AMHERST--For the first half, Harvard's 80-78 victory over UMass last night was yet another lesson in the Frank McLaughlin confidence building course.

The second half, though, turned out to be a lesson in how to almost lose a basketball game.

The Crimson victory comes after easy ego boosting wins over Brandeis and MIT and raises the squad's season record to 3-0.

For most of the first 20 minutes, the Crimson appeared on the brink of blowing the Minutemen out of the musty confines of the Curry Hicks cage, jumping out to early leads of up to 14 points and a 54-42 halftime advantage.

The second half opened much like the first had ended with Harvard seeming to control the flow of the game. But all that started to change with about 11 minutes left.

The Crimson had not been especially strong in the offensive boards in the first half--probably because of its phenomenal .654 shooting percentage--and in the middle stages of the second half the bottom fell out of the defensive boards as well.

The Minutemen suddenly began to follow up their shots and picked up a few points of their own from the inside, narrowing the margin to only two with 2:06 to go.

The Crimson went back up by six, 80-74, with just 26 seconds left, but UMass managed to narrow the score to 80-78 with seven seconds to go before a final desperation drive came up short.

Much of the first half Crimson advantage came courtesy of swingman Donald Fleming, who hit six of nine from the floor and seven straight free throws for a total of 19 first half points. He led all scorers with 29 points for the game, besides pulling down seven rebounds.

Freshman standout Joe Carrabino popped for a perfect 13 points in the first half--he went six from the field and made good on his only chance from the charity stripe--and classmate Monroe Trout added four points and four imposing rebounds in just eight minutes of play.

The biggest story of the first half, though, was the Harvard defense. Operating out of a 2-3 zone for the first 20 minutes--McLaughlin switched to a 3-2 in the later stages--the Crimson quintet consistently boxed out the UMass attack.

The defense collapsed tightly around the basket, effectively shutting off the inside passing lanes and denying the Minutemen follow-up shots.

Tom Mannix played a stellar defensive game, coming up with four rebounds and four big steals, including a key theft with just under four minutes left and the Crimson up by just two, 66-64.