It was overshadowed by a gradual exodus off the bench and on to the court by a group of players whose backgrounds would require years of research.

But somewhere between the Harvard men's basketball team's first and tenth substitution Monday night against New York University, the bigest bucket of the Crimson's 79-52 win dropped into the record books of Harvard sports history.

Junior Joe Carrabino's field goal at 11-01 of the first half gave him 1000 career points-a feat accomplished by only eight other Crimson cagers. By game's end, his 16 put the Encino, Calif, native at number nine on the all-time Harvard scoring list with 1012.

"It's a nice milestone," Carrabino said afterwards, "but it only means I've shot a lot. And it's also a tribute to my teammates who've been able to get me the ball."

After a painful back injury sidelined him all last season, Carrabino this year has become the Crimson's key ingredient on an above-average 6-7 squad. His 17.0 points per game average leads the team and by season's end should be good enough to pocket him all the way to number two on the all time scoring list.

It will probably take a good dose of divine intervention for Carrabino ever to pass the Crimson's all-time scoring leader. Don Fleming who snagged an amazing 1797 points between 1978 and 1982.

The 6-ft, 8-in forward didn't get to pad the stats against the Division 3 Violets, though, because Harvard Coach Frank McLaughlin used his entire bench in a move that sent most of the 400 spectators searching deep into their programs for some back-ground information. Any information.

The no names did manage to hold the visitors to just three points in the final eight minutes en route to racking up their largest margin of victory and most points of the season.

Fresh Start

One no-name found his way into the hearts of most spectators early on, though. In his first-ever collegiate start, highly routed freshman Keith Webster overcame several rookie mistakes to provide some of the finest assists and rebounds of the season. He finished with six assists, seven rebounds and four points.

The cagers return to action this weekend at Columbia and Cornell in two important Ivy showdowns.