Last Shot Won't Fall in 53-51 Loss to Penn

Friday, February 5

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

4-15, 0-5Ivy

Penn

3-14, 2-1Ivy

Penn

Dartmouth

2/5/2010 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — Trailing by two in the waning seconds, the Dartmouth men's basketball team managed to fire off four shots, yet none would fall through the hoop as Penn withstood the Big Green at Leede Arena on Friday evening, 53-51. Quaker point guard Zack Rosen scored 16 points to lead Penn (3-14, 2-1 Ivy) to its second straight victory in the league. Junior Ronnie Dixon and sophomore David Rufful each put up 17 points for Dartmouth (4-15, 0-5 Ivy), which faltered for the fourth consecutive game.

Trailing 51-45 with six minutes to play, the Dartmouth defense put the clamps down and held the Quakers to just two points the rest of the way. The two sides traded buckets to keep the difference at six points before a Dixon shot in the lane went down to make it 53-49 and three minutes on the clock.

Rosen misfired on a three-point attempt, then fouled sophomore Jabari Trotter, sending him to the line for a one-and-one. Trotter came up short on the front end, but pulled down a rebound at the other end when Rosen missed another shot. A Rufful jumper in the lane got the Green within two, and Penn failed to score, despite getting a clean look on a putback. Looking for the tie, Dartmouth got cornered in a 1-3-1 trap with the shot clock winding down and called time with two seconds to shoot and 20 seconds to play.

A lob pass on the in-bounds was a little high, and a one-handed shot by junior Clive Weeden did not draw iron for a turnover. Dartmouth immediately fouled Jack Eggleston, a 78 percent free throw shooter, who missed the front end of a one-and-one — the only missed free throw in 13 attempts for the Quakers all night. With six seconds left, Trotter fired up a three-pointer to no avail. Rufful corralled the rebound and missed, followed by Weeden and finally senior Robby Pride, none of whom could get their shot to fall before the clock expired.

While the second half had little offense, the first half was a scoring bonanza by comparison. The first six minutes were a scoring battle between Dixon and Rosen with the former knocking down a pair of threes while tallying 10 points and the latter posting all 11 Quaker points. The difference in the score, however, was the help Dixon's teammates provided with short jumpers by both Rufful and Trotter as Dartmouth held a 14-11 lead.

The other Quakers started getting into the act, taking their first lead at 20-19 on a short baseline fadeaway jumper by Justin Reilly. After Rufful scored on consecutive possessions, Penn retook the lead with six straight points, taking the lead on another Reilly basket.

Dartmouth responded again thanks to a line-drive bucket by sophomore Josh Riddle from 15 feet out, then a three-pointer from Rufful to a 28-26 Big Green advantage. It turned out to be Dartmouth's last lead of the night.

Conor Turley tied the game with a short jumper and Rob Belcore drilled a three-pointer for Penn. The Quakers went on to take a 35-30 lead into the locker room.

Penn, which as a team entered the night shooting 38.4 percent from the floor, shot a blistering 66.7 percent (12-of-18) in the first half, including 4-of-8 on three-pointers. The difference in the score, however, came at the free throw line as the Quakers buried all seven of their foul shots while Dartmouth did not even attempt one. Ten Penn turnovers in the first half helped keep the game within reach for the Big Green, which shot 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the opening stanza and 4-of-9 from long range. But because Penn rarely missed a shot, Dartmouth managed just seven rebounds while the Quakers had 13.

The scoring slowed in the second half as Penn could not sustain its torrid shooting. Free throws helped the Quakers build their largest lead of the game at eight points, 41-33, along with a slam by Eggleston. Dartmouth's only points in the first six minutes of the second stanza came on a Dixon three-pointer.

The Big Green started on the comeback trail when Trotter drilled a 15-footer from the right wing. Dixon knocked down a pair of free throws before Rufful sliced a triple through the net, getting Dartmouth within one at 41-40. For the next five minutes, when Penn would knock down a shot, Dartmouth would as well. The Quakers finally rattled off five straight points to get to 51-45, setting the stage for the final six minutes.

Neither side shot better than 28 percent in the second half, but Penn still managed to shoot 45.0 percent (18-for-40) for the game while Dartmouth finished at 36.8 percent (21-of-57) overall and on threes (7-of-19). The rebounding was close to even with 29 for the Quakers and 28 for the Big Green.

Dartmouth plays host to Princeton (12-5, 3-0) tomorrow evening at 7 p.m., while Penn travels to Harvard (14-5, 3-2) for a 7 p.m. contest as well