A strong first half was not enough for the Dartmouth High boys basketball team, as the team fell to non-league rival New Bedford 78-74.

Things seemed to look in the Indians’ favor, as the team held a lead over the Whalers heading into the half, 37-31.

“I was pretty happy with my team’s effort,” said Head Coach Mike Grandfield. “We just came up a bit short.”

In the third quarter, the Whalers reclaimed the game, outscoring Dartmouth and taking the lead.

“They have way too many weapons, and they execute them well,” Grandfield said. “They kind of gave us some trouble. They had a nice run there and it took us a while to get our answer.”

Once the team formulated a plan to respond, it took some time to get going, and the Indians were not able to reclaim the lead.

“I really think if the game went another two minutes… we were picking things up there at the end and it could have had a different outcome,” Grandfield said.

The loss brings the Indians’ record to 1-10, marred by a particularly tough set of match-ups and missed opportunities. But Grandfield said the team will be focusing on getting better at free-throws and cutting back on turnovers.

“There’s still a lot of season left to bounce back,” Grandfield said.