None other but the lowly Columbia Lions found the Crimson easy meat last night, winning their first victory in five intercollegiate starts by a score of 56 to 44 in a game played last night at Morningside Heights.

Harvard, in losing its third game in four league starts, dropped from a tie for fourth place to the next to the bottom rung on the Eastern Intercollegiate League ladder, while the victors scrambled from last place to a tie for third.

The Lions, who lost most of their star players from last year's quintet and were hardly given a rating in preseason dope, grabbed the lead from the opening whistle and kept it throughout the contest.

For the second time in three days, the Crimson failed to click as Captain Stewart McIlvenan of Columbia, with a total of 15 points, sparked his teammates on the road to their first league victory. At half time, the score stood at 28 to 14.

Sophomore Bunks Burditt, who is fast becoming Coach Earl Brown's shining hope, accounted for 16 of his team's points and was high scorer of the game. His sparkling performance moved him from sixth place in the league individual scoring race to third place with a total of 53 points in four games.

The Harvard summary:   gls  fls  pts Webber, rf  4  1  9 Romano, rf  0  0  0 Lutz, lf  1  2  4 Dillon, lf  0  0  0 Burditt, c  6  4  16 Hyde, c  0  0  0 Buckley, rg  2  0  4 Torgan, rg  1  1  3 Finegan, lg  2  1  5 Lutze, lg  1  1  3   --  --  -- Totals  17  10  44