PRINCETON. N.J.--The deafening rear of the 3931 at Princeton's Jadwin Gymnasium suddenly diminished to a confused murmur. It all seemed a bit unreal.

Because no one really expected Harvard to pull it off.

But when junior Joe Carrabino connected on his two free throws with only eight seconds remaining Saturday night, putting his team up by five, the fantastic and impossible had become visible and true.

On the heels of one of its most demoralizing defeats in recent years--a 77-74 double overtime loss to Penn Friday night--the Harvard men's basketball team rebounded magnificently to shock the Ivy community with a heart-stopping 55-50 triumph over the first place Tigers at Princeton.

The Crimson triumph was its first at Jadwin Gym in over a quarter of a century, and it broke a seven game Princeton winning streak.

More importantly, the victory thrusted Harvard right back into the thick of the Ivy League title race. Now 12-10 overall, 6-4 in the Ivies. Harvard finds itself--thanks to Brown and Penn losses on Saturday--positioned in a three-way tie for second-place, just one game behind the still league-leading Tigers. "We needed this one. It was a must victory," the Crimson's Arne Duncan said.

It was also a mighty close victory. For the final six minutes. Harvard's lead never widened to more than three points. The long history of Crimson failure at Jadwin, coupled with the wild enthusiasm of the Princeton crowd made the small advantage seem ever so vulnerable and precarious.

But Harvard managed to elude that ominous and foreboding aura of defeat, and, when the final buzzer sounded, it proceeded to indulge in its most riotous victory celebration in years.

"This is the greatest victory that I've ever been associated with." Duncan said in the madhouse that was the Harvard locker room.

Comeback

Trailing 24-22 at the end of the game's first 20 minutes, the Crimson capitalized on a six minute Tiger scoring drought at the beginning of the second half and on an eight-point rally of its own, keyed by freshman Keith Webster's 20-ft. left side jumper.

Midway through the second half, though, Princeton began to carve away at the cager's six point lead--thanks largely to the inside and outside efforts of Tiger Kevin Mullin, who glistened with a game high 22--until, finally, with 6:39 to go, the home team found itself up by two, 38-36.

* But instead of faltering, as it had the night before, when it lost a nine point lead at Penn, the Crimson immediately reasserted itself when Carrabino slipped in a lay up on which he was fouled at 6:21. Converting the ensuing free throw, Carrabino put Harvard ahead, 39-38.

And from that point, Bob Ferry's two 10 and 12-ft. jumpers and Harvard's 10 for 10 free throw shooting down the stretch--Carrabino poured in six of them--nullified each Princeton field goal. Never again would the cagers relinquish their slim advantage.

On the evening, Harvard--already the nation's most skilled team from the line--garnered a 100 percent (19 for 19) free throw average.