Dartmouth Comes Up Short in Final Minute at Hartford, 70-66

Tuesday, December 13

West Hartford, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-9

Hartford

4-8

Dartmouth

Hartford

Dartmouth Comes Up Short in Final Minute at Hartford, 70-66

12/13/2016 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Jalen Ross scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to help host Hartford (4-8) survive against Dartmouth (0-9) and deny the Big Green their first win of the season at Chase Arena on Tuesday night, 70-66.

Dartmouth took a one-point lead, 65-64, with just over a minute to play when sophomore Guilien Smith buried a three-pointer from the corner right in front of the Big Green bench. But after a Hartford timeout, the six-foot Ross dropped in a floater over Dartmouth sophomore 6-8 forward Evan Boudreaux — who led Dartmouth with 23 points — to reclaim the lead.

On the ensuing Big Green possession, Jack Hobbs and TreVaughn Wilkerson blocked three-point tries to force a shot-clock violation with 11.9 seconds left. J.R. Lynch converted a pair of free throws before the Hawks fouled freshman Brendan Barry to keep him from attempting a three-pointer to tie the game. Barry hit the first free throw and missed the second, but Ross was able to corral the rebound and knock down both foul shots to seal Hartford's second straight victory and third in last four games.

Turnovers proved to be a big part of Dartmouth's undoing as it coughed the ball up a season-high 21 times, which the Hawks turned into 18 points. The Big Green nearly overcame the miscues with a combination of rebounding (36-21 advantage) and foul shooting (21-of-28 compared to 9-of-15).

But Ross was next to unstoppable after the intermission, hitting 9-of-12 field goals, including his first five to provide Hartford with its first 10 points to turn a 31-27 halftime deficit into a 37-34 advantage. The Hawks could never pull away, though they did increase its lead to five points twice after buckets by John Carroll, the second with 9:15 to play to make it a 50-45 game.

Dartmouth rallied, however, as Smith canned four free throws and Boudreaux drilled a three-pointer for a brief 54-53 lead. The score was knotted at 58 following a Lynch three-pointer, but freshman Ian Sistare drove the lane for a bucket to put the Big Green on top with 3:30 remaining.

A Ross three-point play was followed up by a three-pointer by Hobbs to suddenly put Hartford up four. Yet Dartmouth would not give in as Boudreaux snared an offensive rebound and muscled back up for a basket, and Smith ripped his go-ahead trifecta, setting up the final minute of action.

The Big Green struggled to find their bearings on offense over the first 11 minutes of the game, turning the ball over 11 times against the Hartford zone while knocking down just a pair of field goals courtesy of Boudreaux. But the Hawks had their own difficulties after Ross popped two triples in the first three minutes, committing seven turnovers and suffering through a five-and-a-half-minute scoreless stretch.

Those offensive woes left Hartford with just a 12-7 lead when Sistare ignited Dartmouth by hitting two free throws and floating in a shot in the paint. When Wilkerson answered with a layup, the Big Green embarked on a 13-0 run that began with a contested five-footer on the baseline by freshman Will Emery.

Senior Mike Fleming stole a Hartford pass and fed Wright for a breakaway layup before Wright and sophomore Guilien Smith rained down consecutive three-pointers. When senior Ike Ngwudo scored an easy layup off a feed from Fleming, Hartford called time to slow the Dartmouth momentum. Ngwudo added a free throw to make it a 24-16 game before the Hawks stemmed the tide with the second dunk of the night by center Hassan Attia.

The Big Green pushed its lead back to eight when Boudreaux knocked down three free throws with 1:59 left in the half. Hartford got jumpers by Lynch and George Blagojevic to fall to cut the Dartmouth lead in half by the break, 31-27.

After hitting just 11-of-26 (.423) shots in the first half, the Hawks found their range on the strength of Ross's performance, draining 16-of-27 (.593) to finish just over 50 percent (27-of-53, .509) for the game. Dartmouth hit 10 field goals in each half and finished at 46.5 percent (20-of-43) for the game, but just 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from downtown.

Boudreaux was 6-of-14 from the floor (2-of-4 from distance) and 9-of-11 at the line to account for his 23 points that matched a season high, but the Ivy League's rebounding leader had just four rebounds to match a career low and end a streak of 20 straight games leading the Big Green on the glass. Sistare had the most boards with six, while Smith added 14 points with two triples and a perfect 6-of-6 night at the foul line.

Ross ended the night 11-of-18 with two triples, plus led all players with five assists, and Lynch chipped in 10 points.

Dartmouth will attempt to end its longest season-opening skid since 1967-68 when it travels to LIU Brooklyn (7-3) — which plays at Minnesota tomorrow night — on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Hartford does not play again for nine days when it hosts Navy on Dec. 22 at 11 a.m.

Notes: The 1967-68 Dartmouth team, after losing its first nine contests, won eight of its last 17 … the Big Green also had a one-point lead in the final minute of its last game, a 73-68 defeat against Maine … the 21 turnovers were the most for the Big Green since committing 22 in an 80-42 victory over Colby-Sawyer on Jan. 17, 2013 … oddly, Dartmouth had won its last three games when turning the ball over more than 20 times with the last loss coming on the last weekend of the 2008-09 season at Yale.