Bah Humbug! Just when things were looking up for the Harvard men's basketball squad, the ghost of its abyssmal past came back to haunt it.

Poor shooting from the floor, poor rebounding, plenty of turnovers...this is the team we thought we swept under the carpet at midseason.

Returning to early season lack-of-from, the Crimson was pounded, 83-56, last night by the Yale Bulldogs at Payne Whitney Arena in New Haven.

The Bulldogs, led by 18 points from senior guard Ed Petersen, avenged their defeat at Briggs Cage with ease.

Yale's interior defense forced the Crimson into poor shot selection (34 percent from the floor), and Harvard's leading scorers, captain Ron Mitchell and forward Tyler Rullman, were limited to nine and eight points respectively.

Even forward Pete Condakes, who had a career high 25 in the previous Harvard-Yale clash, was shut down for a team-high 13 points.

The Crimson fell behind early in the first half. With 11 minutes remaining, the Crimson trailed 21-14. At this point, Harvard mustered a 9-0 run to take the lead.

Favor Returned

After exchanging baskets with the Crimson, Yale returned the favor twofold with a 17-0 run to finish the half.

The score was 40-25, and it was time to call Harvard's bus driver.

The Crimson tried to claw back into the game early in the second half. But, when Harvard cut the Eli lead to nine, the Bulldogs drove the nails into the coffin, with an 11-0 run, leaving the score 55-36.

It was time to warm up the bus. Yale was able to extend its lead to 30, and coasted to the 83-56 final.