Although the early winter season has given many talented freshmen the opportunity to gain experience, the team can't seem to muster the same offensive prowess as their opponents. Dartmouth is looking to improve its team chemistry in order to prepare for the fast-approaching Ivy League season, which begins with a matchup against Harvard University next weekend.
"Obviously we're pretty young so we're trying to build our team chemistry right now and focus on getting better every day," Gabas Maldunas '15 said.
Similar to last season, the team's freshmen are a huge contingent making up half the team. Connor Boehm '16, Kevin Crescenzi '16, Alex Mitola '16 and Tommy Carpenter '16 have all made it to the Big Green's starting lineup this week. Boehm has become a real asset on the court, improving from posting just 1.4 points per game in the first five contests to 11.2 per game in the six leading up to the contest against Colgate University this past Saturday. He has also led the team in rebounds for the majority of those games.
"Boehm has really gotten into it," Maldunas said. "He's found a way to get better."
Despite an impressive performance by Boehm who scored a season-high 24 points Dartmouth again fell short against Boston College. Although Dartmouth has generally struggled during the first half of play this season, only once taking a lead into halftime, the Big Green sprung out of the gate against the Eagles (8-6, 0-1 ACC). In the first 20 minutes, Dartmouth set season highs in field goals, FG percentage and three-point percentage, steals and points.
Despite hitting these marks, the Big Green also hit another high most points allowed in the first half, with 41 points for Boston College (8-6, 0-1 ACC). An incredible series of three-pointers for the Eagles led Dartmouth into double digit deficits for most of the second half and ended in a 58-79 loss for the Big Green.
The team's sole victory during winter break was against Longwood University on Dec. 1, in which Dartmouth dominated, 61-53. A sensational 16-0 run by the Big Green was the highlight of the game, starting with a triple from John Golden '15. Gabas Maldunas '15 continued the run with a layup and Mitola gave Dartmouth its first lead of the half with a three-pointer. The exciting series of plays finished with Carpenter setting up Captain Matt LaBove '13 for a layup and a steal by Malik Gill '16 that led to another layup by Carpenter. Solid defense in both halves by the Big Green sealed their victory over the Lancers.
"We need to work on putting two full halves together," Tyler Melville '14 said. "We have yet to play a full game to our potential, and once we are able to do that we will turn some heads."
Dartmouth's most recent performance against Colgate was another stumbling block as the team fell short against the Raiders by 16 points. An impressive performance by captain Jvonte Brooks '15, who matched his career high of 18 points, was not enough to stop the Raiders' dynamic offense. Colgate managed to hit 10 of 13 three-pointers, spoiling Dartmouth's first game back in Hanover in six weeks. Although the Big Green traded shots with Colgate for the first seven and a half minutes of the game, Colgate quickly took control with their impressive long-range shooting ability.
Dartmouth has struggled offensively in the last few seasons, finishing among the bottom 10 in the country in scoring the past three years. Although the Big Green has struggled, Brooks said that the team has made positive progress in games over break.
"Playing and winning on the road at this level is not easy, that's for sure," Brooks said. "But there are definitely a lot of positives and people are learning their roles."
Dartmouth faces Army at Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Leede Arena and opens the Ivy League season on Saturday against Harvard, also at home.
"We believe we are close to turning this program around," Melville said. "We seem to have the necessary pieces, but we need to find a way to put them all together and I believe we are on the verge of doing so."
