Dane Miller led a balanced attack with 12 points as Rutgers opened the season with a 62-56 victory over visiting Dartmouth.

The Scarlet Kinghts had five players score at least eight points as the team shot 50 percent (22 of 44).

The Big Green kept it closer than Rutgers preferred, trailing by only one at the half and cutting it to 59-56 when R.J. Griffin buried a 3-pointer with 1:19 left. But Rutgers called a timeout and regrouped.

Gilvydas Biruta split a pair of free throws and freshman Jerome Seagears knocked down a pair from the line to seal it.

Rutgers lost leading scorer Jonathan Mitchell but imported one of the best recruiting classes in school history, with six freshmen who will see minutes in 2011-12. Eli Carter, Myles Mack, Malick Kone and Seagears were the best of the new bunch on Friday, combining for 33 points on 13-of-26 shooting.

Griffin finished with 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting for Dartmouth, which shot just 4 of 22 from beyond the arc.