M. Basketball Bombards Belgrade

The Harvard men's basketball team got its season underway yesterday at Lavietes Pavilion, taking on the touring Red Stars Belgrade, from Belgrade, Yugoslavia in an exhibition contest.

The Crimson cagers took a 12-point lead into half before walking away with the contest 95-53, as most of Harvard's starters observed the last 10 minutes of action from the comfort and safety of the sideline.

As a team, Harvard outshot its transoceanic opponent 53-percent to 28-percent, and also garnered more rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and indeed outpaced its opponent in nearly every statistical category outside of minutes played.

Harvard got predictably solid performances out of its returning starters. Junior point guard Tim Hill finished with 12 points on six-for-seven shooting, recorded four steals and had five assists. Captain forward Mike Scott tallied 17 points and three rebounds on seven-for-nine shooting.

However, it was relative unknowns who carried much of the workload. Freshman forward Dan Clemente was the game's leading scorer with 18, and he also pulled down five rebounds on the afternoon.

Harvard also got 28 solid minutes and seven assists out of sophomore guard Damian Long.

Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan welcomed the chance to begin the 1997-'98 campaign.

"It was good to finally play a game outside of a practice situation," Sullivan said. "We accomplished several of our goals going in."

Harvard never seemed seriously threatened in the game, but as one might expect, Sullivan is not fully satisfied with the present state of his team.

"We got in some foul trouble early," Sullivan said. "And not knowing their personnel was a problem since we didn't have a scouting report on [Belgrade].

"This is a team in progress...we're trying to see how consistently [several players] can be in game situations."

The exhibition should be a useful tool for improvement as the Crimson will go back to the practice courts full time before their regular season opener at New Hampshire in 10 days.

Belgrade's US Tour '97 continues to struggle, as the team is winless in three games on U.S. soil so far.