Hoopsters Fall to Bruins; 73-65 Loss Ends Season

Forget about Saturday night's men's basketball game at Brown.

If you like happy endings to successful seasons, don't read this story.

Put down the paper, take a shower, and go to breakfast. If you're already at break-fast, eat your eggs before they get cold.

Persistent, eh? But the game was on the road, in Providence, even. It was before a hostile crowd of 1500 at Brown's Marvel Gym. It was raining outside.

Worst of all, for Harvard hoop fans, the Crimson lost, 73-65. But little was memorable about this game, so forget it.

It was a meaningless game as far as the Ivy standings were concerned. The Crimson had already clinched third place, the loss dropped the Harvard mark to 9-5 for the year. 16-10 overall. For the Bruins the win meant little more, if anything. Brown vaults into a fourth place tie with Columbia, with both squads sporting 5-9 records.

As usual, Penn and Princeton will fight it out for the Ivy title. Both teams are 13-1 for the year; each defeated the other on its home court. This year's playoff is tomorrow night in Lafayette. Penn., with the winner facing Brigham Young in Providence Saturday in NCAA East Regional competition.

Sluggish is probably the most charitable word to characterize the Crimson in Saturday's game. Use unintense, and unmotivated as well.

For practically the first time all year, the Crimson did not play as a team. Calvin Dixon, fancy on the dribble, turned the ball over five times.

Donald Fleming--the Crimson's all-Ivy swingman--looked like he was going for the points, trying to equal Friday night's 34 point performance against Yale. He turned the ball over four times, took bad shots, and generally played uninspired basketball.

Perhaps most telling was Fleming's performance at the line. Of ten hurried shots, he made just five, and went two-for-seven down the crucial stretch. Nobody remembers the last time Fleming went five-for-ten from the line.

It was lack of intensity that let Ira James get behind the Crimson defense on an inbounds pass and race down the court for a crowd-pleasing slam dunk to put Brown up, 64-57. That shot dumped the Crimson more than any other.

The Bruins, meanwhile, wanted to win this one, and played alert, errorless basketball down the stretch. Coming from a five point halftime deficit, 29-24, Brown executed an effective fast break, successfully cluding Harvard's full court press, and on defense closed off the inside to Crimson shooters.

Jeff Samsen--the Bruins freshman guard--shot a brillant 11-for-16 from the outside, and led all scorers with 26 points.

There were bright spots in the Crimson performance, most notably, the play of co captain Mark Harris and freshman Monroe Trout. The pair dominated the inside, with Harris--in his last game in a Harvard uniform--shooting seven-for-eight from the floor for 18 points, and Trout pulling down 11 rebounds.

"It was there all year." Harris said of his uncharacteristic offensive explosion. "I just decided to unleash it tonight."

BROWN 73, HARVARD 65 At Providence

HARVARD (16-10)--Tom Mannix 4 0-08: Calvin Dixon 0 3-4 3: Joe Carnabino 6 1-1 13; Mark Harris 7 4-4 18. Donald Fleming 45-10 13. Monroe Trout 4 2-3 10; Bob McCabe 0 0-0 0; Robert Taylor 0 0-0 0. TEAM 25 15-23 65, 36 rebounds, 21 turnovers.

BROWN (10-16)--Ira James 6 1-2 13, Scott McCarthy 2 0-0 4 Bob Stanley 5 0-1 10; Jelf Samsen 11 4-4 26; Dean Erickson 1 0-0 2.