The road-weary Harvard hoopsters, who sat through Monday's earthquake in Santa Monica, fell victim to a different sort of disaster Tuesday night, dropping a 95-63 decision to Pepperdine out in Malibu.

The cagers kept pace with the Waves early in the game, but Pepperdine pulled ahead midway in the first half as the Crimson defense faltered. The hoopsters failed to recover from a 17-point halftime deficit as the Californians iced the victory with hot shooting in the second half.

"We came out really flat. It's too long a trip to be away two weeks," coach Frank McLaughlin said following his squad's seventh straight loss and tenth defeat in 13 games this season.

Harvard's only bright performance in the first-ever meeting between the two teams came from freshman guard Robert Taylor, who poured in 18 points while shooting a scorching 82 per cent from the field.

"The game was pretty depressing. We were tried but we still didn't come to play. We're getting psyched for Penn and Princeton, though," a fatigued Taylor said yesterday.

Forward Kirk Mundy, another freshman, was the Crimson's next highest scorer, with nine. In contrast, the well-balanced Pepperdine attack saw five players scoring in double figures.

Tsunami

The Waves stunned the Crimson with an unorthodox press defense in the first half, as three men exerted pressure in the backcourt in an effort to force the cagers to cough up the ball.

Although Harvard soon adjusted to the unfamiliar alignment, the cagers' own poor defense and Pepperdine's slick shooting combined to dash the Crimson's hopes.

Misfortune continued to plague the cagers yesterday, as bad weather stranded half the team for several hours at O'Hare Airport in Chicago.

The 3-10 hoopsters remain undefeated in the Ivy League, though, by virtue of their single league victory over Dartmouth.

That unblemished record will face a test later this week. McLaughlin will give the weary hoopsters little rest, as the team heads back on the court today to practice for key IAB match-ups against Penn Friday and Princeton Saturday.