Dixon's 21 Leads the Men to 71-68 Victory

Saturday, December 11

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-5

ARMY

5-5

Army

Dartmouth

12/11/2010 10:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Senior Ronnie Dixon lit up the scoreboard with six three-pointers and a career-high 21 points — 18 in the second half —plus gave Dartmouth the lead for good with two free throws after a technical foul with less than a minute to play to help the Big Green pull out a thrilling 71-68 triumph over visiting Army on Saturday night at Leede Arena. Dartmouth (3-5) had trailed by as many as 12 in the second half before rallying for the victory, thanks in large part to raining 8-of-11 three-pointers over the final 20 minutes, while the Black Knights dropped to 5-5 on the season.

Dixon was 6-of-7 from long range and 3-of-4 at the line to account for his 21 points, and he also equaled a career best with six assists. Junior David Rufful complemented Dixon's night with 14 points on 5-of-7 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and a team-high seven rebounds, the sixth time in eight games the 6-4 wing has led the Big Green in rebounding this year. Also in double figures for Dartmouth was sophomore R.J. Griffin with 11 points, including the team's other two treys. Overall, the Big Green hit 10-of-18 (.556) from downtown.

As the clock wound down under four minutes in the second half, the Big Green were on the wrong end of a 64-60 score. But Griffin ripped the net with Dartmouth's 10th three-pointer of the night to cut the deficit to one. With just over two minutes to play, Rufful drove into the lane and dropped in a nine-foot floater to give the Green their first lead since late in the first half.

Army's Jordan Springer scored on a putback at the other end to put the Black Knights back on top, but the lead proved to be short-lived and the final one for Army when senior Clive Weeden was fouled. Weeden tied the score by hitting the front end of the one-and-one, but his second foul shot hit the back iron, leaving the score knotted at 66 with a minute and a half to go.

Julian Simmons tried to drive for the go-ahead bucket for the Black Knights, but his shot was off the mark and rebounded by Rufful. Dartmouth called for a 30-second timeout with 52 seconds left, and when Griffin attempted to inbound the ball at half-court, Simmons reached too far in going for the steal and touched the ball while it was still in Griffin's hands. The official called the technical foul, and Dixon calmly canned the two free throws for a 68-66 Big Green lead.

Dartmouth then worked the clock down to five on the shot clock before calling another timeout. To avoid a five-second call on the inbounds play, the Big Green called their final timeout, but it proved to be worth it. Rufful took the pass and pulled up for an off-balance 15-foot baseline jumper, putting it through the hoop for a four-point lead.

Army proceeded to turn the ball over and foul Griffin, who left his free throw short to keep Army's slim hopes alive. Not wanting to foul, Dartmouth failed to stop Mitch McDonald from driving the lane and scoring on a layup with 5.1 seconds to go.

Dixon got the ball and was immediately fouled, putting the Big Green in the double bonus. After missing the first, Dixon coaxed the second one through, giving Dartmouth a three-point edge. The Black Knights raced down the court to get a three-pointer off before the buzzer for the tie, but Jeremy Hence's shot bounded three times on the rim before falling off and giving Dartmouth the win.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair until Dartmouth ripped off 10 straight points over a two-and-a-half-minute span for the largest lead of the stanza at 22-15. After head coach Paul Cormier called a 30-second timeout, Dixon set up the run by feeding sophomore Mbiyimoh Ghogomu for an easy layup on an perfectly run inbounds play, then dished out another assist to junior Jabari Trotter on a jumper at the foul line for the lead. Junior Kirk Crecco scored on a bucket in the paint before Griffin went to the line, sinking one of his two foul shots. He made up for the miss, however, by pilfering a pass on a full-court press, leading to a long three-pointer by Dixon to cap the run.

But Army battled back, outscoring the Big Green for the remainder of the half by a 16-6 margin, draining a trio of three-pointers to take a three-point advantage into the locker room at 31-28. Nine different Black Knights scored during the first 20 minutes, led by Ella Ellis and Nathan Hedgecock with six points, the latter knocking down both of his three-point attempts.

Neither team shot well in the opening half with Dartmouth at 33.3 percent (9-of-27) and Army at 31.3 percent (10-of-32). The second half was a different story as both teams hit at least half of their shots.

The Black Knights came out gunning, draining six of their first seven shots of the second stanza to open up a 12-point lead at 46-34. Dixon kept Dartmouth in the game by scoring nine of the team's first 11 points with three triples, and the Big Green gradually worked their way back. Consecutive three-pointers by Rufful and Dixon finally got Dartmouth back to even at 52 with 7:48 to play, but Army immediately went back up by five on an Ellis trey — his last three points of a team-high 14 — and a Jordan Springer jumper in the paint.

Another Rufful three-pointer, a three-point play by Trotter and a pair of free throws from Ghogomu kept it close, setting up the final run beginning with Griffin's trifecta.

Dartmouth had not won a game in which it trailed by double digits since a 66-63 win at Princeton on Feb. 21, 2009. The Big Green were down by 13 at one point agains the Tigers in that game.

Dartmouth won't return to Leede Arena for four weeks, starting a stretch of five road games at St. Francis (N.Y.) on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Army is in the midst of a seven-game road trip, playing again in eight days on Dec. 19 at Long Island at 4 p.m.