NEW HAVEN--Every week, the Harvard men's basketball team does its Freddy Krueger imitation.

And every week, some other team manages to kill the team that doesn't want to stay dead.

Last night was no different for the Crimson as Yale managed to spoil a strong Harvard comeback, 73-69, here at Payne Whitney Gymnasium in front of 1189 fans.

Harvard battled back from a 14-point deficit to pull within a single point three times in the final minutes of the game.

"We had to cut it down," Harvard Coach Pete Roby said. "Our guys have refused to give in all year."

But Yale senior Eric Mitchell made a key shot and was fouled, making a free throw with 19 seconds left in the game to give the Elis their margin of victory.

"We knew we were going to come back," said junior Neil Phillips, who fired in a career-high 25 points to lead the Crimson.

The loss dropped Harvard's Ivy record to 6-7 (11-14 overall) going into tonight's final game against Brown in Providence. Yale saw its record improve to 7-6 in the league (11-14 overall).

In other Ivy action, Dartmouth defeated the Bruins in Providence, while first-place Cornell fell to Penn at the Palestra in Philadelphia. If the Big Green defeats Yale tomorrow, and the Big Red falls to Princeton, Dartmouth and Cornell will play a playoff game to determine the Ivy champion.

In last night's game between the Crimson and the Elis, the Ivy championship was far away, but it didn't matter any less to Yale.

Perhaps remembering how Harvard had crushed Yale, 89-68, in Cambridge last month, the Elis came out on fire.

By working the ball inside to forward Paul Maley, who had 10 first-half points, and center Eric Mitchell, who finished with 17 on the night, Yale exploded to early leads of 23-11 and 29-14.

"We knew we had to play well and I think we did that early in the game," Yale Coach Dick Kuchen said.

Maley was the difference between last night's game and the one last month. In February, Maley--who was a first-time All-Ivy selection as a junior last year--was a pitiful 6-for-23 from the field.

But last night, the forward redeemed himself, going 12-for-19 from the field for 24 points.

"He's a great shooter," Kuchen said. "The guy can shoot with anyone in the country."

The Crimson didn't help its own cause, shooting a poor 33 percent in the first-half, and missing 13 consecutiveshots.

But Phillips, who had 13 first-half points,sparked a late Harvard rally, which brought theteam back to a 36-30 halftime deficit.

"If they hadn't done what they did at the endof the first half," Kuchen said, "it wouldn't havebeen close in the second half."

The Bulldogs came out blazing in the secondhalf. Led by Maley's sharpshooting, Yale extendedits lead to 57-43 with 12:28 left in the game.

But after Roby called a timeout, Harvard beganits standard comeback from the dead.

Behind the three-point shooting of Tri-CaptainMike Gielen--who finished with 17 points--andPhillips, the Crimson went on a 14-2 run to cutYale's lead to two points, 59-57, with just 8:19left.

But Maley and Mitchell wouldn't let Harvardtake the lead, even though the Crimson had severalopportunities to do so in the remaining minutes