Brothers Reunite in Saturday Showdown at Leede

The Game: Dartmouth (1-4) vs. Colgate (0-4)
Location: Leede Arena (2,100), Hanover, N.H.
Kickoff: Saturday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m.
Series Record: Colgate leads 19-17
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In the Black Saturday?
•    One day after Black Friday, the Dartmouth Big Green are looking to get their first win at home against winless Colgate.
•    Dartmouth is glad not to be playing at Leede arena against a team with a mascot in the cat family — the New Hampshire Wildcats rallied from a 17-point deficit in the second half to nip the Green by two, 55-53, and the Bobcats from Quinnipiac sent Dartmouth to a 17-point loss earlier this week, 69-52.
•    Leading scorer Jabari Trotter was held to a season-low three points in the loss to Quinnipiac after averaging 18 points over the previous three contests.
•    Junior David Rufful continued his onslaught on the glass with six more boards. The 6-4 forward has led the team in rebounds in each of the five games this season.
•    Junior Kirk Crecco had a career-best 11 points to share the scoring lead for the Big Green with Rufful against Quinnipiac. Entering the game, Crecco had only played five minutes all season.

Series vs. Colgate
•    Both basketball programs debuted in the 1900-01 season, and first met four years later on Dec. 7, 1904. Dartmouth won that contest, 29-19, but Colgate has a 19-17 advantage in the series.
•    Last year the Raiders defeated Dartmouth in Hanover for their first win, 63-44. Yaw Gyawu led Colgate with 14 points, while Marlon Sanders had 13 for the Big Green.
•    This is the 15th consecutive season the two schools have met on the hardwood, with Colgate winning 11 of the 15 games in that time, including the last five at Leede Arena. The teams will meet again in Hamilton in less than two months.
•    Dartmouth is just 2-6 hosting the Raiders in Leede Arena. Its last win here against Colgate came on Jan. 17, 2001, by an 84-68 score.

Scouting the Raiders
•    Colgate has gotten off to a slow start with losses in each of its first four games for the second straight season, including a 76-63 loss to Columbia on Tuesday.
•    The first two losses came by three points or less, and the Raiders had a three-point shot at the buzzer that failed to fall in both contests.
• Forward Yaw Gyawu has been the team's MVP thus far, leading the Raiders in scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg). Like Rufful, Gyawu has led his team in boards in each game thus far.
•    Mike Venezia, who missed all but three games last year, is the long-range threat, but has gotten off to a slow start with a 27.9 three-point percentage (8-of-29).
•    Colgate is a good free throw shooting team at 76.9 percent (50-for-65).
• The Raiders are coached by Emmett Davis, who is 158-193 in this his 13th season at Colgate and the winningest coach in the program's history. Three years ago he led the team to 18 wins, tying a school record. Prior to his tenure in Hamilton, Davis served as an assistant at Navy for 12 years. A 1981 graduate of St. Lawrence, he began his coaching career at his alma mater.

Oh Brother There Art Thou!
Freshman Tyler Melville is having a family reunion at Leede Arena on Saturday as Colgate junior forward Sterling Melville is Tyler's brother. Last year the elder Melville helped the Raiders take a 63-44 win over the Big Green with seven points and three rebounds in just 11 minutes.

Crecco Cracker Jack
With just five minutes of court time this season, Kirk Crecco got the call against Quinnipiac on Nov. 23. The junior guard answered with a career-high 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 17 minutes.

The Jackson Five
Freshman Nick Jackson took five shots against Quinnipiac and drained three to score his first eight collegiate points. Two of those three field goals came from behind the arc — only two other Big Green players have hit more three-pointers all season — Jabari Trotter (11) and R.J. Griffin (5).

Shutting Down a Star
Quinnipiac may have defeated Dartmouth by 17 points, but last year's NEC Player of the Year Justin Rutty scored just two points in 30 minutes without hitting a single field goal. Full disclosure, however: he did lead all players with 10 rebounds.

Rufful the Rebounder
I am going to start calling junior David Rufful “Curtains” due to the fact that when a ball comes off the rim, it is curtains for anyone else trying to grab the rebound. When a 6-4 player playing power forward averages 7.0 rebounds a game and leads the team in rebounding in every game thus far (including a career-high 11 at Hartford), the dude deserves a nickname. And curtains have ruffles …

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