Second-Half Shooting Woes Plague Green at Yale

Saturday, February 13

New Haven, Conn.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

4-18, 0-8Ivy

Yale

10-15, 4-4Ivy

Dartmouth

Yale

Second-Half Shooting Woes Plague Green at Yale

2/13/2010 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — After taking an eight-point lead at the half, Dartmouth shot just 18.8 percent (6-for-32) in the second stanza as Yale battled back to defeat the Big Green on Saturday evening at John J. Lee Amphitheater, 69-56.

With leading scorer Alex Zampier sidelined for most of the second half, Yale (10-15, 4-4 Ivy) got 20 points from Michael Sands and 12 more from Greg Mangano in the victory. Dartmouth (4-18, 0-8 Ivy) got 15 points from both junior Ronnie Dixon and sophomore David Rufful, plus a season-high 13 rebounds from junior Clive Weeden, yet could not avoid the fate of losing their seventh straight game to remain winless in Ivy play. The Big Green also lost their 11th straight game at Yale.

Despite the shooting woes and being in the midst of a stretch of more than 12 minutes with just one field goal, Dartmouth still held a 49-48 lead with six minutes to play. But when Raffi Mantilla launched a long three-pointer, the Bulldogs were on their way to closing out the game on a 21-7 run.

Sands, who scored seven points in those final fateful six minutes, hit 7-of-11 field goals and 6-of-8 at the line to account for his game-high 20 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds, one less than team leader Paul Nelson who had nine.

After falling behind by four points at 14-10 to start the game, Dartmouth amped up its offense, taking the ball aggressively to the hole. Pride and Dixon both had sleek lefty layups over 6-10 Greg Mangano to tie the game, and Dixon blew through the lane to the hoop for another easy layup and a 16-14 lead.

Mangano got the lead right back for the Bulldogs with a three from the top of they key, but Dartmouth got two more layups from Pride and Dixon, then a 15-foot baseline jumper by Josh Riddle to open up a 22-17 margin.

Yale tied the game at 25 as Sands scored all eight points for the Bulldogs, while Dartmouth got a three-pointer from Pride during Sands' run. But the Bulldogs got just one field goal and two free throws in the final five minutes of the half. Meanwhile, the Big Green posted 12 points in the final four minutes with four from each of Rufful and Jabari Trotter. But the highlight was a breakaway two-hand jam by freshman Mbiyimoh Ghogomu.

The second half began as a defensive struggle on both ends, but a Pride three-pointer and single free throws by Rufful and Weeden extended the Dartmouth advantage to 10 points at 46-36 with 14:18 on the clock.

The Big Green could only muster one free throw over the next seven minutes, sandwiched between five straight points by Mangano and seven more Bulldog points, five by Sands. Mantilla sliced through the lane for a layup to give Yale its first lead in more than 20 minutes at 48-47 with nine minutes left.

Dixon put Dartmouth back on top with a layup before Mantilla drained his trifecta. Yale then extended its lead to six before Dixon sank a pair of free throws with just under four minutes to go. The two sides traded baskets to make it 57-53, but that would be as close as the Green would come in the final three minutes.

Yale owned the paint in the second half, scoring 20 of its 40 points there compared to just four for Dartmouth.

The Big Green shot 48.5 percent (16-of-33) in the first half before the second-half struggles.

On the boards, the Bulldogs held a slight edge at 42-40, but the 40 for Dartmouth were its second-most this season.

The Big Green return to Hanover next weekend to begin a four-game homestand against Columbia on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. Yale travels to Princeton next Friday to play the Tigers at 7 p.m.