Men's Basketball Drops Home Opener to Colgate, 65-60

Saturday, November 22

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

0-3

COLGATE

2-0

Colgate

Dartmouth

Men's Basketball Drops Home Opener to Colgate, 65-60

11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? Dartmouth took a six-point lead into the locker room at the intermission, but Colgate rallied for a 65-60 victory, spoiling the Big Green's home opener on Saturday evening at Leede Arena. The visiting Raiders improved to 2-0 on the season while Datmouth dropped its third straight to start the 2008-09 season.

Senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) ripped the nets for a game-high 24 points, hitting 9-of-14 from the floor for his second straight 20-point performance, and led all players with nine rebounds. Joining him in double figures was freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) with 10 points, all in the first half on the strength of two three-pointers.

Colgate featured a balanced scoring attack with Mike Venezia tallying 14 points, Yaw Gyawu coming off the bench to put up 13 and Alex Woodhouse scoring 12. As a team, the Raiders shot 52.4 percent (22-of-42) from the floor, while Dartmouth hit just 22-of-58 (.379).

Venezia and Ben Jonson both scored eight points in the opening half to help Colgate hold a four-point advantage at 24-20 with four minutes until the intermission. The Big Green went on a 12-2 run to finish the stanza, however, with Rufful capping the outburst with a three-pointer. Barnett scored 11 in the half on 5-of-8 shooting while Rufful had his 10 points.

The Big Green briefly boosted their lead to seven points shortly after the break thanks to a jumper by sophomore Ronnie Dixon (Danville, Ill.). But Colgate scored the next nine points, taking the lead for good on a Willie Morse three-pointer, making the score 36-34. After Barnett canned one of two foul shots, Morse canned another trey, followed by a layup and then a dunk by Woodhouse.

The lead got to as many as 11 points with 9:22 to play, then never wavered from seven to nine points until the final minute. Barnett scored eight points in a span of 18 seconds on the game clock during the final minute, and freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) nailed a three-pointer with 18 seconds to play to cut the deficit to four. Colgate would not succumb to the pressure, however, hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.

The Big Green continue their three-game homestand on Tuesday evening when they host the Furman Paladins at 7 p.m. Colgate also plays on Tuesday night when it takes on Kennesaw State in its home opener at 7:30 p.m.