Capacity Crowd Witnesses Defensive Struggle

Saturday, January 21

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

4-14, 0-2Ivy

HARVARD

16-2, 2-0Ivy

Harvard

Dartmouth

1/21/2012 10:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth defense held the five Harvard starters to just 22 points, but Corbin Miller came off the bench to score 13 to lead the 24th-ranked Crimson (16-2, 2-0 Ivy) to a 54-38 road victory in front of a sellout crowd — the first at Leede Arena in 11 years — on Saturday evening. Freshman Jvonte Brooks led Dartmouth (4-14, 0-2 Ivy) with 12 points while sophomore reserve Tyler Melville tallied 10.

Harvard's defense proved to be difficult to solve as the Big Green were held to their lowest output in nearly two years and fewest field goals (13) in over three while committing 17 turnovers. For the game, Dartmouth shot 31.7 percent (13-of-41) overall and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from long range, but held a slim rebounding edge over the Crimson, 31-28. Brooks led all players with nine boards, narrowly missing out on what would have been his third career double-double.

In the opening half, Harvard struggled to find the bottom of the net as well, missing its first nine shots, six of which were layups, as the Big Green crawled to a 6-0 lead in the first five-and-a-half minutes. Freshman Gabas Maldunas provided four of those six points, the last two coming after going coast-to-coast following a steal, sending the raucous crowd into a frenzy.

Forward Keith Wright, the Crimson's leading scorer this season but managed just four points on the night, ended Dartmouth's longest scoring run of the game with a layup before Steve Moundou-Missi scored on a three-point play to cut the deficit to one. After a Brooks layup, Christian Webster drained a three to tie the score, and the two sides traded two points to knot the score at 10 after 10 minutes of play.

Jvonte Brooks led the Big Green with 12 points and nine rebounds against the Crimson on Saturday night.

Miller gave Harvard the lead for good with his first of three three-pointers in the game, igniting an eight-point spurt that included a Moundou-Missi dunk and a triple by Laurent Rivard. Dartmouth senior guard Jabari Trotter answered back with two treys to get the Big Green back within two at 18-16, but the Crimson held Dartmouth scoreless for the final four minutes of the half as they took a 23-16 lead into the locker room.

Harvard hit just 8-of-23 (.348) from the floor in the opening stanza, but hit half of its eight three-point attempts. Just three players scored for the Big Green, meanwhile, with both Maldunas and Trotter with six apiece and Brooks the other four.

Both offenses remained sluggish at the outset of the second half with just six points scored between the two teams in the first six minutes as Harvard missed its first five shots while sinking 2-of-3 at the line. It was Webster that gave a jolt to the Crimson with his second trifecta of the night, and Harvard would go on to convert 12 of its final 18 field goal attempts.

Melville provided an answer to Webster's three with one of his own, but within three minutes, Kyle Casey was giving the Crimson a double-digit lead with a powerful dunk to make it a 36-25 game. After a free throw by freshman Mack McKearney, Harvard ripped off 10 straight points, capped by another Casey dunk and a foul for a three-point play, putting the visitors up 20, 46-26. The difference got to be as much as 21 after a Miller three-pointer, but Brooks scored the final five points of the game to finish the scoring.

Miller finished the night hitting 5-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep to account for his 13 points. Wright led the Crimson with seven rebounds and point guard Brandyn Curry dished out five assists.

For Dartmouth, Brooks was 3-of-6 shooting and 6-of-7 at the line while Melville sank 4-of-9 from the floor with two treys in three tries.

Dartmouth takes to the road next weekend with games at Brown and Yale on Friday and Saturday, respectively, both at 7 p.m. Harvard makes the same trip in reverse order, playing Yale Friday evening at 7 p.m.

Notes: The last sellout at Leede Arena was on Dec. 30, 2000, when eighth-ranked Virginia made the trek to Hanover … the last time Dartmouth was held to 38 points was on Feb. 6, 2010 against Princeton … Trotter, playing in his 100th career game, left the game early in the second half after injuring his leg, and he did not return … the Big Green lost for just the second time this year when outrebounding their opponent (4-2 for the year).