The men’s basketball team suffered back-to-back home losses over Winter Carnival weekend, falling 67-54 to Yale University on Friday night and 75-62 to Brown University on Saturday. The Big Green is now 9-11 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. After an impressive weekend sweep of the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, the weekend was a disappointment for the Big Green, which failed to overcome early setbacks and injuries in both contests.
Yale (11-9, 5-1 Ivy) used its physicality and tough defense to shut down Dartmouth from the opening tip. Center Matt Rennie ’16 picked up two early fouls, and the Big Green could not match Yale’s size and tenacity in the paint. The team made just four shots from the field in the entire first half, shooting an anemic 16 percent from the field compared to Yale’s 63 percent.
Head coach Paul Cormier said that Rennie’s absence also contributed to the 38-29 rebounding gap between the teams.
“We just didn’t have the horses to box them off the glass,” he said. “We did a decent job with what we had, but when you shoot the ball as poorly as we did, and when they out-rebounded us like they did, you’re going to pay the price.”
Though Dartmouth outscored Yale 38-37 in the second half, its performance wasn’t enough to overcome a 30-16 score at halftime.
The performance of backup center Cole Harrison ’17 was a bright spot for Dartmouth. Harrison, who was out for much of preseason training with mononucleosis, poured in nine points, grabbed seven rebounds and swatted two shots in just 15 minutes of play. His strong showing was particularly encouraging in the absence of center Gabas Maldunas ’15, who is sidelined for the rest of the season after surgery on a torn ACL.
Harrison said he continues to focus on the team’s performance.
“I want to make sure that as a team we’re doing what we need to do and play like we can,” he said. “If we give it our all and we don’t come out on top, then we can have some dignity in that, but we’re kind of hurt right now because we didn’t come ready to play.”
Harrison also commented that the team missed the floor-spreading ability of point guard Malik Gill ’16, who sprained his ankle in last week’s contest against Princeton.
“It definitely helps having an extra guard to open things up on the court,” he said. “It hurts not having someone with his elite-level quickness, because not many guards can keep up with him.”
Maldunas said he is working with Harrison to improve his offensive polish during practice.
On Saturday, Brown (12-8, 4-2 Ivy) raced out to a quick 17-3 lead in the first seven minutes of the first half. The Big Green could not bring the game back within four points, as the Bears led wire-to-wire at Leede Arena. Three Dartmouth players finished in double figures, but their performances weren’t enough to match the excellent play of Bears’ senior Sean McGonagill and freshman Steven Spieth, who both scored 20. John Golden ’15 led the Dartmouth men in scoring with 17.
Tyler Melville ’14 stopped the early bleeding with a long three and a layup to make it 17-8, but Brown kept its intensity dialed up. McGonagill responded with a deep three-pointer and then rattled off another five straight points for the Bears.
About four minutes later, Alex Mitola ’16 began a 9-0 run for Dartmouth by splashing a three. Golden then slashed to the hoop for two, and Mitola hit a pull-up jumper on the next play. Melville capped off the charge with a layup off glass, bringing the score to 31-26.
Dartmouth was ultimately able to pull within four after a free throw by Rennie, but Brown fended off the Big Green rally to take a 42-33 lead at halftime.
Melville continued to keep his team in the game in the second half, bringing the score within five twice in the first few minutes. At the 13:16 mark, though, Spieth began to open the gap, starting an 8-0 run for the Bears by sinking a jumper. McGonagill added to the damage with two free throws and a three-pointer.
Harrison was relatively silent on Saturday, finishing without a field goal. He did pick up two rebounds and a block in his 11 minutes on the floor.
In both games, the Big Green had only 10 players to draw from, as five players were benched with injuries.
Dartmouth will play another back-to-back against Ivy opponents next weekend, facing off against Cornell University on Friday and then Columbia University on Saturday, both on the road.
