The best way for a captain to lead his team is by example. That is exactly what Mike Scott did last night.

Scott, captain of the Harvard men's basketball team, scored a career-high 24 points and guided the Crimson (2-0) to a definitive 77-61 victory over College of Wooster (1-2) at Lavietes Pavilion. Wooster is traditionally a very strong Division III team, and it is just one year removed from the NCAA Tournament. WOOSTER  61 HARVARD  77

"This was an opportunity to play against a nationally-recognized Division III team," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "We knew they would be a competitive team, and I think they gave us a real good game."

Harvard was able to overcome a lackluster defensive performance to record the win in its home opener thanks to Scott's domination, primarily in the opening minutes of the game. Scott owned Wooster and captivated the crowd of 500 fans during the first nine minutes of the contest with his spectacular play.

"I thought Mike gave us a nice lift," Sullivan said. "His speed and quickness were above the crowd, and it's nice to see him have a career night like he had tonight."

With the Crimson holding an early 2-0 lead, Scott came up with the first of his five steals and found junior Mike Beam at the other end of the floor for an easy layup. Just over one minute later, Scott swiped another Wooster pass and took it coast to coast for his first bucket of the game.

After connecting on two free throws, Scott received a pass from junior point guard Tim Hill behind the three-point arc and buried one of his three treys of the night. But Scott's best stuff came on the Crimson's next trip down court.

Holding the ball on the right wing, Scott gave a little stutter-step to his left and drove to his right leaving the Wooster defender in his wake. While the defense recovered from the shake-and-bake move, Scott showed some serious ups by throwing down an authoritative, one-handed, tomahawk dunk.

Just in case anyone in the building thought Scott's effort was a result of luck, he decided to give the fans an encore three minutes later. After freshman Dan Clemente stole the ball under the Wooster basket, he found Scott in the open floor and the Crimson's captain elevated once again for his second throw-down of the night.

And they say white men can't jump.

Twenty seconds later Scott recorded another steal and fed Hill on the break for an easy deuce. When the show ended, Scott had tallied six assists, five steals and five rebounds to go along with his 24 points.

"Mike played real well tonight. He used his athletic ability to go around some guys," Hill said. "It was good to see him come out with such intensity. Mike's capable of doing that any night.

Harvard needed Scott's offense because the Crimson's defense did not play up to its caliber. Despite recording 18 steals and forcing 29 turnovers for the game, Harvard allowed Wooster to shoot better than 46-percent.

"I thought we were inconsistent defensively in the first half," Sullivan said. "We weren't happy at all with the field goal percentage, and we weren't happy with the rebounding."

The Crimson did not fare well on the boards in the first half. Wooster outrebounded Harvard 19-7 while the Crimson recorded just one offensive rebound in the period.

"We're going to have to do a much better job on the defensive end," Hill said. "Rebounding and field goal percentage defense are two staples and we're going to need both of those to improve to be successful this year."

Harvard turned its rebounding effort around in the second half, thanks in large part to junior Paul Fischer's work on the defensive glass. Fischer recorded six of his seven defensive boards after intermission, and the Crimson finished the night with 29 total rebounds.

Four Crimson players scored in double digits for the game. Beam poured in 13 points and added two steals.

Clemente turned in another fine performance off the bench with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals. Hill ran the offensive show for Harvard in impressive fashion once again, recording 12 points and six assists. HARVARD, 77-61 at Briggs Cage Wooster  27  34  --  61 Harvard  36  41  --  77

HARVARD: Hill 5-14 2-2 12; Beam 5-7 0-0 13; Scott 8-11 5-8 24; Fisher 2-8 3-4 7; Ewing 1-5 2-2 4; Clemente 5-9 1-4 11; Lewis 0-1 0-0 0; Dean 0-1 0-0 0; Dexter 1-2 0-0 2; Long 0-0 2-2 2; Coleman 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS 28-60 15-22 77.

WOOSTER: Gaubatz 2-5 0-0 4; Watkins 2-7 0-0 4; Hochstetler 0-4 0-0 1-4; Gorman 8-12 5-6 21; Ellenwood 5-7 1-2 11; Schlabach 0-0 0-0 0; Gardner 1-5 0-2 3; Pedon 1-2 0-0 3; Roberts 0-1 0-0 0; Sprang 1-3 2-2 4; Vance 0-0 0-0 0; Kalemba 0-0 0-0 0; Wilson 0-1 2-2 2; Maynard 2-2 0-1 4; Noles 2-3 0-0 5. TOTALS: 28-60 15-22 77.