Yes, yes, yes...no.
Dartmouth envisioned victory during both its games this weekend, but the men's basketball team narrowly lost to the two top-ranked squads in the Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.
The Big Green (7-15 overall, 3-7 Ivy Leauge) fell to the Quakers (19-2, 9-0) 77-67 Friday night in Leede Arena and the hosts succumbed Saturday to the Tigers (14-7 overall, 7-2 Ivies) 54-50.
Penn 77 Dartmouth 67
Despite the loss, Dartmouth did meet most of its objectives in the game against Penn. "We're proud of how hard we played," Big Green Coach Dave Faucher said. "Everything was there."
In particular, Faucher said the team played great defense. As hoped for, the Big Green slowed down the Quakers' vaunted running game. Dartmouth wanted to avoid any demoralizing runs of easy Penn lay-ups. "We did a pretty good job getting back," Faucher said.
Dartmouth also limited the damage from Penn's touted shooting attack. Quaker forward Barry Pierce went 4-for-14 from the field, and Penn as a team shot a horrid 4-for-20 (20 percent) from 3-point range.
Efforts by Brian Gilpin '97, Sea Lonergan '97, Gregg Frame '94 and Jamie Halligan '95 stood out for Dartmouth. Gilpin, newly christened a first-year "force" by Faucher, turned in a double-double performance. The Indiana center scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds while shooting 80 percent (4-for-5) from the field, including a Kareem-like running sky hook.
Lonergan, along with Penn's Matt Maloney, led all scorers with 20 points. Lonergan particularly found success from the left baseline, repeatedly hitting short jumpers and driving for lay-ups from that side. "We put in a new offense this week that does leave the corner open sometimes," Lonergan said.
In addition, Lonergan hit on four of five shots from 3-point territory. "He's fast," Faucher said, describing Lonergan. "He doesn't take long to get his shot off."
Lonergan also was responsible for bringing the ball up the court. Penn often picked up Frame, the point guard, full court, so Dartmouth had to improvise. "Penn knows Gregg handles the ball really well, so he immediately passed it over to me," Lonergan said.
Although he shot only 5-for-14, Frame, as always, repeatedly drove the lane, scoring on lay-ups or ensuing foul shots for 16 points. The point-man/post-man also added nine rebounds, three of them offensive.
Halligan played tentatively in the first half. He came on after the break to finish with 10 points and 11 boards, however, despite a 3-for-12 shooting effort.
Dartmouth's 25 turnovers, 16 by halftime, helped to dim the Big Green's bright spots, however. Most of the miscues came on questionable cross-court passes which Penn often picked off for lay-ups. "The disappointing thing was our turnovers," Faucher said. "We were a little careless."
The Big Green also committed a string of demoralizing fouls in the second half. Within striking distance at 42-36, Frame fouled a driving Jerome Allen, who then completed his lay-up and the following free throw. The situation repeated itself as a trailing Kenny Mitchell '97 fouled a scoring Maloney. The Penn guard's successful free throw upped the score to 48-36.
Maloney garnered most of his 20 points late in the game and, out of character for him, largely from inside the 3-point arc.
Junior Shawn Trice helped Penn survive its poor shooting night by pulling down 17 rebounds. In a typical Trice sequence midway through the first half, the forward missed on his undefended post move, grabbed the rebound, and scored on the put-back.
Princeton 54 Dartmouth 50
Dartmouth was just recovering from the Maloneys and Trices of the world when Princeton center Rick Hielscher began his reign of terror. The junior scored 24 points, almost all of them from inside the paint in the Tiger victory.
Gilpin again played forcefully for the Big Green, scoring 14 points and adding 11 rebounds. He picked up his fourth foul during the second half, however, and had to guard Hielscher less closely.
With his performance this weekend, Gilpin said he believed he arrived. "I've kind of asserted myself," the center said. "Our players are feeling more confident and are getting me more involved."
As withthe Penn contest, Dartmouth had several opportunities to break the game open, but failed to do so. At 43-43 with seven minutes left Princeton's Mike Brennan hit a three-pointer and Hielscher converted on a lay-up in rapid succession, leaving Dartmouth to play from behind once again.
The Big Green crawled back to within two points at 52-50 with 45 seconds left. After rotating the ball around the perimeter, Frame tried to feed Halligan inside with 10 seconds on the clock, but the ball slipped off the forward's hands into Princeton's
Although Princeton freshman star Sydney Johnson finished with only nine points, he shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, including the pressure-packed final two foul shots of the game which cemented the Tiger win.
The Big Green strayed from their original hopes for the game in several areas. Dartmouth had intended to quicken the tempo against Princeton, but the Big Green played into the Tigers' hands by habitually walking the ball up the court.
Dartmouth had hoped to use Frame as a scoring force in what it feared would be a low-scoring game. But Frame, while dishing out seven assists, only scored six points. He also committed five turnovers.
Next weekend against Cornell and Columbia, Dartmouth will have another chance to rectify its remaining problems. Can it do so? Yes, yes, yes ... yes.
