NEW HAVEN--The Crimson (9-14 overall, 6-5 Ivy) lost its fourth consecutive league game last night, as Yale (12-11, 6-5) dominated the second half en route to a 86-64 victory here at Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

The Crimson, which was in contention for the Ivy title just two weeks ago, now finds itself fighting for second place with Cornell and the Elis. First-place Princeton put the final nail in Harvard's Ivy coffin by clinching the league title with a 56-33 win over Columbia last night.

Yale completely controlled the second half, outscoring Harvard, 46-27. Leading the Elis run was forward Travis McCready, who exploded for a career-high 32 points, 22 of which came in the final frame. McCready, whose previous high was 25 points against Harvard last year, connected on 14-of-18 shots and hit three three-pointers.

"That guy shoots like a crazyman against us," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "We gear our defense to play against the inside game and he goes hitting three-pointers."

McCready got plenty of support from fellow front-liner, forward Dean Campbell. Campbell had 19 points and cleared the glass with a game-high 14 rebounds.

"At halftime, I thought we needed to go inside-out more," Yale Coach Dick Kuchen said. "We were settling for the jumper when we could have gone inside. [In the second half] we got second shots and shots from the block and took control of the game."

When the Crimson started to clog up the inside, Yale began hitting from downtown. McCready moved his game to beyond the three-point stripe and guard Ed Peterson (13 points) added three three-pointers.

Harvard fought back from a 21-14 first-half deficit to tie the game, 23-23, with seven minutes remaining before intermission. But the Elis then went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes. McCready had six points during the spurt, all on second-chance layups. Center Cacey Cammann (13 points) hit two fastbreak layups during the run.

Harvard closed the gap as Co-Captain Ralph James ignited a 12-4 Crimson comeback that brought Harvard back into the game. The senior guard, who missed last weekend's games because of a shoulder injury, showed off a shooting arm that did not appear to be the least bit sore. James hit two three-pointers from the top of the key, the second of which brought the Crimson to within five, 40-35. Tarik Campbell then hit a layup in traffic as the clock wound down, reducing Yale's lead to three, 40-37, at intermission.

The game was still close midway through the second half, as Yale held a 62-56 lead. Petersen then hit a three-pointer from the right baseline, however, that started a rally that would put Harvard away for good. Crimson, 90-77 at Briggs Cage HARVARD  37-27--64 Yale  40-46--86

HARVARD (64): Tarik Campbell 5-12 3-7 13; Tyler Rullman 4-8 2-5 12; Peter Condakes 0-2 0-1 0; Matt McClain 4-12 0-0 8; Ron Mitchell 4-9 5-8 13; David LaPointe 0-0 0-0 0; Jabbar Abdi 2-6 0-0 4; Mike Minor 0-0 0-0 0; Ralph James 4-10 4-6 14; Anikar Chhabra 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 23-60 14-27 64

YALE (86): Ed Petersen 5-9 0-0 13; Travis McCready 14-18 1-3 32; Todd Trimmer 0-0 0-0 0; Stuart Davies 0-1 0-0 0; Dean Campbell 7-13 4-7 19; Rob Connolly 0-2 2-2 2: David Brown 3-7 0-0 7; Casey Cammann 6-6 1-1 13; David Bialski 0-0 0-0 0; Damon Franklin 0-2 0-0 0; John Brodsky 0-1 0-0 0; Steve Keller 0-2 0-0 0; Phil Black 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 35-61 8-13 86

Three-pointers: James, Rullman 2; McCready 3, Petersen 3, Brown, Campbell. Rebounds: Harvard 31 (Mitchell 9); Yale 42 (Campell 14). Assists: Harvard 8 (Mitchell 4); Yale 19 (Brown 5). Steals: Harvard 3 (Rullman, LaPointe, James); Yale 3 (Brown 2). Blocks: Harvard 2 (Abdi, Chhabra); Yale 4 (McCready 3). Fouled Out: None. Total Fouls: Harvard 13; Yale 20. Turnovers: Harvard 7; Yale 13.

Attendance: 1390