Boston College capitalized on abysmal Harvard shooting to defeat the Crimson quintet, 83 to 72, at Roberts Center last night.

In every game this season Harvard has had one "hot" man, one sparkplug in the lineup; usually it has been sophomore guard Gene Dressler. Last night Dressler hit on only three of 19 shots, and the team as a whole sank a paltry 36 per cent of its field goal attempts.

And yet, with 16 minutes remaining in the game, the Crimson held a tenuous one-point lead. The Eagles' first-half shooting had been poor, and Harvard's collapsing zone defense had kept even B.C.'s All-America candidate John Austin in check.

Keith Sedlacek, who scored 19 points in the contest, hit a jump shot with 16:8 to play which put the Crimson in front, 45-44.

After 6-2 center Willie Wolters had put B.C. back in front with a pair of foul shots, the Eagle fast break started to function.

It was obvious that Eagle coach Bob Cousy had drilled, and drilled, and drilled his charges on the mechanics of the break. As soon as B.C. got a rebound, Austin would barrel down the middle of the court with one player on his left and one on his right. As they passed midcourt, the two men on the outside converged toward Austin, and began to work legerdemain with their passing. Even if two or three Crimson players had scrambled into the backcourt to defend, the only way of stopping the blits was to commit a foul or pray that a B.C. player would blow his shot.

The Crimson was tiring, becoming careless, rushing shots, and failing to set up its defense. Austin, on a fast break, hit a jump shot from the circle, then half a minute later hit a jumper from the corner. Then Austin grabbed a bad Dressler pass, and on a picturesque fast break fed to Doug Hice, who made it 53-46.

With the score 55-49, Austin and Wolters scored on two quick fast breaks, giving B.C. a safe ten-point advantage. The Crimson did close the margin to four points on one occasion, but the team's shooting never got hot enough to overhaul the Eagles. In the meantime, two Crimson starters, Barry Williams and Leo Scully had fouled out, and B.C.'s height advantage was giving the Eagles a big rebounding advantage and plenty of second chances on missed shots.

Harvard did make one final surge in the final minutes of play. The Crimson trailed 70-60 with 4:36 left, when Merle McClung scored on a fallaway shot from the key and then sank four consecutive foul shots. That made it 71-66, and 2:44 remained.

Twenty seconds later Hice of the Eagles was fouled, and stepped to the line in a one-and-one situation. He missed the shot, Harvard rebounded, and burst down the court in a four-on-two fast break. John Scott took a three-foot jump shot, which could have narrowed the margin to three points--and blew it. B.C. got the rebound, and easily ran up the score in the last two minutes.