Asked about bright spots in his team's Saturday night loss to UMass, captain Bob Allen's reply was simple: "none."
Overkill
Yes, forward Mark Harris scored a personal season-high of 18 points, but the 67-44 trouncing at the hands of the previously winless Minutemen, a team the Crimson defeated earlier in the season, should be filed in the unmitigated disaster compartment.
Tourists
The loss, good (bad?) for a last place finish in the Colonial Classic, is Harvard's seventh in its last eight games, and drops its record to 5-10. Having lost 29 straight times over two seasons, UMass--one very happy team Saturday night--rockets to 1-16.
Weak Stomachs
"Our shooting is really bad, and that's affected other parts of the game," Allen said. Once a decent-shooting team, the Crimson hit 36 per cent from the floor in Friday night's 74-62 blow from Boston College, and things were just as bad in the consolation round.
Don Fleming, once the Ivy League's leading scorer, collected a bare seven points; Tom Mannix, the team's best shooter, hit exactly one field goal toward a total of three points; fifth-man Robert Taylor rolled a donut; and sixth man Calvin Dixon had four.
Typical of the strangeness of the cager season this year, the team that eventually won the Colonial, Holy Cross, was a victim of a Harvard upset earlier this season. The heights the team has reached--and the depths to which it has fallen--obviously have perplexed coach Frank McLaughlin.
Shorn
McLaughlin will attempt to resurrect his charges this Tuesday in the team's home Ivy opener against Princeton. It's been six weeks since the team last played at the IAB, and the homecoming will not be a day too soon.
UMass 67, Harvard 44
at Boston Garden
UMass--Wright 8-2-18; Phauls 7-2-16; de la Cruz 1-0-2; Witkos 3-3-9; Nedd 2-4-8; Dennerlein 2-0-4; Morrison 3-0-6; Stewart 2-0-4; Totals 28-11-67.
Harvard--Fleming 3-1-7; Taylor 0-0-0; Harris 6-6-18; Mannix 1-1-3; Allen 4-0-8; Dixon 1-2-4; White 0-2-2; Flatt 1-0-2; Totals: 16-12-44.
Halftime: UMass 35, Harvard 25
Attendence--9150
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