Ivy Drought Ends in 48-44 Victory Over Columbia

Friday, February 19

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

5-18, 1-8Ivy

COLUMBIA

9-14, 3-6Ivy

Columbia

Dartmouth

Ivy Drought Ends in 48-44 Victory Over Columbia

2/19/2010 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth earned its first Ivy League victory of the year by defeating the visiting Columbia Lions on Friday night, 48-44. Junior Clive Weeden had a game-high 12 points for the Big Green (5-18, 1-8 Ivy) while fellow junior Ronnie Dixon pitched in 11 points, including two free throws with 15.8 seconds to play for the final margin. Columbia (9-14, 3-6 Ivy) got 10 points from Asenso Ampim, but the Lions shot a miserable 8.7 percent (2-for-23) from three-point range.

The victory was not only the first conference win for interim head coach Mark Graupe to end a seven-game losing streak, but also the 300th Ivy triumph for the Big Green program.

Weeden knocked down 5-of-9 from the floor and knocked down a pair of foul shots with 2:26 remaining in the game to break the only tie score of the evening, 46-44. The only other points the rest of the way came from Dixon's hands on his two free throws in the waning seconds. The 6-1 Dixon also led Dartmouth with a career-high eight rebounds as the Big Green held the overall advantage on the boards, 37-34.

Neither team could muster much offense in the opening half, particularly the Lions who were held scoreless for the first 9:30 of the game. Unfortunately for the Big Green, they only put up nine points in that span (their largest lead of the night), the first four from freshman Matt LaBove and the last three on a three-pointer from the left corner by Dixon.

Niko Scott finally ended the Columbia drought with a three-pointer of his own, and Kevin Bulger quickly stole the ball and drained a jumper in the paint on the break to make it 9-5.

The Lions closed to within two on a Brian Grimes bucket at 13-11, but thanks to a pair of layups by senior Robby Pride in the final 2:35 of the half, Dartmouth was able to maintain that advantage into the break.

While the Green hit just eight field goals in 24 attempts (.333), Columbia struggled to the tune of 25 percent at 7-for-28 and 1-of-10 on three-pointers. Both teams were a bit careless handling the ball as well with Dartmouth turning it over 10 times and the Lions nine.

Dartmouth came out firing to start the second half, converting its first four field goals to take a six-point lead at 25-19. Noruwa Agho, who leads the Ivy League in three-point percentage, made his only triple of the night in 10 attempts to cut that lead in half, and Scott dropped down a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game again.

The lead fluctuated between three and five points before the Big Green ripped off six straight points midway through the second stanza. Pride knocked down a triple and sophomore Jabari Trotter got three the old-fashioned way after getting fouled on a layup. The 37-28 lead seemed insurmountable with nine minutes to play.

But a 10-2 Columbia run got the visitors back within one with just under six minutes on the clock. Each side sank a pair of free throws before LaBove hit 1-of-2 at the line and the six-foot Pride lofted a layup high off the glass to avoid two defenders going for the block, making the score 44-40.

The Lions got consecutive baskets from Grimes to knot the score at 44, the only tie score of the night after the opening bucket. Weeden came right back and got his free throws to put Dartmouth back on top for good, and the defense forced two turnovers and Dixon blocked a shot by Scott in the lane that led to Dixon's clinching foul shots. Columbia launched a pair of long threes in the final seconds, drawing only iron.

The Big Green finished the night shooting a respectable 44.2 percent (19-of-43), and have now won all five games in which they have shot at least 41 percent. The Dartmouth defense held the Lions to just 31.0 percent (18-of-58) from the floor.

Dartmouth next hosts league-leading Cornell (22-4, 8-1 Ivy) tomorrow evening at 7 p.m., while Columbia heads to Cambridge to take on Harvard (17-6, 6-3 Ivy) at the same time.