The men's basketball team continued its skid with a 71-60 loss to Maine last night at Leede Arena. The Big Green were slow out of the blocks and never recovered. After just more than five minutes of play, Dartmouth already trailed by 17-7.
Dartmouth Coach David Faucher blamed the team's offensive woes on turnovers. "To beat an athletic team like Maine," Faucher said, "you have to value the ball. As soon as you turn it over, you give them the opportunity to ... score again." He added that "carelessness" was a big factor in the loss.
Careless play was the deciding factor in the game. Dartmouth notched 24 turnovers to Maine's 11, obstructing the Big Green's cause early in the game. Three of Dartmouth's first six possessions resulted in steals, two of which Maine converted into deuces on the other end.
With the turnovers, Dartmouth staked Maine to an early lead, one that the Bears never relinquished.
Dartmouth forged comebacks several times, once charging to within one point at 26-25, but the Big Green could not come up with a large enough run to vault them over the top. The 26-25 deficit ballooned as Maine scored five unanswered points going into half-time.
In the second half, Dartmouth spun off an 11-3 run to close a 17-point margin to a workable nine with 3:01 remaining in the game.
But after that, the Big Green were forced to foul, allowing Maine to score on six of its last seven possessions of the game and ward off a come-from-behind victory by the Big Green.
One of the few glimmers of hope was the superb play of Brian Gilpin '97. A lone pine underneath the hoop, Gilpin played his part well, registering Dartmouth's first triple-double since December, 1993.
Gilpin scored 16 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and an blocked an astounding 10 shots, especially dominating in the first half in which he grabbed nine boards, scored eight points and swatted seven shots.
The Big Green also slammed down four dunks. Gilpin, Keith Stanton '97, Sea Lonergan '97 and Jamie Halligan '95 did the honors for Dartmouth, with all the jams coming in the second half.
The Big Green finished their homestand with a 2-4 record and will resume Ivy-League play this Friday at Cornell.
