The road has not been kind to the Big Green this season, which stood 1-8 outside Alumni Gym going into Monday's game against Colgate. The Red Raiders did not make it any easier.
The Dartmouth men's team fell to Colgate 70-60. Though the Big Green put up 46 points in the second half, including shooting 7-11 from three-point land, an uncharacteristically sluggish start left Dartmouth in a that it could not escape.
In the opening minutes of the game, Dartmouth did lead 6-5, but Colgate answered by scoring seven straight points and never trailed again. By the end of the first half, the Red Raiders had built a 15-point lead, while holding Dartmouth to a mere 14 points, its lowest first-half effort of the year.
"We just really played uncharacteristically bad the first half," Leon Pattman '07 said. "We weren't organized and lacked aggressiveness.
"After realizing that it was going to be a long night offensively, we should have picked it up defensively, which we usually do. They seemed to be a step ahead of us the entire first, beating us back in transition. We never really allowed our defense to get set by sprinting back; instead we were off-balance defensively giving up uncontested shots," he added.
In the second frame, however, David Gardner '05 surpassed his team's first-half total all by himself.
"Dave Gardner played extremely well in the second half," team captain Steve Callahan '05 said. "He was virtually unstoppable in the paint, and it was great to see him really come into his own and take over the middle. We are going to be looking for more performances like that in the future from Dave."
Yet, despite his impressive display of athletic prowess, not even The Beast's 19 second-half points could save the Big Green men.
To Colgate's credit, the Red Raiders did not give Dartmouth many opportunities to build momentum. With 2:20 seconds gone in the second half, Callahan knocked down a three-ball, to make the score 31-19. But Colgate fired right back with back-to-back three-pointers, extending Dartmouth's deficit to 18.
The Red Raiders' lead reached as many as 21 points before Dartmouth closed the game with a 15-4 run. Unfortunately, it just was not enough.
At the end of the day, the Big Green shot 40.7 percent from the field but was out-rebounded 39-22. Colgate (9-7) moves on against American, while the Big Green returns from a brutal three-game road trip to take on the Vermont Catamounts at 7 p.m. in Leede Arena.
UVM, currently 9-5 overall, will be lead by four-time America East Player of the Week Taylor Coppenrath and the ever-dangerous T.J. Sorrentine.
"They have two superstars in Sorrentine and Coppenrath that have traditionally taken on the majority of the scoring load for Vermont," Gardner said. "We will have to work hard to contain them. It is a great opportunity for us to get a quality win and start off our four game home stand on the right note."
In related news, Leon Pattman has been named Ivy League men's basketball rookie of the week for the third time in four weeks.
When questioned about his latest accomplishment, Pattman offered, "I am certainly happy that my God-given talents and hard work are being recognized, but I'm not letting it stunt my growth as a player. I want to continue getting better. My goal is to be thought of, by the end of the year, as one of the best player in the Ivy League, not one of the best freshmen."
