Dartmouth Athletics Recap of Big Red Victory in Hanover

Three-Point Barrage Sends Dartmouth to Defeat Against Cornell, 75-57
DartmouthSports.com

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth got 19 points and nine rebounds from senior star forward Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.), but Cornell launched a barrage of three-pointers in the second half to pick up a 75-57 victory on the road at Leede Arena on Friday evening. Ryan Wittman had 20 points and hit 4-of-5 behind the arc to lead the Big Red (19-8, 9-2 Ivy) to help put some space between them and the rest of the Ivy League. The loss dropped Dartmouth (8-17, 6-5 Ivy) from a tie for second into a tie for fourth in the league standings. Joining Wittman in double figures were Louis Dale with 14, and Jeff Foote and Chris Wroblewski with 11 apiece. Wroblewski was about as deadly from deep as Wittman with a trio of triples in five attempts. For the fourth time this year, Barnett finished one rebound shy of a double-double. On a night when he was honored for becoming the 25th Big Green player to score 1,000 points in his career, Barnett was 7-of-15 shooting the ball while handing out four of the team’s six assists. His 19 points bring his career total to 1,321, moving him into ninth all-time on the Dartmouth scoring charts.

Sophomore Ronnie Dixon (Danville, Ill.) was the only other Dartmouth player to score in double figures with 12 points, while sophomore Clive Weeden (Stow, Mass.) snared a career-high eight rebounds on the boards. Cornell enjoyed an eight-point lead at the half, 33-25, but the Big Green cut that deficit down to three a little more than five minutes into the final period. But a Wroblewski three-pointer was followed by a two Adam Gore triples to quickly boost the advantage to 12. Free throws from Barnett and freshman David Rufful (Warwick, R.I.) got Dartmouth back within single digits, but Wittman responded with back-to-back trifectas. After Rufful shot back with his own three-pointer, Wroblewski drilled another from downtown for a 55-41 advantage. All told, Cornell drained six three-pointers for 18 points in a span of barely five minutes, and the Big Green never got closer than 12 the rest of the way. The Big Red not only shot an even 50 percent from the floor (26-of-52), but a sizzling 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from long range. Seven of those threes came in the decisive second half. Meanwhile, Dartmouth could not find its shooting touch, going just 18-of-52 (.346) overall and 5-19 (.263) behind the arc. At the free throw line, the Big Green right around their season average at 64 percent (16-of-25). Rebounding was a Big Green strength in the first half with a 19-15 edge. But Cornell hit the boards hard in the second half with 20 to Dartmouth’s 12 for an overall advantage of 35-31 on the boards. Dartmouth led early in the game, jumping out to a six-point lead at 13-7 following a three-pointer from Dixon. The Big Red scored the next seven points to take a lead, but Barnett drilled a trey for the last lead of the night for the Big Green. Runs of 9-2 and 8-0 in the opening stanza allowed Cornell to open up the eight-point lead at the half. Dartmouth will honor the 1958-59 team on the 50th anniversary of its Ivy League crown as it tries to avenge its loss at Columbia two weeks ago when the Big Green host the Lions tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Cornell tips off tomorrow night as well at Harvard at 7 p.m.