After building a nine-point halftime lead over the University of Hartford Hawks on Tuesday night, the Dartmouth men's basketball squad succumbed to a slower-paced, inside-oriented game in the second half before losing in overtime, 67-65.
The Big Green (7-10) came into the ballgame riding high from a 77-56 victory over Albany last Friday. The team continued its strong play in the first half last night, draining shot after shot from the perimeter.
Greg Friel '03 led the way for Dartmouth with 10 points before the intermission on three-of-four shooting from three-point territory.
But as the second half got underway, Hartford (7-12) was determined to shift gears and play at a tempo more suitable to its style of play.
Sophomore forward Deon Saunders, who tied with teammate Pierre Johnson for a game-high 18 points, routinely created his own shot with nifty drives to the hoop in Hartford's half-court offense. Saunders even had an opportunity to win the game at the end of regulation with a baseline floater, but the shot came up short and Dartmouth center Brendan Herbert '04 swatted the rebound away before Hartford could get another chance.
With overtime looming, Dartmouth was struggling to find its offensive rhythm. The team had shot 41.4 percent from the field in the first half on its way to a sizeable halftime advantage, but the Big Green made only 7 of 23 (30.4 percent) attempts from the floor in the second half as Hartford slowly clawed its way back into the ballgame.
With 1:20 left in the extra period, Vedad Osmanovic '02 committed his fifth foul, which allowed Hartford point guard Wayne McClinton to convert one of two free throws for a 64-60 advantage. Dartmouth countered 22 seconds later when junior Charles Harris sank his first field goal of the game from the baseline to trim the Hawks' lead to two.
Saunders grabbed a rebound after a miss and was fouled. He sank both free throws to put Hartford up by four points. Next, Big Green captain Flinder Boyd '02 drove the length of the court and spotted up from 25-feet away to nail a huge three-pointer, which brought Dartmouth to within one.
Hartford's Josh Odugbela subsequently hit one of two free throws after being fouled by Herbert.
Dartmouth had one last gasp as a full-court pass was knocked out of bounds by a Hartford defender with 0:00.4 showing on the clock. Coach Dave Faucher designed an in-bounds play from the left side that set up Harris for an alley-oop, but Callahan's pass ricocheted off the backboard into the waiting arms of Friel who quickly put up a 10-foot shot before the buzzer sounded. Although on line, the shot came up short and with it, Dartmouth's chances of victory fell by the way side.
"It was one of those games where they were wearing us down athletically inside, and their offensive rebounds mounted up," Coach Faucher said. "[Hartford] tried to punch the ball inside, and we didn't shoot the ball well enough in the second half to counteract their inside strength. It was a game that got away."
Faucher added, "I thought the game was decided during some of the bad possessions we had coming down the stretch. They decided to slow the game down, which disrupted our offensive rhythm."
Despite the loss, Dartmouth swingman Greg Friel netted a career-high 15 points on five-of-eight shooting. Friel came up big against Hartford, as he hit four three-pointers and added another bucket after being fouled hard late in the second half.
Hartford also attempted to keep the ball out of Boyd's hands, which opened the door for freshman guard Steve Callahan to have a big night. Callahan handled the ball flawlessly in the backcourt and added 10 points on 50 percent shooting from the field.
The men's team returns to action Feb. 1 with a home date against Ivy League-rival Yale.
