Rally Runs Out of Time in Loss at Lehigh

Thursday, December 17

Bethlehem, Pa.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

2-7

Lehigh

4-5

Dartmouth

Lehigh

12/17/2009 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A Dartmouth rally from 20 points down in the final 10 minutes went for naught as host Lehigh (4-5) held off the Big Green (2-7) for a 66-58 victory on Thursday evening at Stabler Arena. Marquis Hall had 17 points — all in the second half — to lead the Mountain Hawks, while six-foot senior Robby Pride led four Dartmouth players in double figures with 13 points while snaring a career-high nine rebounds.

Dartmouth freshman center Matt LaBove came off the bench to register his first career double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while fellow rookie R.J. Griffin tallied 11 and junior Ronnie Dixon added 10.

The Big Green fell behind by 20 points in the second half after Hall scored 13 points in a four-minute stretch, part of an 18-6 Mountain Hawk run. Michael Ojo, who finished the game with 14 points, capped the run with a pair of free throws to make it 52-32 with 12:23 remaining.

Pride put Dartmouth on the comeback trail by drilling the first three-pointer for the Green with just under 10 minutes to play. But even with his second triple with seven minutes left, Dartmouth still trailed by 16 at 58-42. But that three did start a 9-1 burst featuring jumpers by junior Clive Weeden and Griffin, and capped by two LaBove free throws, cutting the deficit to 11 with 4:37 on the clock.

Two minutes later, LaBove got the Green within single digits as he canned a short jumper to make it 62-53. And when Griffin rained a three down with 1:07 to play, Dartmouth found itself within six points. But Lehigh knocked down each of its last four free throws while the Big Green managed just a single Griffin 16-footer from the left baseline before the clock expired.

The Dartmouth defense proved to be formidable, holding the Mountain Hawks to just 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the floor and winning the battle on the boards with 43 rebounds compared to 35 for Lehigh. The difference in the game came at the free throw line where Lehigh converted 24-of-29, compared to just 9-of-14 for the Big Green.

Defense ruled the first 15 minutes of the game as Lehigh held a 17-14 lead. Lehigh missed its first seven shots of the game and was just 5-of-25 (20 percent) through those first 15 minutes. But beginning with an Ojo layup, the Moutain Hawks hit six of their final seven shots of the half while embarking on a 17-8 run to take a 12-point lead at 34-22 into the locker room.

Turnovers proved problematic in the first half again for the Big Green, giving the ball away 10 times. In addition, their outside shooting was off the mark, missing all nine three-point attempts. The long-range sights were on target in the second half, however, as they hit all three shots from behind the arc.

Dartmouth next plays at New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Lehigh also plays on Sunday, at Saint Joseph's at 7 p.m.