Tale of Two Halves in Loss at Iowa State

Sunday, December 19

Ames, Iowa

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-7

Iowa State

10-2

Dartmouth

Iowa State

12/19/2010 4:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

AMES, Iowa — After going into the locker room trailing by just a point at Iowa State, Dartmouth could not stop the storm that was the Cyclones in the second stanza as host ISU rolled to a 71-42 victory at James H. Hilton Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. Diante Garrett led Iowa State (10-2) with 27 points and became the 28th Cyclone to score 1,000 points. The Big Green (3-7) got seven points apiece from senior co-captains Ronnie Dixon and Clive Weeden in suffering their second straight loss.

Dartmouth proved to be a strong foundation against the Cyclones in the first half, as neither team was able to build a larger lead than four points. If it weren't for Garrett, Iowa State would have faced a big deficit as the senior guard scored half of the Cyclones' 28 points. Meanwhile, the Big Green got a balanced scoring attack in the first 20 minutes with Ronnie Dixon leading the way with seven points as well as four assists.

Garrett rattled in a three to start the game and scored nine of ISU's first 11 points. But a pair of 16-footers by Weeden and three-pointers by junior David Rufful and Dixon kept Dartmouth within a point. After a Melvin Ejim bucket gave the Cyclones a three-point edge, sophomore reserve center Matt LaBove knocked down consecutive jumpers to give the Green their first lead 10 minutes into the game at 14-13.

The lead was pushed to four on a Jabari Trotter triple that capped a 7-0 Dartmouth run. Iowa State answered with layups from Calvin Godfrey and Jake Anderson to tie the game before Trotter sank a 14-footer on the left baseline off a smart backdoor pass from sophomore R.J. Griffin. The seesaw teetered back when Bubu Palo hit one from downtown and Ejim hit a short jumper in the paint to put ISU back up, 22-19.

The Big Green refused to go away, however, as Weeden and Dixon each dropped in a layup — Dixon on a fastbreak after picking Garrett's pocket — to once again take a one-point lead. Garrett ripped the net for consecutive buckets, the first reaching the 1,000-point milestone, only to have freshman Gediminas Bertasius and Dixon each score another layup.

It looked as if Dartmouth would go up by three when Trotter stole the ball and cruised down the court for the layup, but Ejim hustled back and rejected the layup with authority, rousing the announced crowd of 12,403 from a stunned silence. Garrett came down to the other end and laid in a basket to give Iowa State a 28-27 lead, which it took into the locker room.

As much as the first-half statistics were almost completely even — percentages, field goals, turnovers, rebounds and blocks — the second half was a polar opposite. The Cyclones took their time in building a 10-point lead, holding the Big Green scoreless for nearly five minutes and without a field goal for more than seven. Jake Anderson and Jamie Vanderbeken each hit three-pointers in a 9-0 run as ISU went up 37-27 before Weeden hit 1-of-2 at the foul line.

A Rufful floater in the lane got Dartmouth within seven at 37-30 before Palo provided a Cyclone bucket to ignite a 14-0 spurt and five consecutive three-pointers to boot, putting the game well out of reach. Only a putback by junior Kirk Crecco broke up those consecutive treys — two by Palo — as Iowa State enjoyed a 54-32 lead.

Garrett scored the next nine ISU points before leaving to a rousing ovation by the crowd with 5:42 left on the clock. Reserve Jordan Railey drilled a jumper with just under a minute left to boost the Cyclone lead over 31 for the only time, but freshman Nick Jackson scored on a finger roll for the Green to bring the scoring to a close.

Dartmouth was a woeful 4-of-25 (.160) from the floor in the second half after hitting 12-of-29 (.414) in the opening frame. At the other end of the court, Iowa State drained 8-of-14 from three-point range over the final 20 minutes and finished the game an even 50 percent from long range at 12-of-24.

Palo was the only other Cyclone to score in double figures with 11, hitting all three of his three-point attempts. Anderson led all players with 11 rebounds.

Griffin was Dartmouth's leading rebounder with five, but Dartmouth failed to get on the boards in the second half being outrebounded 26-13 and 45-31 overall.

Dartmouth will complete its trip to Iowa on Tuesday evening when the Big Green take on Drake University at 7:05 p.m. (CST). Iowa State hosts Chicago State on Dec. 21 as well, tipping off at 7 p.m. (CST).