PRINCETON, N.J.--Playing for pride in a season that doesn't really matter anymore Princeton held on to early lead and then ran away from Harvard last night, 66-50, at Jadwin Gym.

The victory avenged a crucial Harvard upset over the Tigers (now 6-5 in the Ivies) three weeks ago, a setback that put an early crimp in Princeton's annual duel with the UPenn Quakers.

For Harvard, now 4-6 in the Ivies the 24th consecutive loss at Princeton probably guaranteed a sub-500 year, and it confirms the Crimson's inability to win without one of its key starters.

Trout Out

Last night, it was center Monroe Trout who eat out with an infected elbow injury, and without his 6-ft. 9-in body in the lane. Tigers big man Craig Robinson jammed in a game-high 17 points while Princeton sharpshooters Gordon Enderle and Kevin Mullin combined for 23 from the perimeter.

The Crimson began the season as the league's favorite in some experts estimation, but an early dry period suffered by offensive leader Don Fleming, followed by an injury to point guard Calvin Dixon and Trout's bum elbow derailed what could have been Harvard's first-ever championship team.

The turning point in the game came two-thirds of the way through the second half, after Harvard had for the second time cut Princeton's lead to two points on a series of jumpers by guards Dixon and Bob Ferry. The Tigers' unenthusiastic fans--saddened by a mid-week loss to the men from Philadelphia--fell silent, and in cavernous Jadwin Gym you could hear every grunt the giants battled inside.

But in an unhappy reminder of earlier flops this season the Crimson and in particular Fleming (seven points) made like a Frigidaire and never defrosted.

Forwards Mullin and Neilk Christel engineered a ferocious long-range barrage, while Robinson worked inside to clear out Harvard's rebounders. By the six-minutes mark, when Mullin hit his third straight jumper. Princeton had built an eight point lead, 52-44, and 60 seconds later, the subs began filing into the game.

Deliberate Princetonians

Though Princeton confidently controlled the pace last night, the Tigers performance was but a limp imitation of the masterful slow-down offense that took last year's Ivy crown and eight of the past 20 titles.

The 1982 Tigers have the same deliberate style Coach Peter Carnl demands of all his squads, but they lack their usual precision--hesitating on open shots and flubbing easy fast breaks Not surprisingly, Penn has already beaten them twice, and the basketball fanatics of scenic mid-New Jersey dismiss the season as a failure.

"Is there a game tonight?" one library-bound Princeton asked at about 7:15 p.m. "When you lose twice to Penn. and you're barely hanging on to a winning season. "What's the point?"

The Crimson started out last night as if there were plenty to be salvaged from 1982 Jumping to a quick 5-1 lead on jumpers from Ferry and Joe Carrabino and a Ferry foul shot. Harvard seemed to have the Tigers rattled Carril was already, whipping himself with his rolled-up program and waiting to the referees about "obvious" criminal activities underneath the basket.

Robinson cheered up his coach with a powerful dunk off an Enderle feed at 16:36 and the Tigers never fell behind again.

Princeton has played most of the season without its staring center Rich Simkus. But in his two games made up for the missing 6-ft 8-in junior powerhouse.

Dixon and Ferry opted not to take a handful of wide-open jumpers in the first half and instead tried to force the ball inside to Carrabino, who often found himself tied up in Tigers's tenacious 2-3 zone defense.

In fact, the only thing that kept Harvard within six, 30-24 at the half, was a 10-for-12 performance at the free throw line.