When Harvard center Jeff Wheat fouled out of last night's J.V. contest with 6:18 remaining, the Crimson, down by six points and left with only four players, appeared doomed. But a hard-nosed, 2-1-1 defense, brought coach Bob Hart's squad to a remarkable 72-70 victory over Northeastern at the I.A.B.

The Crimson, behind 46-32 after a slow and sloppy first half, chipped away at the Huskies' lead throughout the second half. By the five minute mark, the Harvard defense had closed many of their first-half holes, and the Crimson pulled to within seven points.

Northeastern held on though, and after building their lead to 11 again with 10:40 remaining the Huskies appeared to have the contest nearly wrapped up.

"I'm so damn happy, I really don't know what to say," Hart said after the game. "I honestly didn't think we could win it, and Northeastern didn't think they could lose it. Our defense was the whole key, and believe it or not, we practiced a four-man defense last night," the defense specialist added.

Second-Half Recovery

The Crimson held Northeastern to only 24 points in the second half, just over half of the Huskies' entire first half output. Harvard scored 40 points in the second half, compared to 32 in the first.

After Wheat fouled out, the Crimson fell behind by seven before beginning to break the Northeastern semi-stall. Harvard scored ten straight points between the 14 and 18 minute marks, transforming a 64-59 deficit into a 69-64 lead.

Northeastern fought back to 69-68, but blew its best chance when Paul Walsh missed the foul shot after a technical was called on Hart. Two foul shots by guard Arnie Needelman with 12 seconds remaining put the game on ice.

Guard Mike Griffin notched 21 points to top the Crimson scoring ledger, but it was forward Len Adams' 19 points, 16 of them in the second half, that provided the margin for the now 6-0 Crimson team.