As the Beatles might say, it is coming together, right now. Last night in Leede Arena the men's basketball team finally displayed an ability to dominate its opponents, blowing out Holy Cross 80-58. As a result, the Big Green now own a three game win streak.
Jamie Halligan '95, Kenny Mitchell '97, Keith Stanton '97 and, as usual, Gregg Frame '94 provided the Big Green (4-12) with the offensive sparks necessary for victory. At the other end of the floor, Sea Lonergan '97 held the nation's third leading scorer, Rob Feaster, in check throughout the contest.
Frame and Halligan in particular spotted holes in an over-committing Crusader (7-10) defense, often hitting their Dartmouth teammates and each other on cut-through passes for back-door lay-ups. Frame expected as much. "Our whole offense is based on spacing," the captain point guard explained.
Halligan knew he and Frame were capable of their recurring two-man offensive sets. "We have played together longer than most people on this team," the forward noted.
In this match-up, however, Frame also added an individual, penetrating dimension to Dartmouth's often perimeter-based offense. His numerous drives usually led to lay-ups or foul shots.
He often scored on such efforts, such as on a spectacular reverse late in the contest, or he set up dish-offs to, besides Halligan, Stanton, Lonergan and Jacob Capps '96, among others, for similar results. "He is getting comfortable with his teammates," Coach Dave Faucher said.
Freshmen substitutes Mitchell and Stanton provided sustained depth for the Big Green, especially in the first half. Mitchell's calm, intelligent decisions at the point enabled the hard-driving Frame to rest occassionally at off-guard or on the bench. His incisive passes often found Mitchell and once hit Brian Gilpin '97 for a thunderous first-half dunk. Stanton's rebounding keyed Dartmouth's efforts on the boards.
The Big Green's offense did not perform flawlessly. The Crusader defense repeatedly repelled Capps's drives to the basket with blocked shots. Also, with the exception of Stanton's performance, Dartmouth's height advantage did not help it much in rebounding.
Defensively, Lonergan shut down Feaster, who entered the game averaging 26.9 points a contest. Longergan frustrated Feaster who, heckled by the Dartmouth crowd after a missed dunk, played selfishly and came out often. "Sea did an excellent job," Mitchell said. "He just fought him," Faucher noted.
"The team defense played him pretty well, too," Halligan added.
Holy Cross lacked a consistent perimeter shooter to compensate for its star forward's atypical performance. The Crusaders' Gordon Hamilton possessed the necessary moves to create open shots, but he could not sink them. The Green had set up its defense accordingly. "We knew they did not have any solid outside threats," Frame said.
Dartmouth has now finally emerged as an Ivy League threat entering its weekend matchups with Brown and Yale. Faucher, while pleased, is careful not to overplay the significance of last night's victory. "It was just one game, but it keeps everybody smiling," the coach said.