Saturday the Dartmouth men's basketball team ended its non-conference schedule with an impressive win over Navy 59-48, as the Big Green outscored the Midshipmen 40-21 in the second half to overcome an eight point deficit at the break.
Sea Lonergan '97 scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half to lead the comeback.
"We played very loosely and effectively in the second half," Dartmouth Coach Dave Faucher said after the game. "It was a good win because they are such a good team."
Navy is currently atop the Patriot league.
The contest had a sluggish start. In fact it was not until 3:40 into the game that Kenny Mitchell's '97 driving lay-up broke the 0-0 tie.
Although shots were not falling for the Big Green who shot 32 percent (8-25) from the floor in the first half, Faucher was not worried.
"I wasn't disappointed with our opportunities," Faucher said. "I just told my guys to keep doing what we do."
And as a team, Dartmouth responded. The Big Green went on an 11-4 run to open the second half but were still down by two with just over 10 minutes in regulation.
That was when Dartmouth set loose an air attack on the Annapolis Middies.
Three pointers from P.J. Halas '98, Jacob Capps '96 and Rob Davis '99 highlighted a 17-6 run that left the Big Green with an eight point lead and 4:15 to play.
Dartmouth currently ranks 21st in the nation for 3-point percentage at 40.1 percent.
At the other end, Dartmouth set up a naval-barricade defense, holding the squids to just seven points in the final 10 minutes.
Keith Stanton '97 dominated the paint in last four minutes, grabbing three monster rebounds, preventing any second shot attempts by Navy.
"Coach told Keith to get every rebound when he put him in with five to go," co-Captain Capps said. "And you know what, he did".
The Big Green's defense caused Navy to hurl up a paltry 22 percent from the floor in the second half.
Behind Lonergan's 7-11 sharp shooting, Dartmouth torpedoed Navy, shooting over 52 percent in the second half.
"This win feels so good because we showed ourselves that if we hang tough we can come from behind," Capps said. "This was our coming-out party."
Lonergan, who had 20 points and four rebounds on the day, said, "In the second half we came out and showed everyone what Dartmouth basketball really looks like."
The victory, the men's fourth in their last five games, improved the Big Green to 10-6 (3-1 Ivy) while Navy fell to 9-9.
Dartmouth hits the road next weekend to face Brown and Yale. The men's final 10 regular season games are all Ivy league match-ups.
