Speed was the watchword at Lavietes Pavilion last night as the Harvard men's basketball team ran past Army 75-59.

The Crimson (4-0) was quick out of the box, tallying up a 13-point lead midway through the first half, then riding senior small forward Mike Scott and junior point guard Tim Hill's combined 40-point evening to outlast the Cadets (1-4).

"We knew Harvard was a very fast team," said Army coach Pat Harris. "The game was very up-tempo, and that was to their advantage, particularly when they were ahead."

Hill, who shot 7-of-12 from the floor for 18 points while playing the full 40 minutes, chipped in five assists, directing a sharp, effective offense which finished at 49.2 percent from the field.

Army, meanwhile, without junior swingman and leading scorer George Tatum--lost to an aggravated groin injury--struggled all night to find an offensive rhythm, hitting only 24-of-62 as Harvard kept the Cadets under the 40 percent benchmark at 38.7 percent.

"Army was out of synch without Tatum in the lineup," said Harvard coach Frank Sullivan. "They were looking all night for someone to step upon the offense, and it's very hard to make that kind of adjustment."

The Crimson had no such difficulties, as Scott provided the game's emotional firepower with a 22-point, 11-rebound effort and a consistently aggressive presence around the basket and on loose balls.

Harvard charged out of the gate on the legs of Hill, whose coast-to-coast layup in the opening minute gave the Crimson a 4-2 lead--one it never relinquished.

Hill then added a three-pointer and a baseline jumper, scoring seven of Harvard's first ten points.

The first half's major run came several minutes in, as junior shooting guard Mike Beam kicked things off by knocking down a baseline jumper from the right side and another from the top of the key to put Harvard up 14-9.

After Scott and freshman forward Dan Clemente checked in, Harvard worked the inside-outside game to perfection, capitalizing on five Army turnovers to sprint out to a 26-13 lead with 9:10 left in the half.

Hill found junior power forward Paul Fisher underneath for a layup off a jump-pass, then Fisher on the next trip down the court hit Clemente for another low-post layup.

After Cadet shooting guard Chris Crawford burned the baseline defence for two, Clemente took a perimeter pass from sophomore guard Damian Long and hit a 10-footer from the baseline.

But it was Scott who put the exclamation point on the rally by gathering up Army forward Seth Barrett's lost dribble at the foul line and breaking away down-court for the one-handed dunk.

"[Scott] plays with so much energy," Hill said. "He really brings a lot of enthusiasm to the whole team."