The Princeton Tigers have yet to capture the Ivy League men's basketball title. But they are close enough.

Last night at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Penn edged the Tigers, 43-42. Although Princeton did not clinch the Ivy crown against the Quakers, it was assured of at least a share of it.

If the Tigers win one of their weekend games, they will represent the Ivies in the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time. Tournament action will begin March 16 at regional sites.

The Tigers will be playing in the NCAAs for the fourth time in the 1980s and are the only Ivy team to win a NCAA Tournament game since Penn beat Washington St., 62-55, in the first round of the 1980 tournament.

In 1984, Princeton topped San Diego, 65-56, in the preliminary round of the tournament before dropping a 68-56 decision to Nevada-Las Vegas. The Tigers also beat North Carolina A&T, 53-41, and Oklahoma St., 56-53, in 1983, before bowing out to Boston College, 51-42.

Since Princeton's 1984 appearance, the Ivy representative in the tournament has dropped four games by an average of 33 points. Such results have spurred debate about the possibility of the Ivy League losing its automatic bid to tournament in 1991.

Movin' up the Charts: Don't look now, but Harvard (11-13 overall) has put itself in position to finish in second place in the Ivy League for only the third time in its history.

With a 7-5 league record, the Crimson enters this weekend's home games against Penn Friday and Princeton Saturday only one game behind second-place Dartmouth and Penn (both 8-4).

The Crimson finished the season tied for second place in 1984 with a 9-5 record, only one game behind league-champion Princeton. In 1971, Harvard finished three games behind Penn with a 11-3 Ivy record, which was also good enough for second place. The Crimson has never won an Ivy League championship.

Riding a three-game winning streak, the Crimson has rebounded strong from a disappointing string of poor games, which knocked it out of the Ivy race.

"Since I've been here, we have always ended on a sour note," said Harvard Coach Peter Roby, following his squad's 101-86 victory over Yale last Saturday. "It's good to let the seniors go out as winners. The guys are focused on going out as winners."

If Harvard defeats the Quakers and Tigers, the Crimson will end the season at .500 or better for the first time since the Joe Carrabino era ended in 1985, when the Crimson finished 15-9.

You Mean It's Free?: One major reason why the Crimson has been playing better is improvement at the free throw line, especially near the end of the game.

Harvard lost the Dartmouth game January 31 because of a missed front end of a one-and-one which could have clinched the win in the last minute. The Crimson lost in overtime, 93-91.

Harvard could have tied the Penn game February 4 in the Palestra if it had converted a pair of one-and-ones in the least two minutes, but the missed foul shots clinched the 67-63 loss to the Quakers.

In the Crimson's last three games--all wins--the squad has shot 85-for-109 from the charity stripe, a whopping 78 percent. Harvard is 34-for-36 (94 percent) in the last four minutes and overtime periods of those three games.

In its 82-76 overtime win over Columbia February 18, Harvard shot 6-for-6 in the last six minutes of regulation and 8-for-8 in the extra period. Against Brown last Friday night, the Crimson was 4-for-4 in the last two minutes of regulation and 8-for-8 in overtime.

Sophomores Dana Smith and Ralph James have been the most impressive from the foul line lately. Since missing three of four free throws against Cornell February 17, Smith is 26-for-30 (87 percent) from the line.

"I don't know what it is," Smith said. "I happen to have the ball in the late situations, and I want it, and they foul me."

James is 13-for-14 from the charity stripe in his last four games. He has nailed 72 percent of his shots.

Ivy League Standings Team  Ivy  Overall Princeton  10-2  18-6 Dartmouth  8-4  15-9 Penn  8-4  12-12 HARVARD  7-5  11-13 Yale  5-7  10-16 Cornell  5-7  8-15 Columbia  3-9  7-17 Brown  2-10  7-17