Big Green Come Up Short in Defensive Struggle at Hartford, 53-48

Wednesday, November 19

West Hartford, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-2

Hartford

2-1

Dartmouth

Hartford

Big Green Come Up Short in Defensive Struggle at Hartford, 53-48

11/19/2014 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame with Paul Cormier, Nov. 19, 2014 Box Score (HTML)

By: Dartmouth

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — The Dartmouth defense allowed host Hartford to shoot just 32.7 percent (17-of-52) for the game, but the Hawks forced 19 turnovers to overcome their shooting woes and defeat the Big Green on Wednesday night at the Chase Family Arena, 53-48. Yolonzo Moore led Hartford (2-1) with 13 points — 10 in the second half — to help counter 16 from junior Alex Mitola for Dartmouth (0-2).

The Big Green found themselves trailing by eight, 42-34, with 10 minutes to play when they held Hartford without a point for more than five minutes to run off eight straight points and tie the game. Senior Gabas Maldunas provided the last six points in the run with a trio of buckets, knotting the score at 42.

After Mark Nwakamma hit just the front end of a one-and-one to put Hartford up by a point, Dartmouth had the opportunity to take the lead only to turn the ball over, leading to a quick layup in transition by Wes Cole. Junior Tommy Carpenter answered with a tough layup to close the gap to one again at 45-44 with 4:26 to play.

Both teams failed to score on their next possessions, then Moore got into the paint for a layup and a three-point Hawk lead. The score remained at 49-46 until Corban Wroe scored on a set play out of a timeout to put Hartford up five points with 1:07 on the clock.

Maldunas, who finished the game with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds, sank a pair of free throws, but after Nate Sikma did the same for Hartford with 26 seconds left, Dartmouth had two shots rattle in and out. Nwakamma secured the rebound and was fouled with 6.2 seconds left, essentially sealing the victory.

The game began slowly, although Moore started things off with a three-pointer. It would be nearly four minutes before either team scored again when sophomore Cole Harrison blocked a shot, rebounded it, then canned a short jumper at the other end to get the Big Green on the board.

Mitola hit his first of three first-half three-pointers to give Dartmouth a 5-4 lead, and after both teams hit one free throw, Hartford's John Carroll traded three-pointers with junior Kevin Crescenzi. A minute and a half later, Nwakamma put the Hawks up by two with a layup, only to have sophomore Wesley Dickinson respond with one for Dartmouth, knotting the score at 11.

Hartford then ripped off an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Nate Sikma, leading Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier to call a timeout with his team down 19-11 with 7:24 remaining in the half. Mitola provided another three-pointer, but Hartford scored the next five points to open up a double-digit lead at 24-14. Another Sikma trifecta gave the Hawks their biggest lead of the night at 30-19.

That would be all for Hartford in the half as the Big Green held the Hawks scoreless for the final four minutes before the intermission. Dartmouth closed the gap to four by the time the buzzer sounded on a finger roll by junior Malik Gill, Mitola's final triple to give him 12 points at the break and a left-handed hook by Maldunas in the lane.

When play resumed, neither team could make a move on the other as the Hartford lead oscillated between two and six points until Moore laid one in with 10:19 to play for a 42-34 lead. That merely set up the 8-0 Big Green run to tie the game at 42.

The two sides combined to hit 10 three-pointers in the game — four by Dartmouth, six by Hartford — all of which came in the first half. The Hawks hit six of their first 10 long-range shots, then misfired on their final eight. The Big Green was 4-of-9 from downtown, then were off the mark on their final eight as well, the last seven coming in the second half.

As a team, Dartmouth shot 43.2 percent (19-of-44) from the floor but just 23.5 percent (4-of-17) on three-pointers. The Big Green held the edge on the boards, 33-31, but turned the ball over 19 times for the second straight game. Although Dartmouth scored more points off of 10 Hartford turnovers (10-9), the miscues led to too many empty possessions that the Green could not overcome.

Mitola was 6-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-8 from long distance, while Maldunas did not miss a shot all night with five field goals and two free throws. The only other Big Green player with more than one field goal was Harrison, who was 2-of-3 for four points off the bench.

Moore hit 6-of-14 shots with a triple to account for his 13 points, while Nwakamma led the Hawks on the boards with six rebounds to go with his nine points. Hartford connected on 6-of-18 (.333) from behind the arc and 13-of-19 (.684) at the line, compared to 6-of-7 (.857) at the charity stripe for Dartmouth.

The Big Green have more than week off for fall term finals, then return to the court on Friday, Nov. 28 when IPFW comes to Hanover for Dartmouth's home opener at 3 p.m. Hartford travels to Niagara on Saturday with tip slated for 7 p.m.