Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreaker at Army

Saturday, December 22

West Point, N.Y.

1:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

5-6

Army

6-5

Dartmouth

Army

12/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Boxscore

WEST POINT, N.Y. ? Despite a game-high 20 points from junior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) the Dartmouth men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to Army as the Big Green fell to the Black Knights, 59-56, on Saturday afternoon.

Barnett was 7-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Senior captain Johnathan Ball (Memphis, Tenn.) added 13 points with nine coming in the second half, along with a game-high eight boards.

For the Black Knights (6-5), Doug Williams poured in a team-high 15 points with 14 of them coming in the first half. Jarell Brown netted 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Barnett gave Dartmouth (5-6) a quick 5-2 lead with a 3-pointer from the left corner, but Army answered with baskets from Williams and Kenny Brewer, including a three-point play from Brewer with 17:05 remaining in the half.

Dartmouth regained the lead at 10-7 with 15:45 left on a deep 3-pointer from sophomore Brandon Ware (Dallas, Texas). The Black Knights fired back with a tray of their own by Brown to even the score at 10-10.

Army took its largest lead at 17-11, but Barnett single handily brought the Big Green back with two consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game at 17-17 with 8:50 remaining. Barnett netted a game-high 13 first half points. Barnett was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the opening half.

The Black Knights built up a 23-18 lead with 6:55 left in the half. Senior Michael Giovacchini (Salt Lake City, Utah) helped Dartmouth recover as he converted a three-point play and junior DeVon Mosley (Mesquite, Texas) hit two free throws to knot the score at 23-23. Both Giovacchini and Mosley collected five points in the first half.

Just as Dartmouth was looking to takeover the game, the Black Knights fought back and went into the half with a narrow 34-33 lead.

Both teams had trouble taking care of the ball in the half as the Black Knights committed 10 first half turnovers, while Dartmouth had eight of its own.

In the second half, Army scored a quick four points to take a 38-33 lead at the 18:55 mark, but both teams struggled for the next three minutes as each team failed to score.

After 5:45 without a basket to open the half, Dartmouth went on a 14-3 run to open its biggest lead of the game at 45-41 with 10:05 remaining in the game. Ball posted eight of the 14 points during the run.

Like Dartmouth in the first half, Army came charging following the run and with 2:05 remaining Marcus Nelson hit running lay-up to tie the score at 54-54. Nelson gave Army the led with a couple of free throws with 58 seconds remaining.

Barnett cut the lead to 58-56 with a lay-up after a scramble with 22 seconds left. Brown hit one-of-two free throws for Army to give the Black Knights a 59-56 lead and with 1.4 seconds left and the ball, but the Big Green missed the final shot as the Black Knights defeated the Big Green 59-56.

The Big Green will be back on the road for its final game of a three-game road trip as Dartmouth travels to Siena on Monday, December 31, for a 2 p.m. tip-off.