Men’s Basketball Opens Ivy Campaign With Narrow, 56-54 Loss At Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H.—The Harvard men’s basketball team opened Ivy League play Saturday night with a chance to distance itself from a dismal performance in the nonconference portion of its schedule.

Instead, all the Crimson (1-12, 0-1 Ivy) got was another gut-wrenching loss as it fell 56-54 to Dartmouth at Leede Arena.

Junior guard Kevin Rogus—Harvard’s leading scorer and three-point shooter—had a chance to win the game for the Crimson, but his step-back three-pointer with nine seconds remaining clanged off the front rim.

The Big Green (3-7, 1-0) pulled away from Harvard late in the game behind center David Gardner, who scored six of Dartmouth’s final eight points, including two put-backs.

The 6’10 Gardner had seven of the Big Green’s 11 offensive rebounds—including six of Dartmouth’s eight in the second half—and scored 11 of his 12 points after halftime.

“When we reinserted Gardner, he became a real presence in the game with his put-backs, his defensive rebounding and throwing it to him with the game on the line,” Big Green coach Dave Faucher said.

Gardner found room to operate after Crimson sophomore forward Matt Stehle got into foul trouble early in the second half. Stehle picked up his third foul just 1:33 after halftime and then had to take a seat on the bench after committing his fourth only 1:12 later.

Stehle returned with 7:36 to go in the game, but fouled out after 1:39.

Without Stehle, Harvard coach Frank Sullivan turned to a four-guard alignment to counter the Big Green’s quickness for much of the game’s final five minutes.

“They play four perimeter players and one post player,” Sullivan said. “So the decision had to be made at that point to stay with [forwards] Zach [Martin] or Luke [McCrone] as a perimeter player as a four, or go small and just try to get some defensive stops. At that point, the decision was, ‘Let’s try to get some stops here, contain the dribble better.’”

The Crimson, fresh off its first win of the season Tuesday at San Jose State, reeled off an early 14-4 run to build a 20-8 lead, but it could have been even bigger. Harvard forced Dartmouth to commit 10 first-half turnovers, but only converted them into a single point.

Meanwhile, the Big Green immediately responded to the Crimson spurt with eight consecutive points of its own before a three-pointer by freshman guard Jim Goffredo gave Harvard a 23-16 advantage with 9:43 to play in the half.

But that was the Crimson’s final field goal of the half, as Harvard missed its final 13 shots from the floor before halftime while Dartmouth claimed its first lead since the game’s opening minute at 29-28 heading into the break.

The Crimson shot 30.2 percent from the field on the game, including a 0-for-6 performance from behind the arc in the second half.

Rogus led all scorers with 18 points and hit all nine of his free throws, while freshman guard Leon Pattman helped the Big Green break an eight-game losing streak against Harvard by slashing his way to a team-high 16 points, including 11 in the first half.

“He’s very tough off the dribble,” Sullivan said. “He’s got that quick first step…He’s one of the best young players in the league. That’s for sure.”

The Crimson had seven assists—including four of sophomore point guard Michael Beal’s five—in the first half against seven turnovers, but managed just three more after halftime while turning the ball over 10 times.

Neither team scored a single fast-break point all game.

Saturday, Dartmouth comes to Cambridge for the rematch.

“Next week will be a freakin’ war. I’ll tell you that right now,” Faucher said. “It will be an absolute war.”

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.