DURHAM, N.H.--Harvard men's basketball first-year Coach Pete Roby sat in the bowels of the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gym Saturday evening, sipping a Coke and reflecting on the three-point overtime contest his squad had just dropped.

Wildcat Coach Gerry Friel, who in his 17 years at UNH has piled up more wins--and losses--than any other coach in the program's history, approached Roby.

For Roby, the game was his third career loss. For Friel, it was his 166th career win.

"I guess you've been through a lot of those," Roby said to the other coach.

But probably few as rivoting as the contest which transpired in front of 1175 fans at cozy Lundholm.

The hosts dominated most of regulation time, but Crimson freshman Neil Phillips sent the game into overtime by sinking the rebound of a Keith Webster miss.

In OT, Harvard got off to a quick start, building a five point lead with two minutes left on the clock.

But New Hampshire, spurred by a key offensive rebound bucket by forward Andy Johnston, battled back to cut the Crimson lead to one point with 42 seconds remaining.

With the 45-second shot clock no longer a factor, the cagers attemped to run out the clock, but speedy Wildcat guard Rodney Johnson stole an errant pass near midcourt and drove for an uncontested lay-up to give his team its first lead of over-time.

Harvard pushed the ball upcourt immediately, but after a Pat Smith pass went awry, New Hampshire sunk two free throws to seal the win.

"I don't want my guys to be front-runners," Roby said. "I want them to face adversity and then rise above it."

If that is Roby's formula for success, the cagers seem destined for greatness.

The loss was the Crimson's third in its first four games this year. Over the three defeats, Harvard has been outscored by a total of 12 points.

"I'm not so concerned with wins and losses," a nonetheless disappointed Roby said, "as in how close we come to playing at our potential as a team.

"You can't ask any more of our guys, both in effort and execution," he added.

Friel was effusive about his visitors: "I've been coaching 20 years in Division 1," he said, "and if intercollegiate basketball was coached and represented the way Harvard did today, everyone would be very proud."

But aside from the accolades, one very tangible bright spot emerged from the game for the Crimson: the play of Harvard forward-center Fred Schernecker.

The freshman big-man, who stands 6-ft., 7-in., had not seen much playing time until Saturday, when the foul difficulties of starting center Bill Mohler (who ultimately fouled out of his second consecutive game) forced Schernecker to play 22 minutes--including the entire overtime period.

The Yardling proved more than equal to the task, scoring 11 points and grabbing six key rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

"I'm real happy for him [Schernecker]," Roby said. "Positive reinforcement came for him today--he just had to make the transition between high school and college basketball.'

New Hampshire led for almost the entire first half but was never able to stretch its lead to more than six points. Crimson junior Keith Webster (who led the team with 13 points and six rebounds) hit both ends of a one-and-one to set up a 28-28 halftime tie.

The second half was even tighter, with neither team able to pull ahead by more than three points. Phillips' second-effort bucket was the final score of regulation as Harvard went into its first overtime period of the year.

THE NOTEBOOK: The cagers host MIT tomorrow evening, with a 7:30 p.m. start scheduled at Briggs Athletic Center. "It's important that our guys don't prepare for MIT any differently than you do for Duke [a squad Harvard will face during intersession]," Roby said. "We'll be ready, I guarantee it, ready on Tuesday.