As the Dartmouth College and University of Vermont men's basketball teams walked onto the court last night at Leede Arena, the game looked like a complete mismatch. Two hours later, Vermont had emerged victorious, 64-53 dropping Dartmouth's record to 3-12. But the contest had been a far cry from the mismatch many had anticipated. Dartmouth played a spirited game and Asa Palmer '98 poured in a career-high 15 points to keep the Big Green close.
UVM came into the game tied for first place in the America East Conference with a record of 10-6, including a 36-point victory over the Crusaders of Holy Cross who defeated the Big Green by one earlier in the year.
Besides the statistical edge, the Catamounts looked physically superior to the Big Green, as many of the Vermont players held several-inch advantages over their Dartmouth counterparts.
Despite all of this, Dartmouth jumped out early but had a difficult time contending Catamount senior Erik Nelson, who leads the team in points per game, rebounds per game, and blocks per game.
Nelson scored 10 points in the first half but the real story was the outside shooting of the Vermont backcourt.
Point guard David Roach continually found gaps in the defense and penetrated before dishing the ball off to the outside so that teammates Tobe Carberry and Tony Orciari could knock down a combined five treys in the opening stanza to give the Catamounts a 30-20 lead.
But Palmer stepped it up, dazzling the crowd with jump hooks amassing 11 points and leading the Big Green back to within one at the buzzer, 33-32.
At halftime, UVM head coach Tom Brennan accounted for Dartmouth's 10-5 edge in offensive rebounds in the first half by simply writing, "Who's tougher?" on the chalkboard.
"I challenged 'em. I needed to to keep our intensity up," he said.
The Catamounts answered the call by storming out of the locker room on a 10-3 run to give Vermont a comfortable lead.
Despite a valiant effort in the second half, Dartmouth would get no closer than six points for the rest of the night, eventually succumbing by 11.
Roach said the difference was the defensive intensity in the second half.
"We had to come out and play harder on defense, box out and concentrate on keeping [Palmer] off the boards," he said.
The Catamounts doubled-down a lot more in the second stanza freeing up open jump shots for the Dartmouth backcourt including P. J. Halas '98, but poor shooting plagued the team all night.
"I can't be upset about the poor shooting," said Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher. "No one misses shots on purpose."
This team needs to regroup for Saturday's showdown with Navy in Leede Arena. Palmer remains optimistic.
"We are improving with every game. Part of being a young team is knowing that each game is a learning experience," he said.
