Men's Basketball Drops Season Opener at Army, 63-48

Saturday, November 15

West Point, N.Y.

4:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

0-1

Army

1-0

Dartmouth

Army

Men's Basketball Drops Season Opener at Army, 63-48

11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Boxscore

WEST POINT, N.Y. ? Senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) had a game-high 18 points while freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) chipped in 15 in his collegiate debut, but Army never trailed in handing Dartmouth (0-1) a season-opening 63-48 defeat on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y. Nathan Hedgecock led Army (1-0) with a career-high 15 points in just 18 minutes on the floor.

The Big Green struggled with their shooting stroke most of the game, shooting just 37.2 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from the foul line. Barnett was 8-of-9 from the charity stripe, accounting for nearly half of his points, while the rest of the team was just 4-of-12. Trotter hit three of the squad's four three-pointers in the contest, going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Junior Elgin Fitzgerald (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also scored in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, plus led the team with six rebounds.

Dartmouth struggled to keep Army off the boards, however, allowing 17 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points. The Black Knights also were able to get out and run a bit, tallying 15 fast-break points to just two for the Big Green.

Army jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead to start the game before Dartmouth clawed its way back to a tie at 11. But the Black Knights gradually pulled away during the remainder of the half to lead at the break by 10, 35-25.

In the opening stanza, Army got very balanced scoring as no less than nine players hit at least one field goal, with Hedgecock leading the way with seven points. The Black Knights blistered the nets from the outside as well, hitting 5-of-9 (.556) from downtown, two by Julius Simmons off the bench.

Much like the first half, Army went on a run to start the final 20 minutes of action, tallying the first eight points, four from Cleveland Richard. The Big Green never got closer than 14 and trailed as many by 21 in the half.

The Dartmouth defense did hold the Black Knights to just 37.9 percent from the floor for the game, but the combination of Army's second-chance points and the Big Green's 21 turnovers was too much to overcome.

The opening day loss was the fourth straight for Dartmouth, all coming on the road. The Big Green will go for their first win of the season on Tuesday at Providence in a game at 7 p.m. Army heads to Quinnipiac on Monday to play the Bobcats at 7 p.m.