Hoopsters Crush Elis, 107-94, Cruise to Sixth Straight Win

Freshman forward Monroe Trout had a lot of fun in the Crimson's 107-94 romp over Yale last night a the IAB. Exuberant fun. Twenty-one points and 12 rebounds worth of fun, in fact.

Lots of other Crimson players enjoyed themselves immensely as well, as the hoopsters hit the 100 point mark for the first time since March of 1975, when they crunched Columbia, 125-117.

The win extends the Crimson's current streak to a healthy six games, and gives the squad a prefect 4-0 League mark. That record nudges the Crimson past Princeton (3-0, Ivy league) and into undisputed possession (sort of) of the conference lead. That's the first time a Crimson basketball squad has found itself in that position since...well...ever.

In an awesome offensive display, six Crimson players reached double figures, with Trout and Donald Fleming leading the way with 21 and 18, respectively, all the way down to Bob McCabe and George White, who chipped in 10 apiece. In between figured co-captain Tom Mannix, with 16, and point guard Calvin Dixon, with 12.

McCabe turned in his finest performance of the year, going five-for-five from the field and adding four blocked shots, the most by any Harvard player this season.

Crimson coach Frank McLaughlin called McCabe's performance "a pleasant surprise," adding that he made the decision to put the 6-ft., 10-in. player into the game early in the first half because of the sophomore center's strong performance last weekend against Cornell's Alex Reynolds.

Harvard had all the guns firing last night, hitting shots from all over the offensive zone. When the Elis shifted into a 2-3 zone which momentarily clogged up the inside, Mannix drilled home 18, 20, and 22 footers like he was playing an extended version of "around the world."

Strong

With Dixon-directed motion offense extending the Yale defense, the fast break worked smoothly, as the sophomore guard fed Fleming, Trout, and McCabe for easy lay-ups.

An impressive performance on the boards keyed the Crimson attack, especially at the offensive end. Harvard out-rebounded the Elis by an imposing 42-27 margin, with at least seven bounds resulting in tip-ins and two points.

The contest was never as close as the final 13-point margin indicates, since Yale narrowed a twenty-point gap in the final seven minutes while McLaughlin went with an inexperienced quintet of George White, Tom Clarke, Ken Plutnicki, Chris Mitchell, and Roberty Taylor. Freshman guard Brian Buckelew made his season debut--he missed the first 10 games with mono--with about a minute left in the game, Welcome, Brian.

Harvard 107, Yale 94 at The LAB

Harvard--Harris 0 0-0 0; Fleming 7 4-4 18; Carrabino 2 1-2 5; Mannix 7 2-2 16; Dixon 4 4-4 12; Kohn 0 0-0 0; Mitchell 2 0-0 2; Taylor 2 2-2 6; Buckelew 0 0-0 0; Clarke 1 0-1 2; Trout 8 5-6 21; McCabe 5 0-0 10; Plutnicki 0 0-0 0; White 1 8-8 10; Murnin 0 3-4 3.

Yale--Parker 0 2-2 2; Leondis 8 3-6 19; Daaleman 8 8-9 24; Graves 12 7-10 31; Williams 3 1-2 7; Hill 0 0-0 0; O'Keefe 4 0-0 8; Cooper 0 1-2 1; Stratton 0 0-0 0; Foley 0 2-2 2; Lang 0 0-0 0. H  58  49  --  107 Y  43  51  --  94