Gamecenter: Penn 53, Dartmouth 51

Posted on by Bruce Wood in Dartmouth, Gamecenter, Ivy League, Penn
1st 2nd Final
Penn (3-14, 2-1 Ivy) 35 18 53
Dartmouth (4-15, 0-5 Ivy) 30 21 51
Leede Arena, Hanover, NH
Attendance – 782		 Boxscore
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence After a put-back by Dan Monckton gave Penn a 53-47 lead with 4:15 remaining, both teams had a pair of empty possessions. Monckton then came free for a back-door-layup that would have given the Quakers an eight-point lead with 3:22 remaining if it had fallen, which it did not. Dartmouth’s Ronnie Dixon made the miss hurt when he scored at the other end on a baseline drive to make it 53-49 with 2:55 left. Two Penn turnovers later it was the Big Green’s David Rufful converting on the left baseline to make it a 53-51 game with 1:28 left. When a Monckton jumper and Jack Eggleston put-back failed to go down, possession reverted to Dartmouth with 54 seconds remaining. At that point, the Quakers ratcheted up the defense, holding Dartmouth without a shot until the Big Green was forced to call a timeout with two seconds left on the shot clock. A desperation lob and off-balance shot with 18 seconds left kept the two-point margin and set up the end-game drama.
Key sign it was over After Jack Eggleston front-rimmed the only missed free throw of the night for Penn on the front end of a one-and-one with 16.9 seconds left and the Quakers up two, Mbiyimoh Gogomu rebounded for Dartmouth. Then more good Penn defense. The Big Green couldn’t get off a shot until Jabari Trotter put up a forced 3-pointer with five seconds left. David Rufful grabbed the weak-side rebound for Dartmouth and put up a shot that missed. Two taps that failed to fall later the drama was over and at least one Dartmouth player was prone on the floor, not believing the frantic final flurry came up empty.
Key performance While Zack Rosen had his usual strong game with 16 points and five rebounds (along with five turnovers) the Quakers got an unexpected contribution from senior forward Justin Reilly, who contributed a season-high eight points in just 11 minutes off the bench. He hit 4-of-5 shots from the field and scored six of his points in the first 20 minutes to give Penn a halftime lead for just the third time this winter.
Key statistic Penn shot a terrific 66.7 percent from the field in the first half (12-for-18) before slumping to 27.3 percent (6-for-22) in the second.
 
Notes

– Penn has won back-to-back games for the first time this year, and for the first time in the career of interim coach Jerome Allen.

– The game pitted two interim coaches against each other: Allen and Dartmouth’s Mark Graupe.

– Dartmouth shot 46.4 percent from the field in the first half (13-for-28) but slipped to 27.6 percent in the second (8-for-29). The Big Green finished at 36.8 percent in the game, the 14th time in 18 Division I games it has failed to hit 40 percent.

– Penn missed just one free throw in 13 attempts – it’s last one.

– The Quakers had been swept by Dartmouth last year for the first time since 1959, the Big Green’s last Ivy League-championship season.

– Ronnie Dixon had 17 points for Dartmouth, a season high and one point off his career high. David Rufful also had 17 for the Big Green.

– Penn came into the game having turned the ball over just 12 times in its last three halves, dating back to halftime at Yale. The Quakers made 17 turnovers against Dartmouth.

– The Big Green had 11 assists and 10 turnovers, just the second time it has had a plus-ratio against Division I competition this winter.

– Dartmouth did not have much of an offensive presence in the post as center Clive Weeden did not score and freshman Matt LaBove sat out the game while dealing with the after-effects of food poisoning.

– While Penn’s Jack Eggleston was just 1-for-7 from the field, he led both teams with nine rebounds and tied for the game high with three assists.

– Penn visits Harvard Saturday night while Dartmouth plays host to Princeton.

Bruce Wood

Bruce Wood wrote 37 posts

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