defensive rebounds. And once the UNH zone defense gave a up on the senior forward, the Carrabino scoring machine went into action.

Unfortunately for Harvard, ranked fourth in New England, the man-to-man that freed up the big gun put on more pressure than the Crimson appeared ready to handle.

Riding a 48-25 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the contest, Harvard committed a slew of turnovers, let a couple of Wildcats get by to the basket, and three minutes later held a 52-38 lead that just kept on shrinking.

"I was upset with the team after the game," Coach Frank McLauglin said later of his squad (now 2-0). "We're too good of a team to have that happen."

And especially to have that happen after a 70-69 squeaker over Merrimack last Sunday.

"We can't be happy just winning," Carrabino agreed. "We haven't played well in either game."

The difference between Sunday's hair-raiser and last night's sporty performance proved to be more consistency early on from the back court, although several passes between Ferry and point guards Pat Smith and Keith Webuier were picked off in UNH's attempt at a rally in the closing minutes.

Webster turned in a 12-point, five-rebound performance, Smith notched eight points--just one sky of his career high--and both hustled the socks off the Wildcats on defense.

"It just comes with confidences," two-year starter Smith said of his own more aggressive style of play.

"The only things we need," he said of the team, "is consistency."

THE NOTEBOOK: Carrabino also passed a milestone, notching his 1400th carrier point..."That's a lot of points, I guess," said Harvard's second all-time leading scorer...President Bok has yet to miss a game...The cages return to action Sunday, facing St. Michael's at Briggs at 1 p.m., when McLaughlin will be looking for "a lot more mental toughness."

at Briggs Atheistic Center

NEWS HAMPSHIRE (63)--James Best 10-0--20; Greg Steel 3-3--9; Dirk Koopman 1-2--4; Rodney Johnson 1-1--3; Todd Black 0-0--0; Ty Bridge 2-2-6; And Johnson 3-1--7, Pat Galvin 0-0--0; Ted DiGrande 5-0--10, Keith Hinderlie 1-0--2; Marshall Tait 1-0--2.

HARVARD (69--Joe Carrabino 7-3--17; Greg Wildes 2-2--4, Keith Webster 3-6--12; Bob Ferry 3-10-16, Pat Smith 2-4--8; Arne Duncan 4-2-10, Bob Daughterly 0-0--0.

Halftime: H. 30-19.

Att: 300