Rufful, Defense Deny Host at Great Alaska Shootout

Friday, November 25

Anchorage, Alaska

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-3

Alaska Anchorage

0-2

Dartmouth

Alaska Anchorage

Rufful, Defense Deny Host at Great Alaska Shootout

11/25/2011 8:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Senior David Rufful equaled his career high with 19 points, and the Dartmouth defense held the University of Alaska Anchorage to 32.8 percent shooting (19-of-58) while snaring nearly double the rebounds as the Big Green won their second-round game, 64-52, at the Carrs Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena on Friday afternoon. Freshman Jvonte Brooks recorded his first career double-double as well for Dartmouth (2-3), which won for the second time in the last three games.

For UAA (0-2), ranked 17th in Division II, Travis Thompson came off the bench to tally a team-high 11 points, all coming in the first half. Joining him in double figures was Phillip Hearn with 10 points.

Rufful, who scored 19 points in the opening game against San Francisco on Wednesday, countered the cold outside with more hot shooting, drilling 6-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-4 from downtown. All three of those three-pointers — and 15 of his 19 points — came in the decisive second half as Dartmouth broke open a game that was tied at the break. Brooks provided a great post presence, pouring in 13 points while grabbing 10 rebounds, five at the offensive end, for his double-double.

As a team, the Big Green hauled in 40 boards to just 23 for UAA, but had to overcome a season-high 22 turnovers to knock off the Seawolves. They accomplished that by harassing the UAA shooters to the low shooting percentage, which included just 5-of-24 (.208) from behind the arc.

With the score tied at 25 to start the second half, it was freshman Gabas Maldunas who went right to work to make up for lost time due to foul trouble in the opening stanza. A strong move in the post led to a layup, which the Seawolves answered at the other. The two teams traded buckets again before Rufful drained his first trey for a 32-29 lead, one it would not relinquish.

For nearly the next six and a half minutes, all UAA could manage was a single point at the free throw line. It took Dartmouth five minutes to hit another field goal — another Rufful three — but did manage 3-of-6 at the line during the stretch as well for an eight-point edge, 38-30.

Maldunas gave the Big Green their first double-digit advantage of the game, 41-31, with a three-point play, only to have the Seawolves' Taylor Rohde and Kyle Fossman hit back-to-back shots. Dartmouth then rattled off 11 straight points over the next four minutes, which included Rufful's third trifecta and was capped with a 16-footer by junior center Matt LaBove, for the biggest bulge of the game at 17 points, 52-35.

Having scored just 10 points over the first 15:30 of the second half, UAA started to find the range as it attempted to get back into the game. But the Seawolves never got any closer than 11 as Dartmouth sank six free throws mixed in with a couple of layups.

In the first half, Alaska Anchorage held the lead for much of the first six and a half minutes until Rufful posted his first points of the day on a layup off a turnover. Freshman John Golden then connected from long range for an 11-8 lead with 11 minutes showing on the clock. Only once did Dartmouth lead by more than five for the remainder of the half, thanks to a three-pointer provided by senior Jabari Trotter. Moments later, Thompson answered with a triple of his own, kickstarting a 10-2 UAA run to end the half to tie the score.

The Big Green finished the game shooting a season-high 44.7 percent (21-of-47), but a season-low 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from the line.

Dartmouth plays its final game in Alaska with a chance to finish in fourth place at the eight-team tournament on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. against Central Michigan (3-2), which defeated UC Irvine, 82-72, after the Big Green's game. Alaska Anchorage takes on UC Irvine (0-5) in the battle for seventh place at noon tomorrow.