The Crimson cagers opened their season last night, smashing a graduation-depleted Acadia College squad, 91-53, in an exhibition game at the IAB.

Harvard completely dominated the contest with their powerful rebounding. Crimson co-captain Lou Silver and center Brian Banks each hauled down 15 rebounds over the shorter Canadian team.

"Our broad strength really helped," Silver said. "It was the big difference. We've been having a little trouble with it, so we showed real improvement."

Harvard began ferociously, pouring in the contest's first 10 points. But Acadia switched to a zone defense and stormed back to grab a 16-12 lead behind the fire of guard Robert Upshaw.

Standing Around

"We had a little trouple with the zone because we weren't moving the ball and everyone was standing around," Coach Tom Sanders said. "But then we started doing the job and that was it."

The Crimson fastbreak rolled as Jonas Honick began to pop from the outside and forward Arnie Needleman went to work inside. Honick hit 5 for 8 and Needleman added 9 points to spearhead the Crimson to a 39-27 halftime edge.

The Crimson defense, the trademark of Sanders' teams, flustered Acadia in the second half. Harvard's tenacious man-to-man defense consistently forced turnovers while a balanced scoring attack poured in the points to put the game out of reach.

Everything Clicked

Acadia could only manage 26 second-half points to Harvard's 52. Everything clicked for the Crimson as Sanders substituted freely to get a look at all of his players.

"Nobody was exceptional," Sanders said. "But everybody did the job. There were a lot of good things tonight but we still have a lot of work to do."

"We must be realistic of course," he continued. "Acadia was weak and we are going to go up against some bigger teams. We're planning on being competitive no matter who we go against."

The Crimson open their NCAA season at home against Springfield on Monday, December 2. "We'll be ready," Sanders said.