Harvard's basketball team, clobbered in the rebounding department and riled by a tenacious press, dropped a 109-96 decision to Cornell at Ithaca last night.

The Crimson was leading 13-12 after five minutes had elapsed when Cornell shifted to its press. Harvard started committing a rash of ball-handling errors and Cornell quickly pulled in front. The Crimson then suffered through a seven-minute stretch without scoring a point, and Cornell moved to a commanding 53-40 half-time lead. Harvard was never in serious contention after that.

Harvard was playing without the services of 6-5 center Barry Williams, who remained in Cambridge to take law boards today. Without him, Harvard's defense and rebounding was thoroughly inept. His replacement, Lynn Bennion, was completely unable to contain Cornell's Steve Cram and the 6-7 center poured in 33 points.

Cram also snared 19 rebounds, and paced Cornell to a 59-36 advantage in that department. Harvard was able to grab only seven offensive rebounds during the contest; Cornell had 25.

Crimson Sharp Shooting

Because Harvard was outplayed under the boards constantly, its fine shooting went for naught. The Crimson hit 34 of 59 shots from the floor -- a superb 59.3 per cent -- compared with Cornell's 46 for 96 mark. Keith Sedlacek was the Crimson's high scorer with 22 points. Bob Beller scored 15 points, hitting five-for-five from the floor.

In other Ivy League activity last night, Columbia bombed Dartmouth, 85 to 60; Princeton defeated Brown, 79 to 67; and Penn edged Yale, 62 to 58.