HANOVER, NH--All week, Crimson basketball coach Frank McLaughlin cautioned against looking past the Dartmouth game to the all-important match-up at Upenn and Princeton this weekend.

For the first several minutes of the game here last night, it looked as if his fears of overconfidence had been well-founded.

After a tough early going, though, the Crimson realized that the baskets are the same height in Hanover as they are in the LAB and that it's just as easy to score in New Hampshire as it is in Massachusetts.

Once they understood that, the Crimson erased an early Dartmouth advantage and ran away with an easy 86-65 win.

The win ups the Crimson record to a very comforting 12-4 overall, with a first place 5-0 Ivy mark. The victory is the Crimson's eighth in a row, the longest streak that anyone connected with Harvard basketball can remember. Dartmouth is now 9-8 overall, 2-3 Ivy.

People around the IAB are beginning to take the Crimson's high scoring for granted, what with the 107 points against Yale, 99 against Merrimack, and 86 here last night.

But equally important of late has been some very impressive defensive play and absolute domination on the boards. Last night the Crimson effectively shut off the inside from the Big Green, consistently denying shots off of the offensive board while at the same time making good use of the power of Monroe Trout and others inside. The Crimson led in rebounding, 39-27, and the reality was more imposing than the statistic.

Last night's first half was an exercise in how to play solid catch-up basketball. After the Big Green jumped off to an early 8-0 lead, the Crimson didn't get on the board untill senior co-captain Mark Harris sunk two free throws at 16:49. The Harvard quinted continually chipped away at the lead and finally tied it up at 31 with 2:53 to go in the half. They never looked back.

The Crimson played an outstanding--if slightly sloppy--offensive game. Led by Joe Carrabino's 22, and Donald Fleming's 20 points, the Crimson shot an outstanding 34 for 54 from the field (63 per cent), and an equally impressive 18 for 22 from the line--11 for 11 in the first half.

Most of the game consisted of the two squads' trading shots after quick rushes down the floor. The eventual shift in momentum may be traced to Crimson domination on the boards, which totally denied the Big Green any second shots. The Crimson led in rebounding in the first half by an overpowering 11-4, a trend which was continued and strengthened in the second half.

THE NOTEBOOK: Don't tell the Quincy House dining hall ladies, but Dartmouth's Thayer dining room serves better bread (and other food) than its Harvard counterparts. Nothing fancy, but fresh, out-of-the-oven bread, and you cut it yourself... The first thing the Crimson hoop squad saw as its bus steamed into Hanover was a still-unfinished ice sculpture of that master of kiddie lit, Dr. Seuss. After a little investigative reporting, one learned that the good doctor is a Dartmouth alumnus and this weekend's Winter Carnival is a tribute to him.... Football wide receiver-turned-basketball forward Wally Rutecki hit an inside shot at the buzzer to give the Crimson JV hoopsters a hard-fought 57-55 win over the Big Green yesterday afternoon. The squad's record is now 6-4.

HARVARD (12-4) Mannix 3 0-0 6; Harris 3 5-5 11; Mitchell 0 0-0 0; Taylor 1 1-3 3; Dixon 2 1-2 5; Clark 2 1-1 5; Trout 4 4-4 12; McCabe 0 0-0 0; Fleming 9 2-2 20; Plutnicki 0 0-1 0; White 0 2-2 2; Carrabino 10 2-2 22; TEAM 34 18-22 86.

DARTMOUTH (9-8) Johnson 4 2-2 10; White 2 0-0 4; Heyward 2 0-2 4; Jones 1 0-0 2; Cavanaugh 0 0-2 0; Stewart 4 2-2 10; Anderson 3 0-1 6; Lawrence 10 5-6 25; Burke 1 2-2 4; Zanze 0 0-0 0.