PRINCETON, N.J.--Princeton men's basketball Coach Pete Carril is the dean of Ivy League coaches. The 22-year coach, who has led six Ivy League championship teams, knows his basketball.

"Last year we could dribble, pass and shoot," said Carril earlier this season. "This year, we dribble, pass and miss."

Carril's words proved prophetic here at Jadwin Gymnasium last night as Harvard took advantage of poor Princeton shooting to defeat the Tigers, 63-57, in front of 3500 spectators.

The crucial Harvard victory, combined with league-leading Dartmouth's loss to Penn last night, put the Crimson back in the Ivy League race. Penn trailed the Big Green by 20 points at halftime but came back after intermission in the Palestra to take possession of first place in the Ivy League.

Harvard (7-9 overall, 3-2 Ivy) plays Penn (7-8, 3-0 Ivy) tonight in Philadelphia. A win would leave the Crimson either in a tie for the league lead or one game out, depending on the results of other Ivy action tonight.

The Crimson outscored Princeton, 11-4, in the first six minutes of the second half as the Tigers failed to connect on any of the outside jump shots that characterize Carril-coached teams.

Harvard was torrid from the outside, shooting 56 percent from the field in the second half, including 5-for-8 from three-point range.

Co-Captain Mike Gielen led the Crimson with 22 points, converting four of his seven three-point attempts and all six of his foul shots. Sophomore Ralph James added 14 points and center Fred Schernecker dominated the inside game, pumping in 10 points (5-for-5 from the field) and pulling down four rebounds.

"Schernecker's been coming off the bench and giving us a big lift," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "He's a big presence inside, he can score outside and he can rebound."

Princeton Captain Bob Scrabis kept the Tigers close, shooting 6-for-12 from three-point land on his way to a game-high 26 points. Sophomore center Kit Mueller also chipped in 12 points and six rebounds while playing the entire 40 minutes, but Scrabis and Mueller were both plagued by poor shot selection.

"The scoring punch is missing and the heavy burden gets placed on Bobby [Scrabis] and Kit [Muellerz," Carril said. "Kit's shot selection tonight was not what it should have been, and if someone else had been scoring, he wouldn't have taken some of those shots."

The first half was the Ron Mitchell show, as the Harvard freshman dominated the boards, played a solid defensive half and pumped in nine points to spark the Crimson to a 28-22 halftime lead.

Harvard jumped out to a 14-6 lead, hitting six of its first eight shots, while Princeton was unable to penetrate the Crimson's 2-3 zone or shoot effectively over it.

But Scrabis caught fire for three consecutive three-pointers and gave the Tigers a 15-14 lead eight minutes into the game. Then the Crimson defense took over.

"It had everything to do with tempo," Roby said. "We just refused to play their style and we pressed, trapped and made them play fast."