Dartmouth Men Blanketed by Air Force, 63-41

Sunday, December 28

Berkeley, Calif.

5:30 p.m.

Dartmouth College

2-8

Air Force

9-3

Air Force

Dartmouth

12/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Boxscore

BERKELEY, Calif. ? In the consolation game of the Golden Bear Classic, the Dartmouth men's basketball team managed just three field goals and 12 points in the first half as Air Force rebounded from a tough one-point loss yesterday to defeat the Big Green at Haas Pavilion, 63-41. The Falcons (9-3) got 14 points from Anwar Johnson while senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) led the Big Green (2-8) with 14 points.

Shooting woes haunted Dartmouth the entire game with just 10 field goals overall in 47 attempts (.213), its worst percentage in at least six years, not to mention 2-for-18 (.111) from long range. The three first-half field goals came in 26 attempts for a humbling 11.5 percent. In addition, the 41 points set a new Golden Bear Classic record for fewest points, just one day after Air Force established a new low in a 43-42 loss to Portland.

While the Falcons didn't set the court ablaze with their shooting touch, they did manage a respectable 42.2 percent (19-of-45) with six trifectas. Joining Johnson in double figures for Air Force were Evan Washington with 11 points, and Andrew Henke and Matt Holland with 10 apiece.

The Big Green had their only lead of the game after senior Kurt Graeber (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) took a pass from Barnett and laid it in on the squad's first shot of the game. But after senior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio), who had 10 points for Dartmouth, hit a jumper to make the score 5-4 just two minutes into the game, the Big Green hit just one field goal for the rest of the half in 23 attempts.

Air Force, meanwhile, rattled off some long scoring runs. After that Biber bucket, the Falcons outscored Dartmouth 13-2 over the next eight minutes. A three-pointer by freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) and a pair of foul shots by Barnett briefly stemmed the tide before Air Force tallied 11 of the final 12 points over the last eight and a half minutes of the half. Dartmouth's three leading scorers ? Barnett, freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) and sophomore Ronnie Dixon (Danville, Ill.) ? combined to miss all 17 of their shots in the stanza.

In the second half, Dartmouth could never quite get back within striking range. Several times the deficit was cut to 11, the last time with just over eight minutes to play following another pair of free throws by Barnett, who converted a career-best 10-of-10 at the line. But a 10-0 Falcon run ending with 2:30 on the clock sealed the deal for Air Force.

Dartmouth plays one more game on the West Coast, traveling to Davis, Calif., to take on UC Davis on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. (PST). Air Force returns home to square off against Stony Brook on New Year's Eve at 3 p.m (MST).