WESTFIELD, Mass. - Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech) scored 14 points to lead Westfield State, but the Owls fell short to Division I Dartmouth College, 79-61 at Leede Arena in Hanover, New Hampshire on Wednesday evening.
Dartmouth was led by 20 points from Brandon Mitchell-Day.
Westfield State outscored the Big Green 36-30 in the second half, but the Owls dug too deep a hole in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Westfield trailed 49-25 at the half after being down by as many as 30 points late in the period.
The Owls appeared to press early, connecting on just five of their first 20 shots from the floor, many on quick perimeter shots.
"I really didn't think we stuck game plan very well, we took a lot of bad shots early and it made it tough to climb out of that hole," said Owls head coach Rich Sutter.
Westfield trailed 27-13 after Hamilton's baseline jumper midway through the first half, but from there the Big Green went on a 12-0 run to balloon the lead to 26 points, forcing an Owls' time out with 5:44 left in the half.
Westfield's Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H./Bradford Christian Acad.) hit a runner in the lane at the buzzer to close the half. He and Dom Strother (Edinburg, Va./Woodstock Acad.) each scored five points to lead the Owls in the opening stanza.
6-8 forward Mitchell-Day had 11 points and 6-10 Nikola Dmitrijevic 9 as the Big Green took advantage of their size in the opening half.
In the second half, the Owls' pressure defense had more effect on the hosts.
Westfield started the second half on a 9-2 run, capped by a Jerome Stephens (Dorchester, Mass./Kennedy Health Acad.) layup, which prompted a Darmouth time out less than three minutes into the half.
"We had better energy in the second half, but we still didn't execute that well," said Sutter. "Some guys came in and had better energy then the guys who were in there."
Another 9-2 run for the Owls trimmed the Big Green's lead down to 70-55 on a Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass./Central) three-pointer with 5:56 left in the game, but that was as close was Westfield could get. The Owls didn't make another field goal until Hamilton connected on short hook shot with 1:57 left on the clock.
Westfield held Dartmouth to just 37 percent shooting (10-27) in the second half, and the Big Green were just 1-13 from three-point range after the break. Dartmouth had a 46-32 edge in rebounding, and the Green were 23-26 from the foul line, while Westfield had just four free throw attempts, making three.
Dartmouth picked up its first win of the season to improve to 1-2 after losses to Duke and UMass-Lowell. Westfield gets its first loss of the season and is now 2-1 overall.
Hamilton finished the game with 999 career points. He blocked a shot on the defensive end, then filled the lane and finished with a dunk in transition for the 997th point of his career at the 12:31 mark, but would only have a couple of scoring opportunities down the stretch as the Owls moved the ball around.
"He's having great year, he's playing hard," said Sutter. "We just gotta get every on same page."
Hamilton was the lone Owl to score in double figures. Strother finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and Stephens and Omot each added eight for the Owls. Xavier Lewis (Wheatley Heights, NY/Half Hollow Hills East) handed out a team-high six assists and grabbed four rebounds in 19 minutes of play off the bench.
Hamilton, who set a school record by shooting 10-10 from the floor against Ramapo, made his last shot of the night in the season opener against William Paterson, then made his first three shots of the night at Dartmouth for a streak of 14 consecutive made field goals over a three-game stretch.
Dmitrijevic finished with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, with Dusan Neskovic added 13 for Dartmouth.
Westfield was playing its first-regular season game against an NCAA Division I opponent since the Owls faced Quinnipiac in the 1999-2000 season.
"It's a great opportunity for our guys to see what level is out there, it's a good experience, and I think will make us get better," said Sutter about the opportunity to match up with a Division I opponent.
Westfield will be back in action on Friday night at the Cadet/Mariner Classic, traveling to play Mitchell College in a 5:30 p.m. start.
Dartmouth has a 10-day break before traveling to play St. Louis University on Nov. 25.