Harvard, ahead by 11 at the half and as much as 15 early in the second half in the IAB Saturday, watched its lead over unbeaten Newbury J.C. dwindle to only four points with six minutes remaining.

With 5:30 remaining, Crimson guard Mike Griffin lobbed a pass into center Jeff Wheat. The big man faked outside and then muscled in a lay-up over the Newbury defender.

Wheat exploded for eight points in the last five minutes and led the undefeated J.V. Cagers to an 81-70 victory.

The Crimson, playing the deliberate and controlled style of basketball that coach Bob Hart likes, were hard pressed by the aggressive Panther press and fast-break in the second half.

Hart called for a time-out with six minutes to go and, speaking quickly and gesturing nervously, assigned tasks to his players.

Griffin performed his assignment, penetrating the Panther press and setting up the offense. Forwards Lenny Adams and Mark Schultz hit from the outside while Wheat handled his man in the key.

Panther forward Larry Fullenwilly led all scorers with 20 points while Wheat and Schultz tied for honors with 18 apiece for the Crimson.

Schultz had been called out of the House basketball league in order to replace injured Lewis Brown, Hart said.

The loss of Brown forced Hart to alter his ordinary game plan. "Without Lew we could not use the fast break too much. We had to go with setting up the good play and controlling rebounds," he said.

The J.V. cagers have so far managed to overcome their lack of bench strength by slowing down the game to suit themselves.

"We scored 115 points in our game with Chamberlyne J.C. so I think we can stay with most teams. "Hart said, "Basically we have to get them to play the kind of game we like to play-that's the way we'll keep on winning."

"And I like to win," he added.