Sunday, January 9, 2011

Harvard 68, Dartmouth 53: Quick Thoughts

This time, the Crimson did more than just survive and advance.

Dartmouth used an 8-0 run to cut Harvard's 17-point lead to nine with 9:31 left, but a Laurent Rivard three pushed the margin back to 12, and the Big Green would get no closer the rest of the way.

Harvard held Dartmouth to nine points over the game's first 14 minutes, but the Big Green got 10 quick points to cut the deficit to 25-19 with three to go in the first half. Dartmouth trailed by just eight as the first half ticked down, but Rivard nailed a trifecta with six seconds left to give the Crimson a 32-21 lead at the intermission.


Harvard and Dartmouth will meet again, at Lavietes Pavilion, in two weeks.

OBSERVATIONS

  • Harvard shot 66 eFG% in the second half and 58% for the game. The Crimson struggled from three, but scored 28 points in the paint, mostly on layups and dunks.
  • The Crimson turned the ball over 10 times on 31 second-half possessions, about the only thing Harvard did wrong offensively during a strong final 20 minutes.
  • Keith Wright posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Wright had nine defensive boards as part of a dominating 84 percent team defensive rebounding effort.
  • Oliver McNally had another understated strong performance with 12 points on 66% eFG shooting.
  • Dartmouth grabbed 71 percent of the defensive boards, despite only getting three rebounds from players taller than 6'5. Swingman Gedimas Bertasius and guard David Rufful led the Big Green with six and five rebounds, respectively.
  • After shooting 35 eFG% in the first half, Dartmouth stayed in the game by shooting 58 eFG% after the intermission, including 4-of-8 from three.
  • Rufful lit up the stat sheet for the Big Green, adding 16 points to those five rebounds along with an assist and a steal.
  • The two teams combined for just 21 bench points with Rivard leading the way with eight for Harvard and Tyler Melville chipping in six for Dartmouth.

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