December 29, 2002
DARTMOUTH CLAIMS POINSETTIA CLASSIC
TITLE WITH 63-59 WIN
OVER FURMAN
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Charles Harris scored 19 points and Greg Friel added 13 points, including three critical free throws in the final seconds of play, to lift Dartmouth to a 63-59 win over Furman in the championship game of the Poinsettia Classic Sunday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Harris, a senior forward from Memphis, Tenn., and tournament MVP, converted 7-of-9 field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, to power the Big Green (4-5) to its first regular season tournament victory since the 1991-92 season.
Furman (6-8), which fell for the second straight year in the championship game, got a career high 20 points from freshman guard Jason Patterson.
"Wow, we did it the old fashioned way, we earned it every step of the way," said Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher. "When we went down nine, we put the challenge to them to turn up the defense, and we did. From that point we executed on both ends of the floor, particularly on the defensive end."
Furman appeared to be in position to gain the upper hand after Patterson canned two free throws with 7:47 left to put the Paladins ahead 50-41. But Dartmouth rallied over the next two minutes with a basket from Scott Klingbeil, a 3-pointer by Mike McLaren, and two buckets by Harris to complete a 9-0 run and tie the game at 50-50 with 3:34 left.
The lead changed hands three times after that before a Klingbeil layup with 1:23 left put Dartmouth ahead 56-55. A Harris layup with 41 seconds left made it 58-55, but Furman's Guilherme Da Luz pulled the Paladins to within one with a jump shot with 33 seconds remaining.
A foul by Furman's Tony Carter put Friel at the line with 27 seconds left, and the senior wing man drained both tries for a 60-57 advantage.
Patterson's 3-point attempt from 22 feet bounced hard off the rim and into the hands of Klingbeil, who was fouled and later converted a pair of free throws to make it 62-57 with 12 seconds left.
A layup by Da Luz got Furman to within three points at 62-59, but Friel secured the win by converting one of two free throws with only three seconds remaining.
"You have to give Dartmouth a lot of credit, they made shots and made plays down the stretch and we didn't," said Furman head coach Larry Daivs. "They are a very difficult team to defend because of the back cuts and the things they do, but Harris really hurt us. We forced him off the screens instead of giving him back cuts, and it seemed every time he stepped up and made shots, especially in the first half."
Da Luz joined Patterson as the only two Paladins in double figures with 19 points.
Dartmouth shot 47.7 percent from the field, converting 21-of-44 attempts and 9-of-22 3-pointers. Furman, meanwhile, shot only 40.7 percent (22-of-54), including just 4-of-18 from 3-point range (22.2 percent). Furman's lack of success from the perimeter offset a 33-26 rebounding advantage and solid work at the free throw line, where the Paladins knocked down 11-of-13 attempts.
In the consolation game Stetson's Derrick DeWitt scored 14 points to lead the Hatters (1-8) to their first win of the season in a 75-69 triumph over New Hampshire. DeWitt's 3-pointer with 4:41 left gave Stetson a 61-56 lead and keyed a 7-0 Hatter run that powered the Hatters and head coach Derek Waugh, a 1993 Furman graduate. New Hampshire (1-8) placed five players in double figures, led by Kyle Peterson's 14 points.