Trotter's 24 Points Leads Men to Road Victory

Friday, November 19

Hartford, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-2

Hartford

0-3

Dartmouth

Hartford

Trotter's 24 Points Leads Men to Road Victory

11/19/2010 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HARTFORD, Conn. — Junior Jabari Trotter scored a career-high 24 points while draining 5-of-7 behind the arc to lead the Dartmouth Big Green to their first win of the season in a 71-57 victory at Hartford on Friday evening. Dartmouth (1-2) snapped a 16-game road losing streak with the win, and won their first game in the state of Connecticut since 2001, a span of 16 games as well. The Hawks (0-3) got 13 points from Morgan Sabia but shot just 39.2 percent for the game and were outrebounded by the Green, 32-22.

Trotter had 16 of his 24 points in the opening half, knocking down four three-pointers in the process as Dartmouth built a 15-point advantage by the intermission, 39-24. But unlike Tuesday night when the Big Green let a 15-point lead at the half slip away against New Hampshire, they never let Hartford get back in the game, keeping the lead in double figures throughout the final half.

Sophomore R.J. Griffin complemented Trotter with 13 points, 11 in the second half, while junior 6-4 wing David Rufful hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds. Making his first start since recovering from an ankle injury, senior Ronnie Dixon handed out a personal-best six assists and tallied seven points.

Dartmouth entered the game shooting just 33.6 percent in its first two games, but scorched the nets at a 54.8 percent clip (23-of-42), including 61.9 percent (13-of-21) in the first half. From long range, the Big Green sank half of their shots — 10-of-20 — while converting 15-of-20 at the free throw line.

Hartford began the game in control, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, punctuated by a dunk by Milton Burton. But Dartmouth quickly turned the tables by going on a 17-2 run over a six-minute span with Trotter and freshman Tyler Melville raining down a three-pointer each to post the first double-digit lead of the game at 19-9.

The scoring slowed for a bit as Dartmouth still held a six-point edge with seven minutes to play until the intermission. That's when Trotter rattled off three straight three-pointers to quickly make it a 15-point game at 31-16. After the second triple, the Big Green never led by fewer than 11 points the rest of the night. A short floater in the lane by Gediminas Bertasius as the clock expired kept the lead at 15, 39-24.

The Dartmouth defense stifled Hartford for the final 11 minutes of the first half, yielding just one field goal, a three-pointer by Clayton Brothers. The only other points for the Hawks in that span came on five free throws.

Wary of a second-half run after the loss to New Hampshire, the defense continued to stymie the Hawk shooters, who managed just one field goal during the first five minutes. The Big Green needed nearly four minutes to get their offense going, when Griffin hit a three-pointer followed by a long jumper to boost the lead to 17 at 44-27. Hartford never threatened to make a run again, and Griffin punctuated the victory with his third trey of the half with 2:28 to play, giving Dartmouth its biggest lead of the night at 18 points, 63-45.

Dartmouth continues its short two-game road trip with a noon game at Loyola (Md.) on Sunday, Nov. 21. The Hawks don't play again until Wednesday when they host St. Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m.

Notes: The last road win for the Big Green came on Feb. 21, 2009 at Princeton, 66-63 ... the last win in the state of Connecticut came at Quinnipiac on Dec. 18, 2001, by a final of 70-68 ... sophomore Mbiyimoh Ghogomu had six points to equal his career best while playing the final 14 minutes ... Dartmouth has won the last two games against Hartford after losing eight straight to the Hawks between 1990 and 2006 … Dartmouth had 10 three-pointers for the first time in just over two years (12 at Providence on Nov. 18, 2008).