NEW YORK, Feb, 19-Harvard's unpredictable basketball team led for most of the first half tonight, but second-place Columbia rallied in the second half to pull away from the Crimson, 58 to 53. The defeat dropped the losers into a last place tie with Yale.

As in last night's 80-73 loss to Penn, the Crimson stayed even with the winners for the first 20 minutes of the game, but tired in the late stages. Tonight, 6-4 sophomores Ike Canty and Phil Haughey scored 21 points between them in the first half, giving the Crimson a 30-30 tie at the half. Columbia had tied the score for the first time with only five seconds left.

In the second half, the Lions took the lead at the five-minute mark and never relinquished it. Haughey and Canty were held to but five points in this half, Canty scoring 16 and Haughey 10 during the entire game.

Chet Forte, who personally defeated the Crimson in Cambridge, sank only two field goals, but scored 13 points anyway with nine fouls. Herb Kutlow had 11 and Bob Lehner 10 points for Columbia.

With Columbia's tight defense bottling up the varsity, the Lions slowly increased their advantages to ten points, 47-37, with ten minutes to play. Outside shooting by Roger Bulger reduced the gap to five points, the closest the Crimson was able to come.

Other scorers for the Crimson tonight included Dick Hurley, seven; Dick Manning, five; Bob Barnett, four; Bob Hastings, two; and Bulger, nine.

The Crimson basketball team, whose record is now 5-13, will face a strong Tufts quintet tomorrow night in Medford. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:15, with a freshman game against Tufts preceding it at 6:30.