Columbia (11-14) At Dartmouth (8-17)
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GAME NOTES: A couple of teams with identical Ivy League records go at each other tonight at Leede Arena in Hanover, New Hampshire, as the Dartmouth Big Green hosts the Columbia Lions. After having been abused by non-conference opponents this season (2-12), the Big Green have had a bit of a resurgence with six wins in 11 attempts versus the rest of the Ancient Eight. However, last night Dartmouth was taken down rather easily by league-leading Cornell in a 75-57 final at home. The defeat snapped a two-game win streak by the Big Green. As for the Lions, they too were in action less than 24 hours ago and also suffered a setback, a 72-63 verdict to Harvard in Cambridge. The defeat was the second straight for Columbia which owns a poor 3-8 mark on the road in 2008-09. The Lions now lead the all-time series between these two programs by a 102-93 count, with Columbia having picked up a 65-52 win in the first meeting of the season between the squads just over two weeks ago.
Columbia led the meeting with the Crimson by three points early on Friday night, but in a game that saw six ties and nine lead changes, the Lions simply could not keep pace down the stretch. Noruwa Agho was credited with a team- high 13 points, hitting 3-of-6 shots behind the three-point line, while Niko Scott tacked on 12 points by making both of his three-point tries and 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. As someone who has come off the bench in half of the 18 games in which he has appeared for the Lions, Patrick Foley stands as the only double-digit scorer at the moment with his 11.6 ppg. A keen shooter at the free-throw line at 83.3 percent, Foley has had his problems beyond the arc where he is a mere 6-of-29 (.207). The team as a whole has seen better days from three-point range, converting only 31.9 percent over the course of 25 games thus far.
Against the best team in the Ivy League again this season, the Big Green didn't have much of a prayer as it bowed to Cornell at home last night by 18 points. Nevertheless, Alex Barnett refused to go down without a fight, putting up 19 points and clearing nine rebounds for the home team, adding four assists, three steals and a blocked shot as well in the setback. Backup Ronnie Dixon appeared as the only other double-digit scorer with his 12 points in 23 minutes of work. Shooting 5-of-19 beyond the arc and 16-of-25 at the free- throw line didn't help matters. Barnett has been the story on offense for the Big Green this season, erupting for 19.6 ppg by shooting 42.2 percent behind the three-point line and 82.6 percent at the charity stripe. In addition, Barnett is also the leader on the glass with nearly six rebounds per game and leads the unit in assists (52), blocked shots (30) and steals (33) which makes him one of the most complete players that no one has heard of. Unfortunately, the team is posting only 62.5 ppg and that's simply not enough to bring home wins on a consistent basis.
Playing on back-to-back nights on the road is never easy and yet Columbia could easily come out on top in this meeting as long as it keeps Barnett in check.
Predicted OutcomeColumbia 66, Dartmouth 63Copyright 2009 Courtesy of The Sports Network.
