With a little more muscle under the boards--maybe in the form of a re-vitaliz-Barth Royer--the Harvard basketball team could have won running away last night. But Royer had mononucleosis and Cornell had 6-5, 240-lb. Walt Esdaile and 6-5, 210-lb. sophomore Bill Schwarzkopf and so the Big Red won, 83-79, in the LAB.

The lack of Crimson strength under the boards should provide even more trouble tonight when 7-0 Dave Newmark, the giant with the side-burns, comes into the LAB with his Columbia teammates. Columbia has been riding high lately, with an impressive New York Holiday Festival crown under its belt, and a strong victory last week over Princeton, and should be a little too much for Harvard to handle.

Hot Shooting

The Crimson stayed close last night, enjoying one of its hotter shooting nights, connecting on 32 of 68 from the field. Chris Gallagher--with 8 of 13--led with 25 points, to tie the visitor's Greg Morris for game high.

But Harvard lost the game under the boards (where Cornell outbounded the Crimson, 40-30) an din the last minutes (when Bob Johnson and Bob Kanuth fouled out).

The Big Red built up as much as a twelve-point lead in the first half, but the Crimson--mainly on some good outside shots by Gallagher and Jeff Grate--battled back to trail by only one, 42-41, at the half.

Last Lead

Eric Gustavson took over the scoring role in the first ten minutes of the second half--when he accounted for all his 11 points. He helped give Harvard its last lead of the contest at 62-61--nine minutes before the buzzer.

Then Cornell took off. Esdaile hit on a tip-in underneath. Morris made three points on a pretty drive up the lane. George Chapman threw in a long jumper, and it was all over but the crying.

The visitors pulled out three times to as far as nine points, the last time being 83-74 with nine seconds to go.

Then Captain Bob Beller came in to spark the last minute rallies that he always seems to be sparking. But this one was doomed from the start. Because there were only 29 seconds left.