Rumor has it that Brandeis used to have a pretty decent basketball team. It doesn't anymore.

That's why the Crimson had little trouble running off 59 second-half points and scoring a 91-74 win over the Judges in Saturday night's season-opener at the IAB.

Don't kid yourself, though. Against a better team, the Crimson could have been in big trouble, particularly during a mistake-filled and badly executed first half. Harvard just couldn't get anything done in those first 20 minutes, playing at Brandeis' level on the way to a 32-all deadlock at the midpoint.

But after struggling for the first 10 minutes of the second stanza as well--Harvard had a tenuous 52-48 lead with just over 11 minutes left--the Crimson finally took control of the play and cruised to the final 17-point margin.

The teams played evenly throughout the first period, as a quick look at the first-half stats will show. Both squads shot an identical (and unimpressive) 12 for 26 from the floor, while converting eight foul shots each.

But numbers lie. Throughout the first half, the Crimson had the potential to dominate the game. Only typical opening day mistakes--including travelling calls, overanxious passing, and a three second violation--kept the Crimson from running up the score.

Harvard easily penetrated the Brandeis 2-3 zone, although it wasn't until the second half that those shots started falling. At the other end of the floor, the Harvard defense managed to isolate the Brandeis threat on the perimeter, almost totally boxing out the Judges' inside game.

Interior Lineman

Brandeis guard Kevin McCann didn't let Harvard's domination of the inside bother him, and defied the odds against outside shooting, popping for 25 points--15 in the first half--to keep Brandeis in the game.

Still, McCann's outside shooting couldn't do it all for the Judges, and when his point production slowed down, Harvard's domination on the boards began to show. The Crimson outrebounded Brandeis 39-19 for the evening and consistently got one and as many as three follow-up shots. Defensively, the Crimson usually limited Brandeis to just one outside shot per possession.

Standout swingman Donald Fleming played both guard and forward and enjoyed the game's best all-around performance hitting for 24 points and hauling down eight rebounds to lead the Crimson in both categories.

The Crimson second half started with Fleming reeling off eight points and Joe Carrabino and Calvin Dixon adding a basket apiece to put Harvard up by 11, 64-53, with 7:03 to go. Dixon paced the Crimson transition offense, driving the length of the floor and dishing off five assists to the Harvard forwards.

Yardlings Monroe Trout and Carrabino performed impressively in their regular season debut, splitting 26 points evenly. Trout also grabbed six rebounds, and received the season's first technical foul for dunking the ball during warm-up. Now that's a freshman mistake.