Elis Bop Crimson Quintet, 77-68

Harvard played solid, gutsy basketball for almost 30 minutes last night, but finally succumbed to Yale's pressing defense mid-way through the second half and lost, 77-68, to the Ivy leaders.

Tonight the Crimson entertains Brown at 8:15 p.m.

Nearly 800 staunchly partisan fans who packed the IAB gym witnessed a tough and brutal contest, with both teams pressing fiercely on defense and battling viciously for rebounds.

After trading baskets for a few minutes, the Crimson got down to serious business when Gary Borchard twisted through for two fast underhanded layins. Working off a weave, Harvard then proceeded to break men loose in a steady procession and managed to post a 10 point lead with 11 minutes gone.

The rest of the half consisted mostly of Pete Kelley gleefully taking on the whole Bulldog pack for rebounds and Yale missing nearly all its shots.

The second half, though, was a different story. Yale began to hit field goals at a torrid clip.

Even more important, Harvard started to show the strains of working against a constantly nagging man-to-man defense. After nearly every attempt to work the ball in was frustrated, the Crimson resorted to driving desperately towards the basket, a technique that netted few points but numerous fouls.

Madden Hits Set Shots

Meanwhile, Yale Captain Bill Madden, who led all scorers with 24, continued to hit long set shots, and Rick Kaminsky came to life. With five minutes gone Yale's Danny Lynch hit a jumper to bring the Bulldogs to within one point of the varsity. Two minutes later Lynch took the ball on the break and gave Yale its first lead of the game.

With Madden and Kaminsky trading shots Yale slowly pulled away to an eight point spread with four minutes to go. Still fighting, Kelley and Denny Lynch hit three quick jumps and moved the Crimson to within three points of the leaders.

At this point Yale moved into a wide open offensive pattern and began to stall. Nervous Harvard players, trying too hard for the ball, made too many mistakes and in short order Yale restored its supremacy. A last ditch effort by Borchard (who had 21 points) and Kelley was in vain.