It was a strange kind of rally, one that was slow to develop, and, considering the way Navy had outclassed Harvard throughout the game, totally unexpected. But it was a rally nonetheless--a beautiful, exciting comeback--that enabled the Harvard basketball team to cut a 22-point Navy lead to one in the final nine minutes Saturday night before losing, 79-78, in the I.A.B.

With 6-3 John Tolmie bombing over the Crimson zone, and captain Hughie Kilmartin leading a running fast break through the Harvard man-to-man press, Navy built a commanding margin in the first thirty minutes of play.

But with 8:57 to go, the visitors' Jim Kroll--apparently on his way to scoring a fast break layup-- was called for charging. That play marked the turning point.

Crimson forward Chris Gallagher took a nice feed from Jeff Grate ten seconds later and popped in a short turn-around jump shot to make the score 67-47. Navy started to slow down, and Harvard didn't score for another minute and a half. But neither did the midshipmen.

Paul Wiackowski, Harvard's 6'9" junior who turned in his finest performance ever Saturday, got the rally going again with a follow-up bank shot from the left side. Seconds later, he put in two foul shots to cut the gap to 16.

As Wiackowski and Bob Kanuth began to control the boards at both ends, and Navy's red-hot hands suddenly became ice cold, Harvard's shooters, who had hit a miserable 30 per cent from the floor in the first half, started to hit.

Mickey Norlander, the sophomore transfer from Florida, hit a 20-footer from the right side, which was quickly followed by Bon Johnson's long bomb from the top of the key.

Harvard, with Barth Royer, Norlander, and Johnson hitting practically every time they shot, began to rally in earnest, scoring 17 of the next 25 points, to come within three, at 75-72, with a minute to go.

Navy's Steve Kaplan put in two pressure foul shots, but almost immediately, Royer threw in a 25-footer. Navy stalled effectively for 25 seconds before Norlander fouled Navy's Kroll, who missed the shot.

But Tolmie got the rebound, and the rally seemed over when he was fouled. He made only the first of his two shots, however, Royer got the ball, and , unbelievably tossed in a 30-footer to cut the gap to two with 12 seconds to play.

Johnson immediately chopped Kroll--the right man to foul. He had to miss. But the shot went up, around the rim, and in.

Royer was the Crimson high man with 18 points, followed by Gallagher and Johnson with 12 each. Wiackowski had 11 points and 17 big rebounds. Tolmie led Navy with 28, while Kilmartin added 17.