Men's Hoops Completes First Season Sweep of Penn in 50 Years

Friday, February 20

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

7-16, 5-4Ivy

Penn

8-14, 4-4Ivy

Dartmouth

Penn

Men's Hoops Completes First Season Sweep of Penn in 50 Years

2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ?

Senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied 20 points to lead Dartmouth to a 69-59 victory at Penn on Friday night, giving the Big Green their first season sweep against the Quakers in 50 years. Dartmouth (7-16, 5-4 Ivy) never trailed in the game, winning for the first time in 12 years at The Palestra against Penn (8-14, 4-4 Ivy).

The Ivy League's leading scorer, Barnett was 6-of-13 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers while hitting all six of his free throws, each of which came in the final minute to close the door on the Quakers. In addition, Barnett also equaled a season high with nine rebounds, narrowly missing out on a double-double, while blocking four shots and handing out three assists.

Joining Barnett in double figures were freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) with 11 points and junior Elgin Fitzgerald (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with 10.

The Big Green took control from the start as Barnett drained a 26-footer as the shot clock was about to expire on the game's opening possession. After Penn turned it over on its first opportunity with the ball, the Quakers would never get the ball back with a chance to tie the game. A jumper in the lane by senior Marlon Sanders (Cleveland, Ohio) started a 9-2 spurt, with Barnett providing the last seven points in the run for a 13-4 lead just five and a half minutes into the contest.

A three-point play by junior co-captain Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.) gave Dartmouth its first 10-point advantage of the evening at 18-8. Penn did get back within five at 22-17 on a Harrison Gaines bucket, but Pride capped an 11-3 run with a three-pointer to put the Green up 13, their biggest lead of the night.

Two early fouls on Penn's Tyler Bernardini sent him to the bench for the final 13 minutes of the opening period, and the Quakers struggled to make up for the loss of their leading scorer as Dartmouth took a 35-26 lead into the locker room.

Penn point guard Zack Rosen scored the first three points of the second half at the line to cut the deficit to six, but Sanders hit a short jumper and freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) drained a three for an 11-point advantage, 40-29.

Dartmouth maintained at least an eight-point lead until late in the game when Jack Eggleston connected from behind the arc, making it a 58-53 game. And when Bernardini drilled a 19-footer, Penn was back within three. But the slim margin was brief as Rufful silenced the crowd of nearly 3,000 with a triple with just under four minutes to play.

Cameron Lewis and Harrison Gaines each hit one-of-two at the line to get within four, but that was as close as the Quakers would get. Having committed just three fouls in the half, Penn had to foul four times before the Big Green would go to the free throw line. But it was Barnett, an 81 percent free throw shooter, that ended up taking the foul shots during the final 47 seconds, sealing the historic victory for Dartmouth.

The Big Green shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) and an even 50 percent (6-of-12) from long range for the game while their defense held Penn to just 36.5 percent (19-of-52) overall and 20 percent (2-of-10) from beyond the arc. The Quakers did enjoy an advantage on the glass, outrebounding Dartmouth 38-33. But Penn had too many missed opportunities at the free throw line, hitting 65.5 percent (19-of-29) while the Big Green ? which entered the game last in the Ivy League in free throw percentage ? drained as season-high 91.7 percent (11-of-12).

Dartmouth plays again tomorrow evening at Princeton (10-11, 5-3 Ivy) at 6 p.m., while Penn hosts Harvard (10-13, 2-7 Ivy) tomorrow night at 7 p.m.