Following Monday night's 59-57 loss on the road at Army, the Big Green find themselves scratching their heads and looking for answers.
After starting the year 11-3, Dartmouth has dropped its last two contests and has hit the lowest point of the season at the worst time possible, as they head into the final games of Ivy League play.
"Since the holidays, we haven't been as sharp as we should be or can be," Co-Captain Sea Lonergan '97 said. "We need to get together and figure out what is wrong so that we can get back to playing the way we should be."
The Big Green was not sharp against Army as they could not find the basket, converting on only 37 percent of their shots on the game. The defense was there as they limited the Black Knights to 41percent shooting, but on the road it just wasn't enough.
Dartmouth shooting troubles started early in the first half, but it still enjoyed a 23-22 halftime lead.
"By shooting only 31 percent in the first half we let them hang around when we could have taken a bigger lead," Head Coach Dave Faucher said. "Army is a good team especially at home and with our poor shooting we gave them a way to win. We played good defense and rebounded well but our shooting killed us."
Army came out of the locker room and recaptured the lead behind the strong play of senior forward Chris Glowe, who scored 15 of his team high 22 points in the second half to give the Knights a seven point lead midway through the half.
However, Lonergan wouldn't let the Big Green go quietly as he picked up his game, scoring 13 of the team's final 17 points, including 11 points in a row at one point. His free throws with 4:22 remaining in the contest evened the game at 49-49 and three minutes later, he gave the Big Green their last lead of the game, 55-54, with a driving layup off the glass.
In the end though, the Black Knights were too tough on their own floor. Army took a 56-55 advantage on George Tatum's layup with 39.7 seconds left, and although it seemed as if Dartmouth had recovered with a Keith Stanton '97 tip-in off of a Brian Gilpin '97 miss at the other end of the floor , Stanton was called for an offensive foul.
Army's Jason Wands connected on both free throws to extend the lead to three points, which was vital because on the ensuing trip down the floor, Gilpin's short putback brought the Big Green to within one, 58-57.
After a Dartmouth foul, Black Knight junior Jamie Uptgraft hit the front end of a one and one with six seconds left to keep the Big Green's hopes alive but Dartmouth was unable to get off a shot in the final seconds, giving Army a 59-57 win while handing the Big Green their first loss to a Patriot League opponent in five games.
Lonergan finished the game with 22 points for the Big Green while Gilpin tossed in 16. The rest of the team struggled as no other player scored over five points, although senior point guard Kenny Mitchell '97 did dish off six assists.
"If you look at the games we lost including this one, they have been close battles on the road," Faucher said. "Once we get into Ivy League play this weekend, every game is going to be a battle because of the rivalries and the scouting. We need to find a way to win the close games the rest of the season."
