Offense Smothered at Cornell in 71-37 Loss

Friday, January 29

Ithaca, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

4-13, 0-3Ivy

Cornell

17-3, 3-0Ivy

Dartmouth

Cornell

1/29/2010 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell utilized a relentless defense and 11 three-point buckets to propel itself to a 71-37 victory over visiting Dartmouth on Friday evening at Newman Arena. The Big Red (17-3, 3-0 Ivy) held Dartmouth to a season-low 27.6 percent shooting, while Max Groebe led Cornell with 15 points off the bench. Dartmouth (4-13, 0-3 Ivy), which was held to its lowest output in more than three years, got just six points from its high scorer, junior Josh Riddle.

Not only did the Green connect on just 16 field goals in 58 attempts, they also managed just one three-pointer in 11 tries for a 9.1 percentage. The 37 points were the fewest for Dartmouth since tallying 32 against fifth-ranked Kansas on Nov. 28, 2006.

Groebe drained four of the 11 Big Red three-pointers to lead three players in double figures. Leading scorer Ryan Wittman put up 12 points — six below his season average — and Louis Dale tallied 10. All 19 players on the Cornell roster saw action in the game with 12 connecting on at least one field goal.

The Big Red came out firing from behind the arc, scoring 15 of their first 19 points from downtown. Dale had two of the triples, as well as a pair of free throws to lead Cornell with eight points in the opening half. The Dartmouth defense overall, however, did well in holding the Big Red to just 37 percent (10-of-27) from the floor. But with the Big Green managing just six field goals in 26 attempts (.231) and nary a trip to the foul line, Cornell was able to build a 27-13 lead at the intermission.

The second half started well enough for Dartmouth as junior Ronnie Dixon hit a running hook shot off the glass. But Wittman, who managed just two points in the first stanza, started to heat up with a three-pointer. A pair of Dale free throws were followed by another Wittman three before Jon Jaques slashed to the hoop and took a pass from seven-footer Jeff Foote for an easy layup.

A nifty layup by Riddle from senior Robby Pride was answered by a 16-footer by Wittman, giving Cornell a 20-point cushion at 39-19 with 13:40 to play. Dartmouth would not get any closer the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 39 late in the game before scoring nine points in the final four minutes.

Cornell outrebounded the Big Green by a 41-30 margin, although sophomore Herve Kouna and freshman Matt LaBove led all players with six rebounds apiece. Dixon was the lone Dartmouth player to hit at least half his shots, going 2-for-4 while scoring five points on the night.

Dartmouth and Cornell both play against tomorrow evening, with the Big Green going to Columbia to take on the Lions at 7 p.m. Cornell will host Harvard in a showdown of the league's co-leaders at 7 p.m.