Playing to a crowd of 700 spectators at Briggs Athletic Center, the Harvard men's basketball team was slowly but surely demolished by a sharp-shooting Cornell squad last night, 72-51.

And the 21 points that eventually separated the two red-hued squads testified to the difference between exhilaration and reality.

Exhilarated since Tuesday's thrilling 62-54 comeback victory over Dartmouth, the Ivies' seventh-place team, the Crimson met reality minutes into last night's contest, as the Ivies' second-place team embarked on a bulls-eye shooting spree--sinking 65 percent for its shots.

"The story of this game is we bust our butts on defense for the first 20 minutes, and they shoot 70 percent," Harvard Coach Pete Roby said after the blowout. "Our problem is we can't shoot the basketball, pure and simple."

Over the opening 20 minutes, the Crimson (now 5-14 overall, 1-6 Ivy) employed a crushing defense, and prevented the Big Red (10-9 overall, 5-2 Ivy) from making even one lay-up: all to no avail.

Because, although the cagers were able to sink almost 48 percent of their own attempts, the visitors were more than comfortable taking outside shots. The 70 percent first-half success rate--with eight shots coming from outside the key--boosted Cornell to a 33-28 first-half lead.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do defensively," Roby said, "but that's about the best shooting that we can expect to do."

What transpired in the second half, however, is not the best that Harvard can expect to do.

Just 23 seconds into the period, Big Red forward Drew Martin drove to the hoop and was fouled by Crimson center Bill Mohler as he sunk his shot. The 6-ft., 4-in. Martin hit from the charity stripe to cap the three-point play--an accurate omen of the 20 minutes in store for the hosts.

Cornell boosted its margin to 10 points, 42-32, but Harvard--still playing with a spark reminiscent of the Big Green triumph--wasn't quite ready to call it quits.

The freshman duo that has usurped the starting spots of Captain Pat Smith and Keith Webster in the past two contests--Mike Gielen and Tedd Evers--came to life to pull the cagers back into the running.

Gielen hit a short shot from the right side, and Evers--Harvard's high scorer with 13 points on the night--added a pair of baskets to pull the hosts to within four.

However, Martin--who dished in 19 points in the second half alone, to finish with 25 for the game--hit a 15-ft. shot: and from that point on, the Big Red never looked back.

The visitors outscored Harvard, 28-13, over the following 15 minutes, and when the final buzzer sounded on Cornell's Rusty Cooper hitting a jumper from the left corner, all the exhilaration the cagers had taken into the game was long lost in the shadows of Briggs.

"They're better at running their offense than we are," Roby said. "If you can shoot, you can win."

Cornell, 72-51 at Briggs Athletic Center

Cornell (72): Len Palmer 3-0--6; Drew Martin 11-3--25; Josh Wexler 2-1--5; John Bajusz 7-4--18; Wolfgang Florin 1-0--2; Mike Millane 2-7--11; Derek Williams 0-0--0; Eric King 1-0--2; Bryan Colangelo 0-1--1; Rusty Cooper 1-0--2; Wayne LaPier 0-0--0. Total 28-16--72.

HARVARD (54): Neil Phillips 4-4--12; Kyle Dodson 0-0--0; Bill Mohler 2-2--6; Tedd Evers 6-1--13; Mike Gielen 3-0--6; Keith Webster 3-3--9; Fred Schernecker 2-1--5; David Lang 0-0--0; Pat Smith 0-0--0; Total 20-11--51.

Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Harvard 21, Cornell 15. Rebounds: Harvard 18 (Phillips 4), Cornell 23 (Millane 10). Assists: Harvard 12 (Gielen 5), Cornell 15 (four tied with 3).   Cornell  33-39--72   Harvard  28-23--51

A:700