Basketball's Week

1. CINCINNATI (23-1)
2. LOYOLA OF CHICAGO (24-2)
3. OHIO STATE (19-4)

THE EAST

The Ivy League had its share of last-minute drama too. Defending Champion Yale, seemingly out of the race in midseason, beat Harvard 80-76 in overtime to force a playoff with Princeton for the Ivy League title and an NCAA berth. Some 4,500 excitable followers of both teams crowded into Fordham 's neutral gym for the occasion, and roughly half of them were pleased when Dennis Lynch, a little backcourt man, and Rick Kaminsky, a compactly built forward who bulls his way to the basket like a fullback, shot the Elis into a 29-29 tie at half time. Meanwhile, Butch van Breda Kolff, the Princeton coach, fidgeted nervously on the bench. He grimaced and groaned, gesticulated frantically as he shouted instructions to his team, and glared at the officials. But nothing helped and, with 12� minutes to go, Princeton was barely ahead 37-35. The Tigers , who had been attacking cautiously and shooting only sparingly against Yale 's switching man-to-man, badly needed some help. It came from their fine sophomore, Bill Bradley , a rather unobtrusive figure in the first half. In the next eight minutes he scored 13 of the Tigers ' 15 points, passed off artfully to Art Hyland on a fast break for the other two, and Princeton led 52-45. Bradley , who got 23 points in all, fouled out soon after, but it didn't matter. Hyland, dribbling deftly, took charge of a frustrating Tiger stall, handling the basketball as if the sport were a one-man game. When the overeager Elis fouled trying to get the ball, Hyland sank nine straight free throws to clinch the championship for Princeton , 65-53.

NCAA -bound NYU once again had a trying time against a city rival. St. John's, going nowhere, slowed down the impatient Violets and took advantage of NYU 's repeated defensive lapses. But Barry Kramer managed to elude the grasping Redmen and score 20 points, and NYU won 56-47. In other games, Fordham took Manhattan 66-61 and Holy Cross 59-57, Providence beat Fairfield 85-65 and Brown 80-57, and Villanova defeated Seton Hall 71-64, holding Nick Werkman, the country's leading scorer, to 14 points. Werkman, hobbling around on an arthritic ankle, scored 27 (his average is 29.5) against Iona, but his team lost again, 83-79. The top three:

1. PROVIDENCE (21-4)
2. NYU (17-3)
3. ST. JOSEPH'S (21-4)

THE SOUTH

Coach Jim McCafferty has become so used to being hanged in effigy by playful Xavier of Ohio students that he didn't even flinch when they strung him up in 13 places on the campus one day this season. He merely went about his business, and last weekend business was good. His much-maligned Musketeers beat Creighton 80-67 and St. Bonaventure 89-75 at Louisville 's Freedom Hall to win the first National Catholic College Tournament.

It took some doing, but the Ohio Valley Conference finally got a champion. In a playoff at Bowling Green , Ky., Tennessee Tech caught Morehead State without Guard Harold Sergent, its ailing (a case of the flu) top scorer, and won 80-68. The top three:

1. DUKE (24-2)
2. MISSISSIPPI STATE (21-5)
3. WEST VIRGINIA (21-7)

THE SOUTHWEST