Sophomore center Steve Irion clicked for a career-high 22 points last night at the IAB to lead the Crimson cagers to a 66-63 victory over Cornell in overtime. In the process, Harvard blew a 19-point first half lead and allowed the Big Red to pull into a 55-55 tie at the end of regulation.

Cornell couldn't buy a hoop early in the game. After almost six minutes of play, the Big Red had yet to score and Harvard's starting quintet of Irion, Muliufi Hanneman, and guards Glenn Fine, Jeff Hill, and Joe Leondis and built an 8-0 lead.

The visitors finally started to score, but not nearly enough as the Crimson cagers charged to a 31-12 margin late in the half. Cornell rallied to outscore Harvard 9-4 as time ran out. A look at the shooting percentages explains Harvard's halftime bulge. Cornell hit only 10 of 27 shots, while the Crimson swished in better than half, hitting 15 of 28.

Things turned completely around after intermission. Harvard managed to connect on 11 of 31 attempts, while Cornell's shooters recovered to hit 17 of 35.

Cornell came on with a vengeance and fought its way back into the contest, outscoring Satch Sanders's charges 8-4 to cut the lead to ten.

Over the next couple of minutes, the two squads battled to a standstill. With less than eight minutes left to play, Harvard led 51-41. Then, the roof fell in.

Cornell guard Abby Lucas, who came off the bench for 12 points, fed Rex Parcells underneath for an easy hoop. Then Maynard Brown, who led Cornell with 19 points, popped from outside. Irion hit one of two freethrows for Harvard, but Cornell's reserve center, Kevin Cash, scored twice from the low post.

Jump Shot

After the Crimson's Doc Hines missed a shot, 5-9 guard Bernard Vaughn hit a jump shot to cut Harvard's lead to three, 52-49. There were four minutes left in the game.

The Big Red pressed on to tie the game at 55 with two minutes left, and Harvard went into a stall. A minute later, Hanneman was fouled but missed the first shot of a one-and-one situation. Each team missed an opportunity to score in the final minute, and the game went into overtime.

The teams traded points until, with two minutes left in the overtime period, Cornell led, 61-60. Irion was fouled and hit both ends of the one-and-one to give Harvard the lead. The two squads traded misses, but with 80 seconds left, third-string center Lou Wargo hit a basket to put Harvard behind by one again.

But seconds later, Joe Leondis fed Irion underneath. The tall sophomore was surrounded by three men, but faked them into the air and hit the short shot to give Harvard the lead. Cornell missed its last attempt, and Jeff Hill scored on a layup for Harvard as time ran out to forge the final 66-63 score.

Satch Sanders decided not to use Brian Banks in the game last night. The junior center leads the team in scoring.