The Harvard men's basketball team has finally shown that when it's good, it's very, very good.

And even when it's not exactly great, as in the second half of yesterday's 66-60 victory over St. Michael's College at Briggs Athletic Center, the squad is still far from horrid.

The cagers, now 3-0, have yet to string together 40 minutes of solid basketball, but they appear to have mastered the art of dominating the first 20.

"I thought we did a great job in the first half." Crimson Coach Frank McLaughlin said of the 33-14 advantage his squad held at halftime.

And as for the Purple Knights 46-33 edge in second-half scoring, offered McLaughlin. "To then credit, they shot phenomenally well in the second hall."

And not to Harvard's credit, that phenomenon came mostly from outside, the one area the Crimson's tough defense couldn't clog up.

Fortunately for the hosts, however, it took the visitors half the game to take advantage of that weak link. Even more fortunately, in that half. Harvard played the most consistent ball in has all season.

Most fortunately of all, though the Crimson displayed an unusual depth, as that first-stanza consistency came from nine players rather than the usual six or seven.

With just eight and a half minutes gone and Harvard sitting on a 14-8 lead, highly routed freshman Kyle Dodson replaced starting junior forward Greg Wildes.

Only a minute later, fouled as he deposited his first varsity points. Dodson went to the line with all the poise of a member of the best free-throw-shooting team in college basketball history, and completed the three-point play.

An era had begun. Six minutes later it continued, as Yardling Bill Mohler replaced his classmate and chipped in some nifty ball handling and two blocked shots to a lineup that included backup sophomore guard Bob Daughterly.

The old and new lincups combined to run up the Harvard score while forcing numerous errors and fouls by St. Michael's.

With almost 15 minutes gone and the Crimson up by 21, the Purple Knights were over the limit in team fouls with eight exactly as many points as they had scored.

Harvard's huge lead evaporated with alarming speed, though, as the second- half lineup - McLaughlin's press-offense masters--of Pat Smith, Keith Webster. Arie Dunean and Co-Captains Joe Carrabino and Bob Ferry appeared to lose their concentration.

As if hypnotized by the pretty jump shots St. Michael's Bob Milliken and George Daway were sinking from all around the key, the Cantabs Isaw their lead cut to only 35-24 with just five minutes gone in the half.