HANOVER, N.H.--In a tough game characterized almost as much by the blood on the court as by the points on the scoreboard, the Harvard men's basketball team dropped its Ivy League season opener last night to Dartmouth, 90-64.

The Big Green used a balanced attack to chalk up the win, as senior Tri-Captains John Conley and Alex Gayer each scored 19. With the win, Dartmouth improved to 2-1 overall (1-0 Ivy), while Harvard fell to 2-4 (0-1 Ivy).

Early on in the contest, a few things became clear.. Dartmouth's transition game was working; Harvard's shooting was off, and the play was rough.

How rough was it? So rough that both teams carved paths in the wood to the free throw line in the second half. So rough that Dartmouth center Stan Kowalewski had to come out of the game at the end of the first half with a nasty cut over his right eye. So rough, in fact, that Harvard senior power forward Eric Carter left in the second half with a tooth knocked out.

After the game, the Harvard team bus had to wait an hour for Carter, who had to go to the hospital, but no excuses were to be found.

"The players had a little bit of trouble [with the rough play.] But we want to see that aggressiveness in our league as long as it doesn't get out of hand," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said.

Maybe it was because this was an Ivy League game, but the players on both sides clearly meant business. Too bad Harvard got into the office a little late.

At the start of both halfs, Harvard was victimized by quick Dartmouth spurts that left the Crimson spending all of the its time playing catch-up.

Dartmouth started the game on fire, working its fast break offense for a number of quick baskets.

Although the Big Green hadn't played in over a week, it didn't show.

Senior point guard Gregg Frame ignited the initial attack, at one point stealing the ball and passing it behind his back to a streaking teammate for a dunk.

That basket put Dartmouth in front, 18-8, and with 12:50 left in the-half, Sullivan attempted to stop the bleeding with a desperate timeout.

Harvard soon fought back behind a hustling defense and aggresive rebounding. Captain Tyler Rullman led the charge--he eventually finished with 27 points and grabbed six rebounds--and a glimmer of hope appeared.

Overplaying the passing lanes as much as it had all season, the Crimson temporarily shut down the Big Green's vaunted inside game, and despite shooting only 31% from the field to Dartmouth's 61%, the Crimson went into halftime down by only eight, 34-26.

At the beginning of the second half, unfortunately, Dartmouth again came out more quickly than Harvard. The Big Green surged to a 45-34 lead, and every time the Crimson attempted to slim the margin to single digits, Dartmouth's transition game would produce a quick layup or three pointer.

"We never got into a rythym, and whenever we got close they would hit threes," said Harvard point guard Tarik Campbell.

With a little under 10 minutes left in the contest, Harvard staged a last gasp charge.

The Crimson narrowed the margin to ten points, 60-50, on an Arturo Llopis hook in the lane.

Then came the avalanche.

With Harvard persistently trying to execute a full-court press, the quicker Dartmouth squad ran away from the Crimson, both literally and figuratively.

A series of fast break baskets, many by Conley, frustrated the Harvard players further, making the end of the game even more foul-filled.

"We talked about not getting ditracted by streaks, because Dartmouth can really put them together, but it's hard for our kids not to think about it when they're missing they're own shots," Sullivan said.

The final decision?

Dartmouth, in a knockout.