With one match to go Saturday, Columbia's wrestlers had a 14-11 lead over Harvard, and the Crimson matmen seemed doomed to a tie at best. Even this chance seemed remote when the Lions' Bruce Sargent took a 6-3 lead over sophomore heavyweight Tack Chace.

But Chace, coming through when it counted, reversed Sargent and then pinned him with three seconds left in the match to give Harvard a spine-tingling 16-14 win.

It took a lot of lucky breaks combined with some courageous wrestling to defeat the Lions. Three times Crimson wrestlers were struggling to avoid being pinned as their matches ended--at 123 where Pete Keeler dropped a 14-6 decision to unbeaten Arnie Lesser, at 130 where Brian Smith lost 8-5 to Lou Locasio, and at 167 where inexperienced John Ashby was beaten 8-0 by Steve Leverich.

At 177, Captain Fred Pereira pulled a cartilage in his rib early in his match. Though obviously in pain he stayed on the mat and off his back, dropping a 7-2 decision to Pete Salzer.

On the plus side for Harvard, Howie Durfee (137), Brian Conley (147) and Ben Brooks (191) won decisions that set up Chace's last-minute heroics. Durfee tripped rugged Chuck Christensen, 9-7; Conley turned in a workmanlike 4-2 win over Bob Mayer: and Brooks came from behind to edge Jack Leitner 8-6.

Perhaps the turning point for Harvard though, came at 157 where Jack Mamana, winner of just one match all year, fought to a 5-5 draw with Lions' heavily favored captain Mike Mareantane.