While much of the Harvard student body was skiing in Vermont over the intersession break, the Harvard men's basketball team was hosting Cornell and Columbia.

And the way things turned out, the Crimson might have been better off heading for the mountains, as the squad dropped both games to its Ancient Eight rivals from New York, 8-81 to Columbia and 80-73 to Cornell.

The losses dropped Harvard's record below .500--both overall (7-9) and in the Ivy League (2-3). The Crimson also fell from its previous first-place tie in the Ivy League, now occupying the sixth spot in the league standings, one-half game behind both Princeton and Penn.

In both games, the lack of competition during the two-week break for exams was evident, with the team very rusty at times and breaking down mentally during key streches of the contests.

"Right now, we have a mental problem," said Head Coach Pete Roby. "We have the personnel right now to win, but we lack a toughness in concentration that is vital."

Against Columbia, Harvard fell behind early and was never able to get back into the game, thanks in part to the shooting of the Lions' Sean Couch. Couch scored 33 points in the contest, including 21 in the second half while also pacing his squad with six rebounds and five assists.

"We had to be much tougher defensively," said Roby. "We scored 81 points in the game, and that should be enough to win. Couch is a good player, but we let him go crazy and you can see what happened."

Neil Phillips led the Crimson in scoring, posting 17 points and three rebounds. Webster put in 15 points, including 12 on three-pointers, before fouling out with 47 seconds left. Arne Duncan was also in double-figures for Harvard with 14 points.

The Lions led from start to finish, moving out to a 14-point lead after 10 minutes of play, 24-10. The Crimson closed the lead to five points with 13:22 remaining in the game, 51-46, on a Mike Gielen layup off a feed from Keith Webster, but two quick baskets by Columbia stretched the visitor's lead back up to nine points.

Harvard made one last run with 57 seconds to play, when a Neil Phillips three-point jumper pulled the squad to within a six-point margin, 81-75.

Again, however, the Lions were up to the challenge, as four straight Tony Chiles' free throws sailed through the net to ensure the win.

Misfiring

The Crimson was plagued by erratic free-throw shooting thoughout the contest. Harvard shot 43 percent (nine-for-21) for the game, and under 39 percent (five-for-13) in the first half.

Many of those missed free throws in the first stanza were especially fatal for the Crimson, as they came at the front end of one-and-one situations, thus preventing additional free-throw opportunities.

In the first half, Harvard failed to connect on six straight attempts during a five-minute span before halftime, including five straight misses in one-and-one situations, three by Kyle Dodson alone.