NEW HAVEN, CONN.--Few things are perfect. The Harvard men's basketball team has not been anything close to perfect this season. Its coach and players will be the first to confirm this.

But for two short hours here in Payne Whitney Gym Saturday night, freshman Ron Mitchell and the rest of the Crimson came extremely close, dominating Yale, 101-86.

The victory was Harvard's third consecutive win, including its second straight on the road--where it has played abysmally all year.

"It's the first time since I've been here that we have beaten Yale here. It's a big win," Harvard Co-Captain Mike Gielen said.

With the win, Harvard (10-13 overall, 7-5 Ivy) pulled to within one game of second-place Dartmouth (8-4 Ivy) and half a game of third-place Penn (7-4 Ivy).

"It's a matter of getting fed up with coming to practice and hearing 'We have to do this' and, at halftime, hearing 'We have to do that,'" Harvard Co-Captain Neil Phillips said.

Mitchell was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and a near-perfect 4-for-5 from the foul line on his way to a 20-point, 11-rebound effort.

"We hurt them with offensive rebounds," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "Ronnie Mitchell gave us a big lift at the start of the second half, when we were missing shots. He got a couple of big boards and layups."

Mitchell's two baskets at the beginning of the second half upped Harvard's nine-point halftime lead to 13, 43-30. The freshman's eight points and Gielen's two three-point baskets helped Harvard maintain the 13-point advantage through the first five minutes of the second half. The Elis (10-16, 5-7) never pulled any closer than nine points.

"We've been playing with a lot of confidence," Roby said. "Early in the year, we were shooting tentatively."

Harvard shot 52 percent from the field--10 points higher than its season average. Senior Tedd Evers was 3-for-5 from the field, scoring six points in a three-minute period in the first half. Freshman Eric Carter was 5-for-6 on field goals, scoring 10 points in just eight minutes of play.

Harvard was most effective in establishing its running, pressing style of play, forcing 14 first-half turnovers and 23 turnovers in the game.

"We wanted to attack the pressure and then get into a half-court offense," Yale Coach Dick Kuchen said. "We never did that. When we decided to take a three-point shot or jump shot quickly, that's not our style of play."

"We didn't want them to hurt us by getting easy buckets in transition or off the press," Roby said. "That's where we did a better job tonight."

Yale senior Mike Ryan had difficulty all night inbounding the ball against Harvard's full-court press. Three five-second violations and several Harvard steals out of the press added to the Elis' woes.

"[Ryan] had some difficulties, that's the bottom line," Kuchen said. "I saw guys open and I guess he didn't. We worked on the pressure all week."

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson was successful on 82 percent of its free throws, including 10-for-11 from sophomore Dana Smith, who finished the game with 12 points...Ralph James added 15 points and Gielen finished with 14 points.

Crimson, 101-86 at Payes Whitney Gymnasium Harvard  39-62--101 Yale  30-56--86

HARVARD [101]: Neil Phillips 6-2--16; Ron Mitchell 8-4--20; Fred Schernecker 1-6--8; Mike Gielen 4-4--14; Ralph James 4-5--15; David Lang 0-0--0; Tedd Evers 3-0--6; Dana Smith 1-10--12; Eric Carter 5-0--10.

Totals: 32-62 31-38 101

YALE (86): Mike Ryan 5-6--16; Art Mann 0-0--0; Michael McMahon 0-1--1; Sid Smith 1-0--2; Earl Phalen 0-0--0; Ed Petersen 8-2--20; Travis McCready 3-4--10; Dean Campbell 6-2--15; Casey Cammann 6-0--12; Stuart Davies 1-8--10.

Totals: 30-65 23-32 86.

Three-pointers: Phillips 2, Gielen 2, James 2; Petersen 2, Campbell. Rebounds: Harvard 33 (Mitchell 11); Tale 47 (Campbell 12). Assists: Harvard 12 (Gielen 5); Yale 12 (Petersen 5). Steals: Harvard 9 (James 4); Yale 1 (Campbell). Blocked Shots: Harvard 3 (Carter 2); Yale 4 (McCready 2). Total fouls: Harvard 27; Yale 28. Fouled out: Mitchell, Gielen, James; McCready, Cammann. Turnovers: Harvard 14; Yale 23.

Attendance 2200.