Dartmouth Men Searching for Offense After 72-41 Loss at UC Davis

Tuesday, December 30

Davis, Calif.

10:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

2-9

UC Davis

5-8

Dartmouth

UC Davis

Dartmouth Men Searching for Offense After 72-41 Loss at UC Davis

12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Boxscore

DAVIS, Calif. ? The UC Davis Aggies bolted out of the gate with a 15-2 spurt and never slowed down in defeating the visiting Dartmouth Big Green at The Pavilion on Tuesday evening, 72-41. UC Davis (5-8) used a stifling defense, forcing 27 turnovers and allowing Dartmouth (2-9) to shoot just 27.5 percent, to send the Big Green to their fourth straight loss.

Mark Payne led the host Aggies with 17 points, six rebounds and five steals, hitting 5-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line. Vince Oliver chipped in 15 points and Joe Harden added 10.

Senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) was the only Big Green player in double figures with 14 points, draining 6-of-10. Freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) scored seven off the bench with three field goals in five attempts, leaving the rest of the squad to go 5-for-36 (.139) from the field. The poor shooting spilled over to the line where the Big Green shot a woeful 40.9 percent (9-of-22).

The 27 turnovers were easily a season high, nearly twice Dartmouth's season average, which led to 31 Aggie points. In contrast, the Big Green could convert 16 UC Davis turnovers into just six points on the evening.

Five different Aggies scored during the opening outburst, with Payne and Oliver each scoring four. Barnett drained a three-pointer then scored on a layup to stem the tide briefly. But a 13-1 UC Davis run put the Big Green down 20 with more than eight minutes to play in the half. Once again it was Barnett that ended the streak with a three-point play, giving him 10 of Dartmouth's first 11 points.

Neither team scored for the next three minutes before Payne broke the drought with a layup on a fast break. He tallied eight of the Aggies' final 11 points of the half as they enjoyed a 21-point lead at the intermission, 39-18.

Barnett gave the Big Green an emphatic start to the second half with a thunderous dunk. It seemed to help as freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) hit a layup and a three-pointer, and senior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) canned a trey as well to get Dartmouth within 14 at 42-28 less than three minutes into the half.

UC Davis turned up the defensive pressure at that point, however, holding the Big Green scoreless for nearly nine minutes while rattling off 17 points of its own. By the time senior Kurt Graeber (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) ? who led all players with eight rebounds ? ended the drought with a layup, the game was out of reach at 59-30 with about eight and a half minutes on the clock.

This was the second straight game in which Dartmouth shot less than 30 percent from the floor, making just 21.3 percent against Air Force on Sunday in Berkeley, Calif. The West Coast trip took its toll on the confidence of Dartmouth's shooters as the Big Green made just 46-of-166 (.277) field goals in their three games.

Dartmouth returns to Hanover to start the new year in hopes of finding its stroke by playing eight of its next nine games at home. First up is Army on Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the season opener which the Black Knights won, 63-48. UC Davis begins Big West play on Jan. 5 at Cal State Northridge at 7:05 p.m. (PST).