Unbelievable. That was the word on everyone's lips Saturday after Harvard basketball's latest setback, which dropped the team's record to 4-10 for the season. It hung over the silent Harvard locker room while the Crimson hoopsters tried to comprehend their 73-72 defeat, tried to fathom their monumental fold which brought a UConn team on the edge of extinction, down 18 points in the second half with their imposing center already fouled out of the game, to victory.

"What can I say," asked captain Gary Ackermann. "We did everything to give them the game, and we gave it to them. We've been beating ourselves. We played scared during the second half. Scared up by 16. Unbelievable."

The contest actually featured two Harvard teams. The first team, an aggressive, exciting club, played scrapping, hustling defense, displayed confident, accurate shooting, and pushed UConn all over the court to run up a 16 point lead at the half. But the second team, peopled with identical personnel, played tentatively, looking over its shoulder, waiting for the inevitable UConn comeback.

The first half showed Harvard's tremendous potential. Even without the services of dominating center Brian Banks, the Crimson took it to UConn's Huskies.

Glenn Fine, Harvard's explosive playmaker, and Bob Allen, a promising sophomore swing man who was the game's leading scorer with 18 points, began the Harvard surge. Fine drove through, around and under UConn's larger, slower men to spark the Crimson in the game's opening minutes. Allen then took over, hitting short jumpers and free throws to put Harvard up 21-13 midway through the first half.

UConn scored the next two buckets, however, and slapped a full court zone press on the Crimson five. Ackermann and Cyrus Booker responded with running hooks and short jumpers off the fast break, leading Harvard to a 47-31 halftime lead. The Crimson had total dominance in the half, outrebounding the Huskies 15-10 while outshooting them 55 to 41 per cent from the floor.

As the second half began, it looked like the Crimson would quickly put the Huskies away. Harvard and UConn traded baskets up to the 15 minute mark, when the Harvard lead had edged up to 18 points. A technical on UConn's outstanding guard, Joseph Whelton, and a fifth foul on Alfred Lewis, the Huskies 6-ft. 10-in. center, seemed to seal Harvard's victory.

Then the UConn streak began. Jeffrey Carr, a powerful Husky forward, scored six of his 14 second half points from the inside, leading UConn in a 15-2 surge over the stumbling Crimson. The Harvard squad missed seven straight free throws during this stretch, letting UConn back in the game with nine minutes left, 59-54.

Allen traded baskets with UConn to keep the Crimson lead intact. At the seven minute mark, Harvard began its stalling offense which sprung Bob Hooft and Mark Hadley open for easy hoops. Harvard was still up, 71-64, with 3:30 remaining.

Three UConn baskets, in response to two Harvard turnovers, shaved that lead to 71-70. Harvard missed the front end of a one-and-one chance, UConn hit a shot from the lane, and Harvard trailed, 72-71. Missed free throws destroyed the Crimson's comeback chances as the hoopsters went 1-4 from the line in the next 45 second. UConn's single point from the line was enough to defeat the Crimson, 73-72.