Maybe the Ping-Pong team will do it. Harvard hasn't racked up a major-sports win over Yale since last spring's crew victory on the Thames and if Saturday night's basketball game was a sample, perhaps the traditional rivalry should be junked.

Fans expecting to see a duplicate of the 1946 and '47 Crimson-Blue Arena duels, which were not decided until the final minutes, suffered through a one-sided, depressing contest. The Eli jumped to a fast lead and then settled into a steady climb toward its final 81 to 51 victory.

The Elis showed fantastic accuracy with their floor shots from the start of the game, pulling off to a 24 to 8 lead after ten minutes. Meanwhile, the Crimson was missing everything, including free throws. In the first half Harvard sank only four of its 18 foul shot tries.

Lavelli Out on Fouls

Stan Peacock, whose first-period accuracy helped undermine Coach Barclay's defensive set-up, led the Blues with a game total of 21 points. Tom Redden, the other starting guard, hit for 19.

Tony Lavelli, Yale's all-time high scorer, left the game after seven minutes with four personal fouls called against him and only three points tallied. Ten more minutes of play in the last half moved his total only up to 11, which tied his low for the season.

For the Crimson, Chip Gannon made the biggest contribution with his sticky guarding of Lavelli, while John Rockwell, who missed eight of ten foul tries in the first half, tied George Hauptfuhrer for the scoring lead with 11 points.

The summary: HARVARD (51)   G  F  P Gannon, lf  2  0  4 Henry  0  0  0 Rosinus  0  0  0 Rockwell, rf  2  7  11 Crosby  1  0  2 Fansler  1  0  2 Prior, c  2  3  7 Hauptfuhrer  5  1  11 Brady, lg  1  1  3 Davis  0  0  0 McCurdy, rg  3  3  9 Mobraaten  1  0  2 Total  18  15  51