Three-Game Winning Streak Comes to an End at Columbia, 65-52

Friday, February 13

New York, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

6-15, 4-3Ivy

Columbia

9-12, 4-3Ivy

Dartmouth

Columbia

Three-Game Winning Streak Comes to an End at Columbia, 65-52

2/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

NEW YORK ? A 30-5 Columbia run that spanned the two halves proved to be too much for Dartmouth to overcome as the host Lions defeated the Big Green on Friday evening at Levien Gymnasium, 65-52. Noruwa Agho scored 20 points and Jason Miller tallied 19 to lead Columbia (9-12, 4-3 Ivy) to the victory. The Big Green (6-15, 4-3 Ivy) had their three-game win streak halted despite 20 points from senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.)

Dartmouth led by eight with five and a half minutes left in the first half following a Barnett triple, 24-16. But Columbia, sparked a few seconds earlier when Agho ended a Lion scoring drought of nearly seven minutes with a three-point play, outscored the Big Green, 13-3, for the remainder of the half. K.J. Matsui applied the gut-wrenching blow with an awkward three-pointer from the left corner just before the end of the half, giving Columbia its first lead in nearly 16 minutes.

In the second half, the Lions picked up right where they left off, scoring the first 11 points before Barnett put Dartmouth's first points of the final period on the board with a jumper. Another Matsui three-pointer and a pair of layups by Miller extended the run for Columbia to 30-5 that lasted more than 11 minutes, giving Columbia its largest lead of the night at 17 points, 46-29.

The Big Green rallied back, however, cutting the deficit back to six with an 11-0 spurt triggered by a pair of trifectas by junior Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.) and another trey from Barnett. A Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) baseline jumper with 10 minutes to play made the score 46-40.

Still trailing by eight with less than seven minutes to play, 52-44, Columbia left no doubt about the outcome, extending its lead to double figures for good on Matsui's third three-pointer of the night. The Lions pushed the advantage to as many as 16 before settling for the 13-point victory.

Dartmouth shot well from long distance, hitting 7-of-15 (.467) on its three-pointers. Inside the arc was another matter, managing just 13-of-37 (.351) for an overall percentage of 38.5 for the game. Columbia shot even better from downtown, knocking down 6-of-11 (.545) and 24-of-54 (.444) overall. The second half the Lions really took off, hitting 51.9 percent (14-of-27) after a sluggish first half at 37.0 percent (10-of-27).

On the glass, Columbia crashed the boards in the second half, finishing the game with a 37-29 advantage.

Agho narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds to go along with his 20 points, while Miller hauled in eight boards. Matsui contributed 11 points for the Lions as well.

Like Agho, Barnett almost had the first double-double of the season for the Big Green, snaring nine caroms. Both Pride and freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) scored 10 points as well.

One piece of good news came out of the evening for Dartmouth as senior Jarrett Mathis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) played the final five minutes, his first appearance for the Big Green in over a year after undergoing knee surgery.

Dartmouth plays again tomorrow evening at Cornell (16-7, 6-1 Ivy), the defending Ivy League champion, at 7 p.m. Columbia hosts Harvard (10-11, 2-5 Ivy) tomorrow night at 7 p.m. as well.