Two Disappointing Endings to Cagers' Disappointing Season

They were two very different endings to a very different season.

Friday night, in one of the worst games of the season, entertainment-wise and skill-wise, the Crimson shot 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from the foul line in a 80-60 loss at the hands of Brown.

Saturday night, in one of the best games of the season, entertainment-wise and skill-wise, the Crimson shot 56 percent from the field and 93 percent from the line, and still lost, 82-78, to second-place Yale.

Two different games, same result. A last-weekend sweep for the third consecutive season. Few would be able to tell that Harvard--which finished in a four-way tie for third place four games behind league champion Princeton--still harbored Ivy title hopes entering this weekend. Even fewer would be able to tell based on the way Harvard played.

"Me and my assistants felt that the attitude was not good before the game," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said after Friday's loss. "We still had a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament. How can you not play hard? How can you not go into the game wanting to rip someone's head off?"

1000? That's a Lot, Coach:Brown senior forward Art Jackson did his best impersonation of Darryl Dawkins Friday with an attempted power slam near the end of the game.

Unfortunately for the Bruins and their faithful at the Pizzitola Memorial Sports Center, Jackson back-rimmed the dunk and then looked woefully at his coach.

And for good reason.

"We have a policy here," Brown Coach Mike Cingiser said. "You can dunk anytime. If you miss, you owe me 1000 laps."

What a way to end your collegiate career--running laps.

If I May Be Modest: Discussing the accomplishments of his Bruins team, which recorded its eighth Ivy record of .500 or better in the 36 years Brown has participated in the league, Cingiser noted that five of the previous seven teams who accomplished the feat included two of the best players in Brown history.

"Who's the best player ever to play at Brown?" Cingiser asked a faithful Bruin reporter.

"Phil Brown."

"Right, and he was on three of those teams," Cingiser said. "Now, who was the second-best player ever to play at Brown?"

"Peter Moss."

"No," replied Cingiser. "It was me, and I played on two of those teams."

Modest folks at Brown.

Butter Fingers: Harvard's Ralph James made a strong last-ditch effort for Ivy Player of the Year with his performance against the Elis Saturday.

The Junior forward tallied 29 points, including 18 in the second half when the Crimson scrambled back from an 11-point deficit to take a two-point lead with two-and-a-half mintues remaining in the game. At one point in the second half, James had converted seven straight field goals, including a prayer shot which was blocked by Dean Campbell and which he still managed to underhand into the basket.

But James did his fair share to contribute to the first half deficit, committing six turnovers en route to a game total of nine of Harvard's 29 turnovers. Several of James' miscues simply involved the ball slipping right through his fingers.

And Player of the Year may have slipped through his fingers as well.

Thanks to You, B.U.: It's been a long season for all, but none have had it longer than the members of the sports information staff who helped make it much shorter for us.

Many thanks to Sports Information Director John Veneziano for his undying patience and many enthusiastic hours discussing the prospects for this year's Crimson. B.U.'s loss is our gain.

And thanks to Assistant SID Tim Bonang, who was riding an impressive winning streak earlier in the year when he did the book. Too bad it didn't carry through to Hartford, but you'll be there anyway. Enjoy it for us.

HARVARD MEN'S BASKETBALL (12-14 overall, 7-7 ivy) Player  G  FG-ATT  PCT  3FG-ATTPCT  FT-ATT  PCT  REB  AVG  ASTSTL  DQ  PTS  AVG Ralph James  24  162-378  .429  37-100  . 370  125-167  .749  156  6.5  4025  0  486  20.3 Ron Mitchell  24  132-256  .516  0-5  . 000  106-143  .741  186  7.8  2635  7  370  15.4 Fred Schernecker  24  74-199  .372  53-135< Tab>.393  28-46  .609  118  4.9  21   25  6  229  9.5 Tyler Rullman  26  96-199  .482  12-31  . 387  41-52  .788  81  3.1  17  2 5  0  245  9.4 Scott Gilly  26  54-141  .383  24-66  .36 4  26-34  .765  70  2.7  44  32< Tab>1  158  6.1 Dana Smith  26  45-120  .375  0-4  .000< Tab>56-76  .737  52  2.0  89  321  146  5.6 Mal Hollensteiner  24  56-124  .452  0-0.000  21-30  .700  135  5.6  46  2  133  5.5 Tchad Robinson  12  19.53  .358  0-3  .00 0  11-17  .647  18  1.5  2  30  49  4.1 Peter Condakes  20  17-46  .370  3-8  .37 5  24-33  .727  21  1.1  2  81  61  3.1 Tarik Campbell  26  27-77  .351  1-6  .16 7  17-35  .486  50  1.9  77  23< Tab>5  72  2.8 Mike Minor  13  8-17  .471  0--0  .00011-14  .786  17  1.3  3  3  0   27  2.1 Eric Carter  6  4-11  .364  0-0  .0004-11  .364  8  1.3  0  1  012  2.0 Matt McClain  10  6-28  .2140-5  .000  1 -4  .250  6  0.6  9  6  0  13   1.3 Steve Bowsher  4  2-6  .333  0-0  .0000-2  .000  6  1.5  4  0  04  1.0 Brian Machey  7  2-9  .222  0-4  .0002-2  1.000  6  0.9  4  0  06  0.9 Ian Smith  17  5-14  .357  1-2  .50017  1.0  8  1  0  14  0.8 TOTALS  26  709-1678  .423  131-369   .355  476-672  .708  1040  40.0350  225  23  1025  77.9 Opponents Totals  26  778-1617  .484  143-358.399  470-708  .664  1043  40.1   444  245  17  2169  83.4