Quintet Rips Green, 74-52; Sedlacek, McClung Star

Dartmouth's basketball team put on a dazzling display of all-around ineptitude at the IAB last night and absorbed a 74-52 shellacking from the Crimson quintet.

Even the most devoted Harvard fan could not have felt a twinge of compassion for the bumbling Green, who lost their eleventh straight game of the year.

The Indians' attack basically resembled a freeze. The boys from Hanover would position themselves outside the Crimson's defensive web and toss the ball around for a while until one of them decided to give it away. They sank a miserable 36 per cent of their shots and were outrebounded 49-30.

"They looked pretty good tonight," one Dartmouth partisan commented.

The turning point of the game came when the Indian five walked onto the floor. Harvard took the lead immediately on a Merie McClung tip-in and a long jump shot by Keith Sedlacek, and never relinquished command. Dartmouth scored its first field goal after five minutes had elapsed.

At some moments in the first half, the Crimson seemed to try playing on Dartmouth's level, but the effort was too much. Harvard's biggest first half lead was 19 points, and after inserting their reserves they left the court with a 36-23 margin.

Incredible Refereeing

The meet incredible aspect of the first half was the refereeing. The officials apparently had just read the section of the rule book on offensive fouls; they called six of them on Harvard, as well as repeated traveling violations. The first foul called against Dartmouth came after 17 minutes had passed, and it took a Frank Ramsey style pratfall by Bill Fegley to draw that one.

Harvard's only tense moments of the game came early in the second half, as the Crimson was lulled into complacency by Dartmouth's almost contagious lack of ability. Behind the shooting of Chris Kinum and Mike O'Connell (both of whom played well throughout the massacre) the Indians closed the gap to 43-37. But then Harvard got serious, reeled off 20 of the next 25 points, and sewed it up.

Lineup Altered

For the first time this season Coach Floyd Wilson altered the Crimson's starting lineup and inserted sophomore Keith Sedlacek into one of the guard positions. The 6-1 fireball from Valley Forge, Pa., quickly vindicated Wilson's judgment: he sank seven of ten shots and contributed 15 points, second to Merie McClung, who had 19.

Another bright spot on the bench may turn out to be sophomore John Scott. The 6-4 forward hasn't played much this year; last night he saw only brief action, but made three of four shots and indicated he may have the potential to be a successful back-up for the Crimson's front line.

The victory was Harvard's last contest before intersession; the quintet returns to Ivy Competition at Brown January 31.