With 3:45 to go in the first half of last night's Harvard men's basketball game against Columbia, Joe Carrabino put his 11th and 12th points of the evening on the board and put himself into the Harvard record books.
That 18-ft. jump shot earned the senior co-captain his 1797th and 1790th career points, making him Harvard's all-time leading scorer.
But even Carrabino's 24 points on the evening couldn't keep the Crimson (now 14-7 overall, 6-5 Ivy) from falling, 62-58, to Columbia (10-13, 6-5), before 500 at Briggs Athletic Center.
His 1810 career points make the first-team. Academic All-American selection (see accompanying story) the only Harvard cager to pass the 1800 mark. He also passed Don Fleming '82, who set the old record almost exactly three years ago, on Feb. 27, 1982.
"I look back on my career and I've scored over 1800 points and I don't know where they all came from," an exhausted Carrabino said later, crediting his teammates and his coaches for allowing him to shoot as much as he has.
Ironically, before last night the 1983-84 Ivy League Player of the Year and first-team all-league selection had set only one Harvard scoring record, points scored by a freshman (380), in 1980-81, when he was also Ivy Rookie of the Year.
Even more ironically, Harvard's third loss in row and fourth in the last five games came as Yale was upsetting league-leading Penn, 77-75.
A Crimson victory would have left the cagers in a tie with Cornell, tonight's opponent, for second in the Ivies.
Instead, the Crimson falls into a three-way tie with Columbia and Princeton for third place in the league, behind Penn and Cornell.
"I really feel bad for these guys," Harvard Coach Frank McLaughlin said. "We're going through a real tough time right now.
"We're not a come-from-behind team," he added. "We have to control the tempo in order to be successful."
But the Lions, led by hot-shooting reserve guard Mark Settles--who went 8-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line--did all the controlling the hosts could handle.
When Settles hit three consecutive jumpers just after the 14-minute mark of the first half, he destroyed a stubborn Harvard lead, and when he sank two free-throws with 15 seconds remaining in the contest, he sank the Crimson for good.
"I don't know what happened," said a visibly drained Co-Captain Bob Ferry, who fouled out of the contest by sending Settles to the line for those final opportunities. "I just don't know what to say."
The senior guard took a beautiful over-the-basket pass from junior Arne Duncan and cut the visitors' lead to three, 99-56, with 36 seconds remaining in the game.
Seventeen seconds laser, Duncan again set Forty up for a 20-ft, jump shot that gave the Lions a 60-58 lend, but on the Columbia inbounds pass, Ferry was forced to commit his fourth foul of the last 45 seconds.
"It get to the point where nobody was near [Settles], and somebody had to foul," Ferry explained. "I didn't want to save the foul and lose the game."
But a flurry of Harvard attempts underneath after Settles' final free throws fell short as time expired.
TIME NOTEBOOK: Freshman Bill Mohler did not dress for last night's game...Lost in the encasement of Carrabino's landmark was Ferry's 1300th point...With 1304 on his career, Ferry is only the third Harvard player to break the 1300-point mark...The co-captains make their final appearance at home in tonight's game against Cornell, at 7:30 p.m. at Briggs.
Lions, 62-68
at Briggs
COLUMBIA (62)--Chip Adams 1-0--2; Tom Gwydig 9-1--19; Mark Murphy 0-0--0; Sean Couch 5-1--11; Dale Smith 2-0--4. Todd Williams 1-0--2; Mark Settles 8-4--20; Walter Stewart 2-0--4; Paul Lee 0-0--0. Totals 28-6--62.
HARVARD (58)
Halftime T, 28-28
Fouled Out--Williams, Gwydir, Ferry. Total Fouls--Harvard 15, Columbia 18 Rebounds--Harvard 27 (Carrabino 11), Columbia 25 (Guydir 7). Assists-Harvard 11 (Smith 4), Columbia 14 (Smith 9).
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