It may have been a little more exciting than course catalogs and CUE guides, but just barely.

While the rest of Harvard readied itself on Tuesday night for the start of a new semester, the men's basketball team lost a sluggish game to new Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, 77-68.

The Crimson (6-10, 2-2) got off to a slow start in the contest, perhaps as a result of the two-week layoff for final exams, and never recovered.

"It's always a difficult situation when you're coming off a long break and the other team has been playing regularly, but it's something you try to deal with," Coach Frank Sullivan said.

"I thought we did a good job on some of the things that were under our control--like defense and rebounding--but we weren't as fluid on offense." he said.

Harvard's lack of intensity early in the contest allowed the Wildcats (8-9 overall) to build a 36-24 halftime lead. As in its January game at Princeton, the Crimson suffered from horrible field-goal shooting in the opening stanza.

"We didn't come out as aggressively as we had wanted to, and we didn't get many easy shots off steals and stuff like that," said captain Tarik Campbell.

New Hampshire benefitted from balanced scoring throughout the game. In addition to Eric Montanari's game-high 22 points, the Wildcats got 18 points from both Scott Drapeau and Doug Wilson.

Harvard was led by sophomore Darren Rankin's 16 points and Freshman Kyle Snowden's 13. The pair also pulled down six and nine rebounds, respectively.

With ten games left in its season--all against Ivy League opponents--Harvard needs these two front-line stars to step up their production.

Snowden, who has been chosen the League Rookie of the Week four times this year, has been solid at the power forward position all season, averaging 10.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Rankin, who started off the year red-hot but who has cooled off recently, still leads the team with 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

"It's all part of coming to the next level as a player," Sullivan said, referring to Rankin. "I think that right now Darren is becoming a target for the opposition. [Other teams] are getting to know his game, and they're focusing on him more. It was good to see him bounce back [Tuesday] night, though."

The two frontliners should receive significant help from junior James White and sophomore Mike Gilmore, both of whom have put in encouraging performances recently.

White tallied 13 points Tuesday night, including three three-pointers, while Gilmore scored seven upon his return as a starter.

They and the rest of the team will be primed for the resumption of Ivy League play this weekend at Briggs Cage.

Harvard takes on Yale on Friday night and Brown Saturday afternoon in contests crucial to the Crimson's place in the league.

"A whole bunch of teams--Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and us--are all kind of grouped together right now," Sullivan said. "We want to try to improve our position in that group."

Campbell sounded ready for the first step towards that goal--this weekend's two battles.

"These are two games that we feel pretty confident about," he said.