Dartmouth (0-3, 0-0 Ivy) came into its home opener riding a two-game losing streak, having lost in away contests against the University of Massachusetts Amherst and George Washington University. Colgate (1-1, 0-0 Patriot) was coming off of a tough loss against Stony Brook University in its own home opener, and was looking to spoil the Big Green's home opener.
Alex Barnett '09 led the way for the Big Green with 12 points in what was a low-scoring contest. Brian McMillan '08 grabbed seven rebounds and DeVon Mosley '09 dished out two assists to help the cause for the Big Green.
For the Red Raiders, junior Kendall Chones scored 14 points to lead all scorers in the game. His twin brother Kyle Chones grabbed eight boards, and junior Tim Pounds had two assists.
To begin the game, the Red Raiders grabbed the early lead. Midway through the first half, Colgate stretched its lead to 11 points. However, the Big Green did not let Colgate take a commanding lead in this game, cutting down the Colgate lead to five by halftime. Dartmouth played stingy defense and kept the score close, even though the Big Green was not shooting the ball particularly well, only firing 30.8 percent in the first half. Heading into the locker room, the score was 25-20.
Early in the second half, the Big Green looked as if it was going to mount a serious run. Behind the efforts of Jonathan Ball '08 and Dan Biber '09, Dartmouth managed to knot the game at 30 at the 15:37 mark. The Big Green hit four of its first five shots but could not maintain the run.
Dartmouth's shooting touch disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived, and over the next 10 minutes, Colgate went on a 17-4 run and stretched the lead to 13, effectively putting the game away. Dartmouth could never find a way to get back into the game, going 4-for-21 from the field and failing to sink a single shot from behind the arc.
Neither team was able to get its offense on track in this game. Dartmouth shot only 30.8 percent from the field for the game, while Colgate shot 42.9 percent. Three-point shooting was an even bigger issue for the Big Green, as Dartmouth only sank one out of 14 tries from beyond the arc for 7.1 percent shooting. Colgate was not much better, shooting 16.7 percent from three-point range.
Although it is said that the three-point line is making mid-range jumpers unimportant in basketball, they were crucial in this contest. The Red Raiders managed to sink enough 15-footers to make up for the fact that they consistently failed to score second chance points and only sank one three.
Free throw shooting continued to be an issue for the Big Green. The Red Raiders made more shots from the charity strip than the Big Green earned. Colgate was 18-for-24 from the free throw line, while Dartmouth went 10-for-13.
Dartmouth's bench production was also anemic. While the Colgate bench added 22 points, the Big Green could only muster 14.
The Big Green will be in action once again on Wednesday, when the team will take on Siena College (0-2, 0-0 Metro Atlantic) at Leede Arena. The Saints are coming off consecutive road losses against Stanford University and the College of the Holy Cross. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
