Rough Night for Big Green in 55-45 Loss to Yale

Friday, February 26

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

5-20, 1-10Ivy

YALE

11-17, 5-6Ivy

Yale

Dartmouth

Rough Night for Big Green in 55-45 Loss to Yale

2/26/2010 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — The visiting Yale Bulldogs stymied Dartmouth on Friday night in men's basketball, holding the Big Green to a season-worst 25 percent from the floor as Yale finished the series sweep with a 55-45 triumph at Leede Arena. Even though the Big Green defense forced 20 turnovers, Dartmouth (5-20, 1-10 Ivy) committed 20 as well which helped the Bulldogs hold the lead the entire game.

Austin Morgan had 14 points for Yale (11-17, 5-6 Ivy) to lead all scorers, and Michael Sands posted a double-double with 11 points and rebounds. The Big Green, which had a season-low 14 field goals in 56 attempts, got 13 points — all in the second half —from senior captain Robby Pride.

The beginning of the game was an omen of things to come as the two sides combined to miss seven shots and commit three turnovers before Yale got on the board first with an Alex Zampier three-point play. Next time down the floor, Morgan sank his first of three three-pointers on the night for a 6-0 advantage.

The Dartmouth offense got two quick buckets from juniors Ronnie Dixon and Clive Weeden before freshman Mbiyimoh Ghogomu drained one of two at the line to make it 6-5. The Bulldogs scored eight of the next 10 points before sophomore Jabari Trotter drilled a three-pointer from the right corner thanks to a dish from Dixon who had penetrated the lane.

But when Raffi Mantilla converted the first two of three free throws, Yale held a 16-10 advantage and would never lead by any less than six the rest of the night. Mantilla's third foul shot was off the mark, but Rhett Anderson was there to grab the offensive board and go right back up for two.

Morgan laid in a bucket before hitting 1-of-2 at the line, then Porter Braswell drilled a three-pointer to cap a 10-0 Bulldog run for a 24-10 advantage. Yale maintained a double-digit lead into the intermission at 26-16.

The second half started well enough for Dartmouth as freshman center Matt LaBove contributed a layup 20 seconds into the half. Pride finally got on the board with 17 minutes to play, knocking down a jumper from 16 feet. Meanwhile, the Big Green defense held Yale to just five points in the first nine minutes of the stanza.

Yet Dartmouth could not make any kind of run due to its shots just not falling. One sequence when trailing by nine with 12 minutes to play had the Big Green getting five shots off, all off the mark, before the ball ended up out-of-bounds — still in favor of Dartmouth. After a timeout, an offensive foul brought an end to the possession.

Down 37-26 after a Reggie Willhite jumper from the free throw line, Pride rained in a three-pointer to give the Big Green some life. Two minutes later, Dixon converted two free throws to get Dartmouth back within six at 37-31 with 6:35 on the clock. Yale quickly boosted its lead back to 11 on another Morgan three and a Braswell layup.

Pride tried to ignite a rally one more time with a three-ball, cuttng the Dartmouth deficit to seven at 44-37 with 4:20 to play. Two minutes later, a pair of Trotter free throws made it a six-point game at 47-41. Sands traded buckets with Pride, then the Dartmouth defense forced a turnover on an in-bounds play by denying the entry pass. Yet the Green could not take advantage of the opportunity, coming up short on a shot in the lane.

Another short jumper by Zampier in the lane led to two more Dixon free throws with just over a minute to play. When Morgan missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Big Green still had life. Again a Dartmouth shot would not go, and the Bulldogs hit 4-of-6 at the line to finish off their win.

The numbers across the board will very similar for both teams, not just in the turnover department. Yale held a slight edge on the boards, 41-37, but Dartmouth was 14-of-17 at the line compared to 13-of-19 for the Bulldogs. Yale was 4-of-17 on threes, Dartmouth just 3-of-13. The biggest difference was on field goals as the Bulldogs went 19-of-49 (.388) compared to the Big Green's 14-of-56 (.250).

Dartmouth takes to the floor in Leede Arena one last time this season tomorrow evening when it hosts Brown (10-18, 4-7 Ivy) at 7 p.m. Pride, playing in his last home game for the Big Green, will be honored before the game. Yale travels to Harvard to take on the Crimson (19-6, 8-3 Ivy) tomorrow night at 7 p.m. as well.