Balanced Lehigh Scoring Sends Dartmouth to 73-60 Loss

Saturday, November 29

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

1-4

LEHIGH

5-1

Lehigh

Dartmouth

Balanced Lehigh Scoring Sends Dartmouth to 73-60 Loss

11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? Nine different players scored for visiting Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks knocked off Dartmouth in men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Leede Arena, 73-60. Zahir Carrington led Lehigh (5-1) with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. The Big Green (1-4) were led by senior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) and his 15 points, including 10 in the final five minutes.

The Lehigh defense harrassed Dartmouth's leading scorer, senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.), all afternoon as the forward hit 4-of-19 from the floor and scored just nine points, 14 below his season average entering the game. His streak of three consecutive 20-point outings was snapped as well. As a team the Big Green shot just 32.9 percent (23-of-70) overall and 9-of-17 (.529) from the charity stripe.

Other than an extended stretch in the first half when the Mountain Hawks constructed a 13-point lead, Lehigh was not particularly accurate either at just 38.3 percent (23-of-60) on its field goals. The difference in the game came at the foul line where the Mountain Hawks converted 23-of-27 (.852).

Both teams hit the offensive glass hard, with Dartmouth holding a 21-18 rebound advantage which led to 18 second-chance points to 17 for Lehigh. But the Mountain Hawks overall reeled in 51 boards to just 43 for the Big Green.

The game began as a defensive struggle as neither team could find the range. After seven minutes, Lehigh had hit just 2-of-10 shots while the Big Green started just 1-of-11 with 10 straight misses as the Mountain Hawks held a 5-4 lead. Lehigh guard Dave Buchberger broke the ice, driving for a layup and nailing a three-pointer on consecutive possessions.

Dartmouth kept pace with Buchberger until Lehigh went on a 10-2 run, fueled by backup point guard Prentice Small who had two assists and weaved his way through traffic for a layup during the run. The Mountain Hawks gradually built the lead to 13 by the intermission at 33-20.

By the break, Lehigh had recovered from its early shooting woes, hitting nearly half its shots (14-29). The Big Green struggled mightily all half, managing to convert just 9-of-33 (.273). Nearly half of those field goals came from Barnett who had eight points and five rebounds. Sophomore Ronnie Dixon (Danville, Ill.) was the lone Dartmouth player to hit from long range in the opening stanza as the squad was just 1-of-10 beyond the arc.

In the second half, the Mountain Hawks continued to expand the lead until it reached 18 on a powerful Carrington dunk to make it 45-27 with just under 14 minutes to play. Four minutes later, Dartmouth had cut the deficit to single digits at 48-39 thanks to back-to-back three pointers by junior co-captain Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.) and Biber.

The Big Green never got any closer, although Biber tried to make it interesting by bookending a pair of triples around a couple of buckets in the final 4:15 of the game to help cut the lead to nine points again at 67-58 with 49 seconds on the clock.

Lehigh refused to miss the freebies at the line after that, draining all six free throws to keep host Dartmouth at bay.

Senior Kurt Graeber (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) led the Big Green on the boards with a career-high 10 rebounds while junior Elgin Fitzgerald (Colorado Springs, Colo.) nabbed nine caroms ? also a career-high ? to go along with his nine points. A total of eight Dartmouth players scored at least five points in the game, including Pride with a season-best eight points on 3-of-4 shooting with one three-pointer.

Buchberger was the only other Mountain Hawk in double figures with 11 points, but four of his teammates scored eight, while Small posted seven points and a career-high nine assists.

Dartmouth takes to the road next to play at Vermont on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Lehigh, which is 5-1 for the first time since the 1980-81 season, returns home to play St. Joseph's on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.