6'9 senior center Bill Ewing did an admirablejob against the Cornell big men--who have made ahabit controlling the paint against its Ivy Leagueopponents--collecting his second consecutivedouble-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Butit was not enough for Harvard, as Cornell'ssuperior size and depth wore the Crimson down.

"Fisher has some big shoes to step into," Ewingsaid. "You take away our best rebounder and I'mjust trying to come in and do the dirtywork--defense and rebounding. You can't becompetitive if you lose nine rebounds a game,which is what he gave us."

For Harvard, Clemente came out smoking, hittingon 5-of-8 shots, including 3-of-4 from behind thearc, for 15 points before the intermission. Allthis came in just 13 minutes of action, asClemente ran into some foul trouble, picking uphis second just 10 minutes into the game.

Helping to carry the load offensively for theCrimson was senior shooting guard Mike Beam. Hewas flawless in the first half, hitting all threeof his shots, including two from distance, andboth of his free throws, for 10 points at thebreak.

Meanwhile Hill had a hot-and-cold evening. Atthe half the Crimson floor leader had dished outsix assists with zero turnovers, yet had hit ononly 1-of-6 from the field for two points.

Behind the play of this threesome, Harvardfinally took some control of the game, fightingfor a 34-29 lead with under a minute to play. Butan Aubry free throw and a heave from three-pointland by Prather at the buzzer that found nothingbut net cut the Crimson lead to 34-33 at the half.

Prather--one of the better rookies in theleague--was effective in the first half, hittingall four of his shots from the field, includingtwo treys for 11 points. Brown had 10 points forCornell at the break, while Aubry added five.

After hitting on only 1-of-7 shots for threepoints in the first half, Mercedes started to heatup in the second. After the break, he drained6-of-8 from the floor for 17 points.

Clemente, meanwhile, continued to light it up.He hit on 3-of-5 shots in the second half,including 2-of-3 from downtown. However, afterhitting a three from the corner with 6:54 to playto knot the game at 55-55, Clemente was shut out.Cornell increased the pressure on the Crimsonsharpshooter, keeping him scoreless for the restof the game.

"I got a lot of good looks in the first half,and I got into a good rhythm, but it wasn't reallyin the flow of the offense," Clemente said. "Inthe second, I turned my ankle, which made it alittle tougher to get the good shots."

Meanwhile, Hill's bittersweet night continued.He dished out five assists in the secondhalf--putting him within 13 of Tarik Campbell'94's all-time assist record--and turned the ballover only once. But he was still unable to findhis shooting stroke.

With the Big Red bearing down on Clemente, Hilltried to pick up some of the slack. Unfortunatelyfor the Crimson, he was never able to get itgoing, finishing the game shooting only 4-of-18from the floor for 10 points.

Harvard 68, Columbia 63

The Crimson used a game-high 20 points fromHill and a double-double from Ewing to hold offColumbia guard Gary Raimondo's 16-pointsecond-half outburst and beat the Lions 68-63 onFriday at Lavietes.

In a sloppy seesaw contest that featured 19lead changes and 30 turnovers, Harvard hung on,making 22-of-25 free throws on the evening.