Defense Not Enough to Get Past New Hampshire

Wednesday, November 30

Durham, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-5

New Hampshire

2-2

Dartmouth

New Hampshire

11/30/2011 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

DURHAM, N.H. — After a technical foul on Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier, the Big Green defense clamped down on host New Hampshire and allowed just eight points in the final 14 minutes. But Dartmouth (2-5) failed to score in the final 3:30 itself, and Jordon Bronner laid in the winning bucket on a fast break for his only points of the game with 1:18 on the clock to break the deadlock as the Wildcats (2-2) nipped the Green on Wednesday evening at Lundholm Gymnasium, 53-50.

Alvin Abreu, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit both foul shots after the technical to match the largest lead of the game for UNH at 10 points, 45-35. Dartmouth rattled off the next seven points, however, on a trio of layups and a foul shot, cutting the deficit down to three with more than 10 minutes to play.

That difference was doubled when Abreu knocked down a three-pointer seconds later, and boosted to seven with 8:37 to go as Abreu hit 1-of-2 at the line. It would be nearly six minutes before the Wildcats would score again.

Senior David Rufful canned a turnaround jumper, which was followed by a 10-footer by sophomore Tyler Melville and a layup by freshman Gabas Maldunas on a feed from Melville, bringing the Big Green within a single point at 49-48. Then with 3:31 to go, Maldunas played a little give-and-go with classmate Jvonte Brooks, leading to an easy bucket and Dartmouth's first lead in more than 29 minutes of action, 50-49.

New Hampshire, which shot a paltry 19.2 percent (5-of-26) in the second half, was off the mark on a three-point attempt, but Dartmouth could not convert at the other end. Maldunas fouled the Wildcats' Brian Benson on the rebound, but after Benson rattled home the first foul shot, he airballed the second, leaving the score knotted at 50 with 2:45 remaining.

With the shot clock winding down, senior Jabari Trotter fired up a three-point attempt that rimmed out, but Dartmouth retained possession when the ball was deflected out of bounds off a Wildcat. But the extra opportunity went for naught when Maldunas was stripped of the ball, then was whistled for an intentional foul, his fifth, giving Benson two more free throws and UNH the ball. Fortunately for the Big Green, Benson was off the mark on both, and New Hampshire failed to score on the possession.

Yet Dartmouth failed to capitalize, turning the ball over again that led to the fastbreak layup by Bronner. Each of the next two Big Green possessions led to turnovers as well, but still Dartmouth had a chance at the end as UNH could come up with just a single free throw to take a three-point lead with 4.8 seconds left. Freshman Mack McKearney was able to get up court and fire off a three-pointer from the left wing before the buzzer sounded, but his shot could only draw iron as New Hampshire evened the all-time series at 31 games apiece.

The first eight minutes of the game were a stark contrast to the final 10 minutes as the two teams traded the lead eight times, combining for 27 points. Chris Matagrano drained his first three-pointer of the year to put UNH up, 15-12, and gradually the Wildcats built the advantage to 10 three times in the final six minutes of the half. When the intermission arrived, Dartmouth trailed, 35-26.

New Hampshire connected on 13-of-25 (.520) in the opening stanza, including 3-of-6 from downtown. But a 6-of-14 performance at the charity stripe kept the Wildcats from running away with the game. Abreu had 10 points at the break, while Brooks led the Big Green with six.

Dartmouth scored the first seven points of the second half to narrow the gap to two, but an 8-0 UNH run, capped by Abreu's two free throws on the technical foul, had the lead back up to 10 a few minutes later.

Maldunas was the lone Big Green player to score in double figures with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while junior R.J. Griffin added nine. The two teams each grabbed 32 rebounds in the game with freshman John Golden grabbing six to lead Dartmouth and Benson nine for the Wildcats to lead all players.

Abreu hit on 7-of-13 from the floor with a pair of trifectas to score his 21, and Bronner handed out five assists while playing every second.

Dartmouth has a week and a half due to finals before taking the court against at Notre Dame in a game broadcast live on ESPN3 on Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Next up for New Hampshire is Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.