"I wanted the ball," said Collins. "I thought their defense was a little weak, and I just got the shots today."

When Wildcat guard Derek Counts--who scored 18 of his game-high 31 points in the second half--handed out an assist on a Dave Murray lay-up, UNH pulled to within one, 51-50, with 11:31 left in the game.

But the Wilcats got burned out. Gielen and forward Neil Phillips sparked a 15-0 Harvard scoring run that put the Crimson ahead, 68-52, with six and-a-half minutes to play.

"One of the things that helped us was that UNH got tired," Roby said. "That rush was fatigue [on their part]."

Although the game looked out of reach, Counts and his teammates got a second wind. The Wildcats scored 14 unanswered points to pull within a bucket, 70-68, with just over a minute to play.

"We sort of stopped playing there," Roby said. "If we made them work harder at getting their shots off, we would have won by more."

Collins once again chilled the Wildcats with a jump shot at the one-minute mark to put the cagers up by four points, 72-68.

Then it came down to free throws. UNH is a notoriously poor free throw shooting team, and in the final minute, its weakness showed.

In the final minute of play, Counts missed one and Marshall missed two vital shots. But Gielen hit his two to put the game on ice.

"I don't think there's any question that that was the reason why we lost," UNH Coach Gerry Friel said of the free throws. "They made their shots and we missed ours."

Collins led the Crimson in scoring with 20 points, while Gielen added 18. Tedd Evers led Harvard with seven rebounds.

Despite the poor outside shooting--Gielen was only 2-for-12 from three point range and Ralph James was 5-for-19 overall--Roby was satisfied with the win. "We won the game, so we couldn't have shot that badly," Roby said.

THE NOTEBOOK: Neil Phillips was 3-for-3 from the field, an indication that his shooting touch may be back...Collins' 20-point effort was a career best...Several players, including Collins, Mal Hollensteiner, and Scott Gilly, are suffering from a touch of the flu.