It was the last hurrah for the seniors on both the Harvard and the Brown men's basketball teams.

Some went out with a bang: Harvard Captain Ron Mitchell led all scorers with a Career-high 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Brown's Jon Drezner pumped in 31 on 11-for-15 (5-for-7 long range) shooting.

"Ron had a great night," junior Tyler Rullman said. "He was open and he made the shots."

Some disappeared quietly: Brown superguard Rick Lloyd shot 1-for-7, finishing with 10 points. Bear forward Kirk Lowry, the third leading scorer on the team, didn't score in 15 minutes of play.

And for Harvard, reserve guard Dave LaPointe didn't see any playing time at all. (Memo to Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan: It was his last game. C'mon.)

In a game which featured a total of 77 shots from the free throw line, Brown took a 47-39 half-time lead and held it to win, 96-88, Saturday night at the Pizzatola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.

Both teams finished the season with a 5-9 Ivy League record. Harvard is 6-20 overall, while Brown broke an eight-game losing streak to end at 11-15.

Harvard junior Pete Condakes had a strong night, scoring 18 points and wiping the glass for nine rebounds.

Rullman scored 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, including a 2-for-6 night from international waters.

Brown guard Chuck Savage outscored every Crimson player except Mitchell and Condakes--just from the free throw line.

Savage went 16-for-17 from the charity stripe on his way to a 27 point night.

"We knew it would be a difficult situation," Rullman said. "With all their seniors, they wanted to end at home with a flourish."

The Crimson was down by 17 with about four minutes to play, but an odd coaching decision by Brown Coach Frank Dobbs enabled Harvard to claw back into the game.

With four minutes to play, Dobbs cleared the bench, treating his seniors to a career-ending ovation from the crowed.

But the Crimson rebounded. Steals and key three-point shots from Rullman pulled the Crimson within nine with two minutes to play.

An embarrassed Dobbs had to wave his seniors back in to save the win.

Harvard scored the first nine points of the game behind strong play from Mitchell, before Drezner and Savage exploded to give the Bears the eight point lead.

Savage was particularly effective on defense, where he hounded freshman guard Dan Morris into crucial mistakes.

Harvard shot 47 percent from the floor, but an impressive 88 percent from the free-throw line.

Brown did the Crimson one better, though, shooting 56 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point territory.