League-Leading Princeton Downs Dartmouth, 77-55

Friday, March 4

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-22, 1-12Ivy

PRINCETON

23-5, 11-1Ivy

Princeton

Dartmouth

Men Hang Tough in Season Opener at Rutgers

League-Leading Princeton Downs Dartmouth, 77-55

3/4/2011 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — For 10 minutes, Dartmouth looked as if it might play the spoiler to Princeton's Ivy title hopes, but a scoring drought that lasted eight-and-a-half minutes allowed the visiting Tigers to take command of the game and defeat the Big Green on Friday night at Leede Arena, 77-55. Four players scored in double figures for Princeton (23-5, 11-1 Ivy) led by Douglas Davis with 14 points. Sophomore R.J. Griffin had 12 points for Dartmouth (5-22, 1-12 Ivy) while junior guard Jabari Trotter grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.

The Tigers finished the night with 31 field goals in 61 attempts (.508) with Davis going 5-of-8 and Ian Hummer 6-of-9 for 12 points. Kareem Maddox also had 12 points thanks to a 5-of-7 shooting night, and Patrick Saunders chipped in 11 points with a trio of three-pointers.

Griffin, like Davis, drilled 5-of-8 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers, and junior David Rufful complemented him with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Dartmouth's two seniors, Ronnie Dixon and Clive Weeden, each provided eight in the penultimate game of their careers.

The game began well for the Big Green as they pushed the ball up the floor time and again, building an early 10-4 advantage. The first four Dartmouth buckets were all layups from four different players before Rufful hit a short jumper in the paint.

The Green continued to go inside, getting two more layups to take a 14-10 lead. Dixon knocked down a jumper for the first Dartmouth points outside the paint, then sophomore center Matt LaBove flipped a little hook shot in the lane with 10:02 left in the half and a one-point edge, 18-17.

That would be all for the Big Green for the next eight-and-a-half minutes as they failed to score on their next 11 possessions with 12 missed shots and a turnover. Meanwhile, Princeton tallied 16 straight points for a 33-18 bulge with Maddox the only Tiger to convert more than one bucket during the run.

LaBove finally ended the drought with a layup with 1:34 left on the clock before the intermission, and those would be the only Dartmouth points scored in the final 10 minutes of the half.

The Big Green never threatened in the second half, getting as close as 14 points only once.

Princeton bested Dartmouth in nearly every statistical category, including rebounds (38-29), assists (19-7) and turnovers (9-11). The Big Green shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58) for the game and an even 50 percent in the second half, but could not muster a rally to get back within single digits.

Dartmouth will honor both Dixon and Weeden at the final game of the season tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against Penn (12-14, 6-6 Ivy), which suffered a 79-64 loss to Harvard. The Crimson (22-5, 11-2 Ivy) will host Princeton tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in a game that Harvard must win to keep its title hopes alive.