Cagers Slither by Yale, 86-85; Fleming's 34 Leads Crimson

Rhett Butler could scarcely have arranged a finer exit.

The Harvard basketball team, after groping and struggling through much of its 1979-80 season, concluded the year with a dramatic and satisfying 86-85 victory over Yale before 1000 fans Saturday night at the IAB.

The cagers played a first half of nearly perfect basketball--certainly their best of the season--and made the 47-33 halftime lead last just long enough to hold off the charging Elis.

The win leaves Harvard with a fifth-place tie Ivy finish, 6-8 in the league and 11-15 overall. Yale finishes tied for third in the Ivies with an 8-6 record, and 16-10 against all comers.

In Motion

Sophomore swingman Don Fleming played superbly for the sixth straight game and virtually guaranteed himself a first-team All Ivy selection when the coaches vote later this month. Fleming's 34 points, a career high, lifted his season average to 19.9, second in the Ivies behind Brown's Peter Moss, while his average in the last five games stands at an imposing 28.6.

Coach Frank McLaughlin said it before the season started, and it was as true the last game of the season as it was in the first: "When we shoot well, we win. When we don't we lose." The cagers shot well--59 per cent; they won.

But more than just shooting well, the Crimson played as a tightly organized unit in the first half, and even more impressive--and surprising--they played with patience. "Yeah, even I was surprised at that," Fleming said with a smile after the game.

Harvard fell behind, 10-3, in the first two minutes, then burst into a 14-1 spurt which placed the team in the lead to stay. Often waiting 30 seconds or more to take a shot, the cagers worked the ball around the perimeter until they could find someone--usually Fleming--inside for a lay-up. Twice the lead expanded to 17 points, until the Elis began whittling it down in the second half.

The margin stayed at eight and ten for most of the third quarter until Leondis cranked up. Every coach in the world tells his players to follow their shots, but Leondis actually does it, and scores most of his points that way. His breakaway off a Zigarelli pass narrowed Harvard's lead to 69-64 with 7:37 to go.

When Harvard's Mark Harris, the junior forward who scored 16 points, fouled out with 3:02 remaining and the Crimson up by only four, the prognosis looked grim. Then captain Bob Allen (at 1:39) and Fleming (at:49) hit clutch one-and-ones from the free throw line to keep Yale just out of reach, The Elis' Anthony Curry hit a desperation jumper at the buzzer to close the final margin to one, but McLaughlin was already putting on his jacket and heading toward the locker room celebration.

McLaughlin pulled Allen with eight seconds to go, and the senior, playing his last game for the Crimson, departed to a standing ovation. Allen played in 80 straight varsity games, started every one for the last two seasons, and scored an impressive--if a little frustrating--698 career points.

THE NOTEBOOK: In addition to Allen, another pivotal Harvard basketball personality ended his career last night. Dave Scheper, WHRB play-by-play man by winter and football center by fall, did his 78 rpm swan song on 93.5 FM. Final Ivy Basketball Standings Penn  11-3 Princeton  11-3 Brown  8-6 Yale  8-6 Harvard  6-8 Columbia  6-8 Cornell  3-11 Dartmouth  3-11 Penn to play Princeton Tuesday night to determine NCAA berth