The Big Green used "40 minutes of relentlessness" to sweep Patriot League opponents Colgate and Lafayette in their opening two games of the season over the weekend. Dartmouth was able to neutralize Colgate center Adonal Foyle to gain a 67-54 victory before blowing out Lafayette 71-50 on Sunday afternoon.
Junior Guard P.J. Halas' three-pointer with 9:30 left in the first half helped to build a 33-23 lead late in the first half against the Red Raiders before Colgate climbed back into it to send make the score 33-29 at the break.
Even though he struggled throughout the half offensively, Foyle's presence was felt as Big Green shooters were constantly adjusting shots so not to be blocked by the dominating center who came up with 4 blocked shots in the first half alone. But the poor shooting was compensated for by the outstanding play of the Dartmouth post players, center Brian Gilpin '97 and forward Keith Stanton '97. The two were able to nullify Foyle offensively while Stanton pulled down nine of his game high 12 rebounds in the first half.
Dartmouth opened the second half by taking away Foyle in every aspect of the game, most importantly on offense, allowing the All-American only two field goal attempts in the first 11 minutes of the second half. Asa Palmer '98 came off the bench and scored six quick points to contribute to a 23-8 spurt that put the game away. Guard Sea Lonergan '97 scored seven of his team high 16 points during the run.
Colgate was limited to 35 percent shooting on the evening as consistent double teams in the post and tough perimeter defense by Lonergan and Kenny Mitchell '97 made the points hard to come by.
"Our game plan was to double Foyle and not be scared by him," Coach Dave Faucher said. "I was very happy with our defensive intensity and the way we rebounded and battled. That is the identity we want for our program."
Against Lafayette, the Big Green came out firing on all cylinders to put away a very young Leopard team early. Taking advantage of heavy defensive pressure that forced numerous turnovers, Dartmouth jumped out to a 27-6 lead early on as Lonergan scored the team's first nine points of the contest. The Big Green couldn't blow the game open though as their ballhandling became very sloppy, allowing the Leopard to close the margin to ten points at the end of the first half.
In a scene identical to the one two nights earlier, the team came out in the second half to bury the Leopards. When Lafayette's 6'11" center Stefan Ciocisi left the game with four fouls two minutes into the half, the Big Green decided to let Gilpin take over against the Leopards smaller lineup as he scored the team's next eight points on his way to a game-high 20.
"We have a senior team that knows how to read defenses and exploit weaknesses," Gilpin said. "When we saw the Ciocisi had left the game in foul trouble, they tried to get me the ball inside and we were able to score some quick points."
Once again, the defense throughout the game terrorized Lafayette as they only managed to hit 33 percent of their shots, including a dismal 1-17 performance from behind the three point line.
The only weakness the team showed during the impressive sweep was an inability to put teams away after taking big leads.
"Offensively we shot 57 percent so the shooting wasn't a problem, but we got careless with the ball and that really slowed us down," Faucher said. "We need to be more disciplined and take care of the ball when we get out to big leads."
The team will take to the road this weekend, taking on Wagner in the opening round of the Summit Bank Classic in Jersey City, N.J.
"This was a very solid weekend for us but we need to use this momentum in the tournament this weekend to see how we stand on the road against a good Wagner team," Faucher said.
