Quintet Tops Huskies; Inman, Williams Shine

After outplaying unbeaten Northeastern for three quarters last night, the Crimson basketball team dissipated a 12-point lead in less than five minutes.

Last season the story would have ended there. But this isn't last season. The never-say-die Crimson quintet fought from behind in the final three minutes of play to shock the two-time NCAA regional champs, 44 to 61.

Harvard's shooting had not been up to par, but superiority under the boards (46 rebounds to 30) enabled the Crimson to race ahead 52-41 with 10 minutes to play. At that point the Huskies took over. As Harvard began to throw the ball away, Husky forward Fred Ryan sank two foul shots, a hook from the key, and a tip-in after a fast break.

The noisy NU fans in the IAB began to smell blood. With the score 56 to 51, the Dogs ripped off eight straight points in short order. Center Fran Ryan sank a pair of easy ones, and scrappy Jerry Phillips stole the ball twice and scored on layups as the Northeastern full-court press began to click.

Northeastern led, 59 to 56, and Harvard looked dead--until Merle McClung, who had been ice-cold all evening, took over. He drew a foul as he missed a layup and sank both shots; then after an NU pass had gone astray, he drove under the basket and flipped up his patented McClung Over-the-Head Special. With 2:05 left, he drew another foul while snagging a rebound and bucketed a pair, making the score 62 to 59.

But the game wasn't on ice. Phillips swished a high, arching two-hander from the corner, and shaved the lead to one point. Harvard went into a freeze; with 35 seconds to go, Leo Scully was fouled and went to the line to shoot one-and-one.

Here was the opportunity to blow it--and Scully blow it. Northeastern moved in for the kill. Fran Ryan (who has all the pro scouts drooling, NU's publicity boys tell us) missed a five-footer. Gerry Knight got the rebound for Northeastern and missed a tip-in. Then he missed again. Bob Inman finally snared the ball, and Harvard and its most important basketball victory of the season.

Although McClung was the man who rescued the quintet, the real heroes of the game were Barry Williams and Bob Inman. Early in the game Harvard's shooting was abysmal, but Williams' rebounding gave the team plenty of second chances; he had 17 rebounds for the game.

The Stork was magnificent. He caged eight of 13 shots--almost all of them long, esthetic jumpers from the corner. He got nine rebounds. And Inman was brilliant on defense against Fran Ryan, even though he played most of the second half draped with the albatross of four personal fouls.

A very encouraging aspect of the game was the Crimson's ball handling in the opening minutes of play. Northeastern started out using a full-court press, but it didn't rile the quintet a bit. Without misfiring once, Scully or Al Bornheimer would lob a long pass to Inman who shot the ball to McClung. The Crimson had a 13-6 cushion before the Huskies realized the futility of their tactics.

Harvard's next game is at Williams Saturday night. The Ephs are tough, but if the New Breed continues to play as they have so far this season, they should chalk up victory number four