Pat Riley, the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, has a saying about basketball games and championships.

"No rebounds, no rings."

Friday night at Briggs Athletic Center, the Harvard men's basketball team proved the merit of that statement with a disappointing 74-69 loss to Dartmouth, snapping a three-game winning streak.

The Crimson (7-7 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) was out-rebounded by a margin of 57 to 34 in the contest, enabling the Big Green (8-4 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) to stay in the ballgame before pulling away in the final three minutes.

Two weekends ago, Harvard knocked off Penn and Princeton on back-to-back nights at Briggs.

"Basically, we got what we deserved," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "We were coming off the most successful weekend in thirty years, and did not accept the challenge that Dartmouth gave us."

The loss dropped the Crimson from its previous position alone on top of the Ivy League standings, but not out of first place altogether. Harvard now shares the top spot in the Ivies along with Yale and Cornell--all owners of 2-1 league records.

In addition to out-rebounding Harvard, the Big Green also attempted twice as many free throws, 39 to 19. As a result, Dartmouth was able to overcome a 57-52 deficit from the field and secure a five-point win.

Dartmouth's Bryan Randall led all scorers in the contest with 18 points, half of them coming from the foul line. Guard Len Bazelak also had a good night for the Big Green, putting in 17 points including three big three-pointers down the stretch.

Senior Arne Duncan was the high scorer for the Crimson, netting 16 points, all coming in the second half. Sophomore Mike Gielen finished second in scoring with 14 points, while senior Keith Webster was the only other Harvard player in double figures with 10 points.

Big Green center Kwaku Miller had the best game under the boards Friday. Miller finished with 17 rebounds, and his eight offensive boards were one more than the entire Harvard team had. Despite scoring only three points--none of them from the field--he also swatted down two Crimson shots to help the Dartmouth cause.

The Crimson, trailing at halftime, 29-26, outscored the Big Green by a 15-8 margin at the start of the second half to take a 41-37 lead with 16 minutes to play. Harvard held the edge until the 5:49 mark, when a Bazelak jumper gave Dartmouth a 58-57 advantage.

A driving shot by Duncan with 4:13 to play put the Crimson ahead again, 62-60, but a Bazelak three-pointer left the squad behind by one with 3:48 left.

Duncan again retaliated with a turnaround jumper at 3:08 to make it a 64-63 lead for the Crimson, but another Bazelak three-pointer only 16 seconds later gave the Big Green the lead for good, 66-64.

Harvard pulled to within one point at the 1:30 mark, 69-68, until John Bean sunk a turnaround jumper with less than a minute to play, forcing the Crimson to foul intentionally, which it did without success.