Big Green Battle Black Bears Saturday at 3 p.m.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION vs. MAINE BLACK BEARS
Date & Time	Saturday, December 6, 3 p.m.	Dartmouth	Stats	Maine
Location	Hanover, N.H.	1-4	Record	1-5
Arena (Capacity)	Leede Arena (2,100)	Lost 2	Streak	Won 1
All-Time Series	Tied 10-10	61.8	Scoring	66.5
Tickets	Information	.451	FG%	.440
Broadcast	Big Green Insider on the Ivy League Digital Network - Drew Galbraith play-by-play	.398	3FG%	.299
Logistics	Directions // Parking // Seating Chart	.620	FT%	.667
Twitter	@DartmouthSports // @DartmouthMBK	+1.6	Reb Margin	-5.3
Dartmouth Links	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes // Live Stats	12.2	Assists	14.2
Maine Links	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	13.2	TO	17.7

Tale of Two Struggling Teams
•   Dartmouth comes home to Leede Arena to host Maine hoping to get back on the right side of the ledger following consecutive losses in the final 10 seconds of the game.
•   After New Hampshire pulled out a 65-63 contest here on Sunday with 3.6 seconds left, Longwood rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final minute to steal a 74-73 game in Farmville, Va.
•   The Lancers knocked down a pair of free throws with 4.7 seconds on the clock to cap the 7-0 run.
•   Dartmouth has taken a shot at the buzzer with a chance to win in three straight games. Only Connor Boehm was able to hit the winning shot with a three-pointer vs. IPFW on Nov. 28.
•   Freshman Miles Wright came off the bench to tally a season-high 15 points at Longwood.
•   It was Malik Gill who provided an even bigger boost off the bench, however, posting a double-double with 14 points, including a career-high four three-pointers, and 10 assists. No Big Green player had hit double digits in helpers since 2002.
•   Alex Mitola has scored in double figures in all five games thus far and is seventh in the Ivy League with 14.0 points per game.
•   On the glass, Boehm leads the Dartmouth effort by ranking second in the conference with 8.6 rebounds a night.
•   As a team, Dartmouth leads the league in three-point percentage (.398).

Series vs. Maine
•   This is the 21st meeting on the hardwood for these two schools with the series tied at 10 wins apiece.
• Dartmouth has played the Black Bears in each of the past two seasons, winning both contests — 67-54 here in the 2012-13 season opener, and 81-56 last year in Orono.
•   The other games in the series this millennium came in three straight years, 2003-05. Each team won on the other's home court before Maine won an encounter in Portland, 64-55.
•   Paul Cormier is 5-5 in his career against the Black Bears, going 5-3 against them at Dartmouth and faltering to them twice while at Fairfield.
•   Dartmouth is 114-101 against current America East schools with most of those games coming against UNH (32-33) and Vermont (59-39).

Scouting the Black Bears
•   After starting the season with five straight losses, Maine got off the schneid with an exciting 82-81 overtime victory in its home opener over Wagner on Tuesday.
•   Shaun Lawton tied the game in regulation with 13 seconds left thanks to two free throws, and Zarko Valjarevic provided the winning jumper at the buzzer in overtime.
•   The Black Bear roster has a very international flavor with seven of the 15 players hailing from outside the United States.
•   Lawton leads Maine at 12.8 ppg while shooting 57.8 percent (26-of-45) from the floor and 76.0 percent (19-of-25) at the line.
•   Defense has been a problem, though the Black Bears are forcing more than 16 turnovers a game with 7.5 steals. But opponents are shooting 54.2 percent overall and 44.8 percent from downtown.
•   Conversely, Maine has hit just under 30 percent of its three-pointers. Valjarevic leads the squad with 13 triples at a 31.7 percent rate.
•   Marko Pirovic averages 5.3 caroms, but the Black Bears have been outrebounded by more than five.
•   Bob Walsh is in his first year as Maine's head coach after a very successful nine-year stint at Rhode Island College where he was 204-63 and made eight straight trips to the NCAA D-III Tournament.

Year 2 of Ivy League Digital Network
All home games and every Ivy League contest — a total of 19 games and including this one — will be streamed live in high-definition this season through the Big Green Insider channel on the Ivy League Digital Network. Visit DartmouthSports.com, the official website of Dartmouth athletics, for information on how to subscribe and watch the action on your computer, tablet or phone.

Another Shot at the Buzzer
In each of Dartmouth's last three games, it has taken a shot as time expired that could give the Big Green a victory or leave them with a loss. Connor Boehm began the stretch well by draining a three-pointer against IPFW to lift Dartmouth to a 68-67 triumph on Nov. 28. Two days later, Malik Gill put up a frantic three-point try from 25 feet, but only drew iron in a 65-63 loss to New Hampshire. Most recently, it was Alex Mitola giving it a go with a 12-footer in the lane at Longwood. One high bounce off the back of the rim and out left the Green on the wrong end of a 74-73 score.

Gill in the Christmas Spirit
Malik Gill did something at Longwood that no Dartmouth player had done in over a dozen years — hand out 10 helpers. The junior came off the bench early in the first half with the Big Green trailing 10-1 and provided a huge lift by immediately directing a 15-point run with three assists and a three-pointer to boot. Dartmouth then held the lead until the final five seconds remained, and Gill finished the afternoon with 14 points and career highs in trifectas (4) and assists (10) for his first double-double. The last player to hit double-figure dimes was Flinder Boyd '02, who provided 10 assists at Columbia on Feb. 22, 2002, his third and final double-double of points and assists.

Better and Better from the Floor
Through the first five games, Dartmouth's field goal percentage has improved each time out. The season began with a woeful 35.8 percent showing at St. Bonaventure before ticking up to 43.2 percent at Hartford. The percentage bumped up even further at home versus IPFW (.446) and New Hampshire (.468) before a full-blown clinic took place at Longwood where the Big Green shot 56.3 percent. Dartmouth had won 11 straight games, however, when hitting at least half of its shots. The last time the Green were that efficient from the floor against a Division I team came last year against the Lancers as well at a sizzling 65.2 percent.

The Scoring is Wright
Going with a Price is Right reference here because one of the referees at Longwood was named Bob Barker. Seriously. Anyway, freshman Miles Wright enjoyed an offensive outburst against the Lancers by leading Dartmouth with a season-high 15 points thanks to hitting 6-of-9 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers. The rookie even swiped the ball three times, the most steals by a Big Green player this season. Though I imagine Bob Barker would disapprove of stealing, what with wanting to know the prices and all …

Boehm Bombards the Boards
For the fourth time in five games, junior Connor Boehm led the team in rebounding, this time with a game-high eight at Longwood on Dec. 3. The power forward is second in the Ivy League on the boards with 8.6 caroms per game.

Other League Leaders
Thanks to his 10 assists at Longwood, Malik Gill has the Ivy League's best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7, and Alex Mitola tops the circuit with 2.8 three-pointers per game. Mitola also is second in the league in minutes per game (36.4), and Gabas Maldunas is second in blocked shots (2.0 per game).

Free Throws Hard to Come By
In the final minute at Longwood, Dartmouth missed the front end of three one-and-ones that contributed to the one-point loss. Now after five games, the Big Green are shooting a mere 62.0 percent at the foul line. If the season ended today, it would be the lowest team free throw percentage in at least 50 years.

Schedules