The Harvard men's basketball team shot 26.5 percent from the field in the second half Saturday to allow the Columbia Lions to walk off to a 60-49 victory in front of 800 fans at Briggs Athletic Center.

Columbia was paced by forward Tom Gwydir, who scored 22 points, and Todd Williams, who added 19 on 8-for-11 shooting. Neil Phillips and Fred Schernecker paced the Crimson with 10 points apiece.

Harvard's shooting woes were most strongly felt at guard where freshmen starters Mike Gielen and Tedd Evers shot a combined 4-for-18 from the field.

The loss dropped the cagers to 5-15 overall and 1-7 (last-place) in the Ivy League. The Lions--among the preseason favorites to snatch the Ivy title but currently in the middle of the pack--evened their marks to 10-10 overall and 4-4 in the league.

Led by the outside shooting of Gwydir and Williams, the Lions stalked to a 33-29 lead at halftime.

The pair scored the visitors' first 12 points and 22 points overall in the period. Columbia scored only two baskets from the paint while relying mainly on its two stars to connec over Harvard's 2-1-2 zone.

The cagers, who never led in the contest, hung tough throughout the first half, never falling behind by more than seven points and shooting a very respectable 52 percent from the field.

Columbia scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half, again led by the Gwydir-Williams duo. But following a time-out, Harvard Coach Pete Roby inserted a new defensive strategy which momentarily turned the game around.

Pressing full-court with a 2-1-2 alignment and then dropping off into man-to-man coverage, the Crimson crept back into the game. Six straight points by forward Phillips brought the cagers to within four, and another Harvard six-point run closed the gap to two, 45-43.

"Up until that time, we had them rattled with our press," Roby said.

But after a Lion time-out with slightly under nine minutes remaining, Columbia started to solve the Crimson defense.

And Harvard lost the ability to put the ball in the basket.

Columbia ran off an 8-0 spurt to seal the game while the cagers were held scoreless for over six minutes. Between the Columbia time-out at 8:45 and a meaningless Pat Smith follow at 0:10, the Crimson hit only one field goal.

"Why the shots go in in the first 30 minutes and not the last 10, I don't know," Roby said.

Meanwhile, old friends Gwydir and Williams were leading the Lions to a double-digit margin. When Gwydir hit a pair of free throws with under four minutes remaining, Columbia's lead was 10, and its victory was sealed.

Columbia, 60-49 at Briggs Athletic Center

Columbia (60): Paul Lee 0-0--0; Tom Gwydir 8-6--22; Walter Stewart 2-1--5; Sean Couch 3-0--6; Todd Williams 8-3--19; Tony Chiles 1-0--2; Kevin Mclvor 1-2--4; Mark Murphy 0-2--2; Mark Settles 0-0--0. Total 23-14--60.

HARVARD (62): Neil Phillips 5-0--10; Kyle Dodson 2-0--4; Bill Mohler 1-2--4; Mike Gielen 2-0--4; Tedd Evers 2-0--4; Pat Smith 2-0--4; Fred Schernecker 4-2--10; Keith Webster 2-0--4; David Lang 2-1--5; Kevin Collins 0-0--0. Total 22-5--49. Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Harvard 14, Columbia 13. Turnovers: Harvard 11, Columbia 11. Rebounds: Harvard 30 (Gielen, Schernecker 5), Columbia 30 (Gwydir 7). Assists: Harvard 9 (Phillips 3), Columbia 16 (Couch 8). Columbia  33  27  60 Harvard  29  20  49

A:800