When asked what it is like to have to play Princeton and Pennsylvania on consecutive nights on the road, men's basketball coach Dave Faucher responded, "Have you ever had your wisdom teeth out?"
At least dentists use Novocain, a service neither Princeton nor Penn provided. Dartmouth was outmatched and outplayed two nights in a row, falling to Princeton, 69-39, and to Penn, 71-51.
Beginning the Ivy League's toughest road trip this weekend with a 1-8 record certainly did not prove to be a confidence booster for the Big Green, a team in desperate need of one.
"We were struggling coming in," Faucher said, "and this trip certainly wasn't a cure."
Princeton 69 Dartmouth 39
Princeton entered Friday night's game with a deceptive 6-5 record, and was determined to send a message to the league in its Ivy opener. Led by senior forward Chris Mooney, the Tigers jumped out early behind great shooting and tough defense.
Down 29-12 midway through the first half, Seamus Lonergan '97 led the Big Green on a 10-5 run to cut the score to 34-22 in the closing minute of the half. Dartmouth captain Gregg Frame '94 had secured a rebound and it seemed like Dartmouth would have a chance to get within ten- that is until Chris Doyal practically jumped on Frame's back, and ripped the ball away. No foul was called, Doyal hit the layup, and Faucher was called for a technical foul for stepping onto the court. Just like that it was 37-22.
Dartmouth would never get any closer, as Princeton continued to hit shots and play good defense, while Dartmouth did not. The Tigers shot 55% compared to the Big Green's 33%-a disparity that accounted for the bulk of the 30 points that separated the two teams.
Lonergan led the team with 11 points, and Kenny Mitchell '97 and Keith Stanton '97 contributed as well.
Pennsylvania 71 Dartmouth 51
After the pasting they had taken only one night earlier, it would have been easy for Dartmouth to come out sluggish against a Penn team that is getting attention from national pollsters and entered the game 8-1 overall, with that one loss to Big Ten power Ohio State by three points.
But rather than be intimidated by Penn's 16-game Ivy win streak, the Big Green came out firing. Dartmouth hit its first eight shots, and combined with some big defensive stops, led the utterly shocked Quakers 16-12 with about thirteen minutes to play in the first half.
Sooner or later Dartmouth was bound to miss, and unfortunately it was sooner. After hitting those first eight shots, the Big Green made only two of their next 16. Penn snapped out if its funk, started playing its typical out-of-this-league hoops, and by the end of the first half had pushed ahead to a 38-23 advantage.
Led again by the likes of Mitchell and Stanton, Dartmouth kept the score somewhat respectable in the late going, but the athleticism and skill of the Penn players prevented the Big Green from making another run.
