Shot at Buzzer Falls Short as Men Drop Ivy Opener to Harvard

Saturday, January 10

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

2-11, 0-1Ivy

HARVARD

9-6, 1-0Ivy

Harvard

Dartmouth

Shot at Buzzer Falls Short as Men Drop Ivy Opener to Harvard

1/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? Oliver McNally's 12-foot runner off the glass with 12.4 seconds gave visiting Harvard a 63-62 victory at Dartmouth on Saturday evening in front of 1,210 fans in Leede Arena. Big Green senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) put up a 14-footer at the buzzer, but the shot would not fall as Dartmouth (2-11, 0-1 Ivy) lost its Ivy opener and sixth straight overall. The Crimson (9-6, 1-0 Ivy), coming off their first ever victory over a ranked opponent on Wednesday at #17 Boston College, got 19 points from Andrew Pusar to help them escape with the win.

With just under five minutes to play, Dartmouth took a 57-53 lead when sophomore Ronnie Dixon (Danville, Ill.) stole a pass and cruised for a layup. But Harvard answered with six straight points, a Pusar triple giving the Crimson the lead.

The Big Green continued to battle, and with 2:08 on the clock, junior Elgin Fitzgerald (Colorado Springs, Colo.) caught a pass under the hoop from freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) and was fouled yet still got the layup to go through the hoop. His free throw put Dartmouth back on top by one at 60-59.

Although Harvard missed on its next trip down the floor, Doug Miller grabbed a huge offensive rebound, and McNally made it count with a fadeaway jumper. The Green answered again as Rufful found Barnett for short jumper with 49 seconds to play.

The Dartmouth defense nearly came up with a steal, but the ball was deflected out of bounds with 33 seconds left. Again McNally took advantage of the extra life, banking his shot just before the shot clock expired.

Pusar hit 8-of-11 shots, including 2-of-4 from downtown, to garner his game-high 19 points. Junior guard Jeremy Lin had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while McNally finished with 10 points as well for the Crimson.

Junior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) led a very balanced Dartmouth attack ? 10 different players scored for the Big Green ? with 10 points, but foul trouble limited him to just 12 minutes on the court. Barnett, averaging over 19 points a game, was held to just nine, but he also led Dartmouth with eight rebounds and six assists, the latter equaling his career best. Rufful was a thorn in the Crimson side all night, scoring nine points, handing out five assists and nabbing a season-high five steals as well.

After shooting just 35 percent from the floor the last four games, the Big Green found its stroke, hitting exactly half (25-of-50) of their shots, while Harvard managed just 44.4 percent (20-of-45). The difference came at the free throw line where the Crimson sank 20-of-24 (.833). Dartmouth went the line just 15 times, converting nine for 60 percent.

Thanks to Lin, Harvard also had the advantage on the boards, 29-23.

The Big Green had the hot hand to start, hitting their first three shots to take an early 7-2 lead. Biber buried a three-pointer from the left wing during the opening minutes, the only trifecta of the opening half.

Harvard came back to tied the score at 14, but Dartmouth went on a 12-2 run as five different players scored. Barnett provided a thunderous dunk to bring the crowd to its feet, and Dixon had a reverse layup to highlight the run.

The Big Green still held a 10-point lead at 30-20 with eight minutes to play in the half, but the offense went cold, scoring just four more points until the buzzer sounded. Meanwhile, Harvard clawed its way back to tie the game at 34 at the intermission, even taking its first lead briefly with 56 seconds on the clock.

Both teams shot well in the first stanza, Dartmouth at 55.6 percent (15-of-27) and Harvard at 52.6 percent (10-of-19). The Crimson made up the field goal disparity at the free throw line, making 14-of-16 (.875), while the Big Green managed to hit just 3-of-9 (.333).

In the second half, Harvard built its biggest lead of the contest at five points at 44-39 thanks in part to its first two three-pointers of the game by Pusar and Peter Boehm. But the Dartmouth defense clamped down, holding the Crimson scoreless for more than five minutes, and the offense scored nine straight points ? five from Rufful ? to retake the lead, 48-44.

The game became a see-saw affair, with Harvard going back up by a point at 51-50 on an Oliver McNally jumper, then the Big Green answering with a Barnett three-point play after rebounding his own miss. After Pusar tied the game with a bucket, Dartmouth got a baseline jumper from Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.), then the steal and fast break layup by Dixon.

Dartmouth continues its four-game homestand against Stony Brook on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Harvard has two weeks off before getting back into action on the court, hosting the Big Green on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.