Sloppy First Half Leads to Men's Defeat at Yale, 74-62

Friday, March 6

New Haven, Conn.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

9-18, 7-6Ivy

Yale

13-14, 8-5Ivy

Dartmouth

Yale

Sloppy First Half Leads to Men's Defeat at Yale, 74-62

3/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

NEW HAVEN, Conn. ? Dartmouth could not overcome a whopping 18 turnovers nor a 14-point deficit in the first half as the Big Green fell to host Yale on Friday evening at Lee Amphitheater, 74-62. Travis Pinick poured in 21 points while Ross Morin pitched in 19 to lift the Bulldogs (13-14, 8-5 Ivy) into sole possession of second place in the league. Four players scored in double figures for Dartmouth (9-18, 7-6 Ivy), led by freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) with 13 points.

The Big Green came into the game averaging less than 14 turnovers per game, but could not hang onto the ball during the first 20 minutes, scoring as many points as they had turnovers. And when they did manage to get a shot off, they only connected on 7-of-21 (.333). Dartmouth's only saving grace in the first half was on the boards where it held an 18-13 advantage.

Yale rattled off runs of 10 and 13 points in the first half to build a 16-point lead at 25-9 with 6:48 before intermission. Porter Braswell sank a three-pointer to cap the 13-point run for the 16-point advantage. At the break, the Bulldogs led 32-18.

Morin had 10 of his 19 points in the opening stanza to lead the Bulldogs, while Pinick hit 4-of-5 from the floor for eight points.

The second half was ruled by the offense as Dartmouth scored 44 points on 16-of-32 from the floor, including 7-of-13 (.538) from downtown. But Yale nearly matched the Big Green point for point with 42 of its own, shooting a whooping 72.2 percent (13-of-18) while canning 15-of-18 (.833) from the line.

The Big Green briefly cut the deficit into single digits with just over two minutes to play, and a three-pointer by Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) with 1:37 left got Dartmouth within eight. But Yale continued to knock down free throw after free throw, hitting 9-of-10 in the final six minutes.

The Bulldog defense stifled the Ivy League's leading scorer in senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) as he managed just 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting for the evening. Both Biber and Marlon Sanders (Cleveland, Ohio) had 12 points as well to support the Big Green offense. The rebounds were distributed very evenly with five players grabbing three for Dartmouth.

Alex Zampier was the other Bulldog to score in double figures, collecting 10 points, all in the second half. He also tied his teammate Garrett Fiddler for game-high honors on the glaas with six boards as well.

Cornell clinched the league crown and automatic berth for the NCAA Tournament this evening by defeating Penn by 25 while Princeton lost at Columbia.

Dartmouth will conclude its season tomorrow evening at Brown for a game against the Bears at 7 p.m. Yale wraps up its season tomorrow night as well, hosting Harvard at 7 p.m.