Apparently last week's Ec 10 final was all they have been able to think about for the past two weeks.

In its first outing since the exam period break, the Harvard men's basketball team (9-6, 3-1 Ivy League) hardly showed up at Lavietes Pavilion for the first half, and quickly found themselves down 19 en route to a 93-82 defeat at the hands of Hartford (9-9, 5-5 America East) last night. HARVARD  82 HARTFORD  93

A career-high 25 points from junior point guard Tim Hill was not enough to overcome 20 turnovers and Hartford's 53 percent shooting as the Crimson fell to within a game of .500 in non-conference games.

Harvard appeared to handle the athletic, talented Hartford squad well in the opening minutes, but Hartford's full court press began to have its effect near the 15-minute mark, and the flood-gates opened soon after.

Harvard committed three turnovers--all on inbound plays--inside of two minutes, leading to five Hawks points. The rattled Crimson missed its next 10 shots from the floor, and the rout was on.

"They went right at us with pressure, which was the right move," coach Frank Sullivan said. "They established the momentum early."

The ensuing 20-6 run, aided greatly by 12 first-half turnovers, threatened to shut the door on the Crimson early. But after trailing by 19 with just over three minutes remaining, Harvard was able to stop the bleeding and limped into halftime trailing 32-48.

Halftime found Sullivan playing damage control, trying to right a Crimson ship running frighteningly off keel. Much of the trouble, however, may be rightly attributed to the time off.

"Every halftime of every year we find ourselves talking about the same thing, not beating ourselves out there," Sullivan said.

Freshman Dan Clemente gave Harvard's anemic offense signs of life after intermission, scoring 16 second-half points on six-for-nine shooting, including four three-point buckets.

Sophomore guard Damian Long came off the bench to pour in seven points on perfect three-for-three shooting to complement Clemente, as the Crimson scrapped its way to within four points with possession of the ball at 64-68 in the second half.

"We were excited about playing," Sullivan said. "We played solidly [in the second half] playing two freshmen [Clemente and Tim Coleman] in the frontcourt."

But Harvard could not keep the ball safe, and committed three turnovers in the next minute of play, all leading to easy Hartford layups. The lead pushed back to 10, and Harvard would not seriously threaten again.

The team was pleased to find itself in the game after such a disastrous first half.

"I was really proud that we had a chance to win," Hill said, "but the pressure rattled us."