Harvard's basketball team built up a 16-point lead at halftime and they held on to defeat Brown, 74 to 65, last night in Providence.

After leading by a comfortable 43-27 margin, the Crimson ran into a cold spell from the floor and a tough Bruin press, and saw its lead shrink to 68-65.

With 1:10 left and Harvard holding this tenuous three-point lead, the Crimson's Jeff Grate stepped to the foul line in a one-and-one situation. He sank both shots, and Harvard ran up the score in the last minute.

Keith Sedlacek led the Crimson's scoring with 22 points, and the whole quintet turned in a well-balanced performance. Barry Williams grabbed 15 rebounds, leading Harvard to a 46-42 advantage in that department. Gene Dressler scored 15 points; Jeff Grate had 12 point and eight rebounds.

As has been true in most of the Crimson's Ivy League to 3-7 and left the crimson in a tie with Yale for fifth place. Harvard plays at New Haven tonight.

The torrid race for the Ivy League championship began to become untangled last night. Penn scored a 67-53 over Columbia, and Cornell sprang a mild upset by defeating Princeton, 86 to 77. That leaves Penn in undisputed possession of first place with a 9-1 mark; Columbia, Cornell, and Princeton are all 8-2. Tonight, Cornell plays at Penn and Princeton hosts Columbia. Penn should win, and that should give the Quakers a moderately solid lead in the Ivy race.