The men’s basketball team got a much-needed jolt of confidence this weekend as it took down the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University in back-to-back showdowns at Leede Arena.
The Big Green (9-9, 2-2 Ivy) handled Penn (4-13, 1-2 Ivy) 67-58 on Friday, then kept its momentum going for an impressive 78-69 win in overtime against Princeton (12-5, 0-3 Ivy) Saturday. Dartmouth pulled off the wins despite the absence of center Gabas Maldunas ’15, the team’s main offensive threat, who is out with an ACL injury.
The two victories were Dartmouth’s first against Ivy League opponents this season, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Alex Mitola ’16 was the catalyst for the Big Green in its contest against Penn, exploding for 23 points in the second half and 25 in the game. John Golden ’15 added 15 points and eight rebounds on an efficient 6-8 from the field.
Dartmouth trailed most of the first period, as Penn’s Fran Dougherty poured in 13 points before halftime. The Quakers held a slim three-point advantage with two minutes left in the first, but Miles Cartwright hit a pull-up jumper, and then a tough layup in transition with 5.3 seconds left to push the lead to seven heading into halftime.
Mitola said that during the break he committed himself to reversing the momentum from Penn’s last-second run.
“I was really frustrated that we were down seven points,” he said. “We could tell that we needed to make a run and that we could definitely beat this team.”
Mitola emerged from the locker room blazing hot, swishing three three-pointers in three possessions to put Dartmouth on top, 32-31. The teams battled back and forth for the next seven minutes until Golden hit back-to-back shots in the paint, bringing the Dartmouth lead to five at 50-45 with 9:14 remaining.
From there, the Big Green continued to stretch its lead. Kevin Crescenzi ’16 and Golden splashed back-to-back jumpers, and then Mitola stepped in to work some more magic, draining a three off a beautiful kickout pass to the corner by Golden.
Dartmouth hung on for the final four minutes, never allowing its lead to go below eight.
Cole Harrison ’17, who sat out the game with an upper respiratory infection, said the big difference on Friday was the team’s effort level.
“The big thing in [the Penn game] was how hard everyone was playing,” he said. “I thought Kevin Crescenzi and the effort he put forward, and also Malik Gill [‘16] at the start of the second half, really pushed us over the edge and gave us that extra boost that we needed.”
The momentum from the win contributed to the team’s strong showing against Princeton the next day, Mitola said.
Tyler Melville ’14, the team’s captain, came up huge against Princeton, scoring a season-high 21 points and making several key plays down the stretch for the Big Green. He said that his performance was fueled by a pep talk from his father, Randy Melville, who once played as a guard for the Tigers and was sitting courtside Saturday.
“My dad gave me a reality check,” he said. “He stressed the importance of using my God-given ability and not being content and complacent with what’s been going on as far as my struggles.”
Melville came into the contest against Princeton having shot just 1-of-25 from the field in 2014, but his slump evaporated as soon as he stepped on the hardwood. He went three of five in the first half, scoring seven points and helping the Big Green hang with the Tigers as the score was knotted at 31-31 going into the locker room.
It was the second half, though, where Melville really shone. With Princeton up 60-59 with 39.8 seconds remaining, he took the ball from outside the arc on the wing and slashed through four defenders for a gorgeous scoop shot off glass, bringing the bench to its feet. Then he knocked down two clutch free throws after getting fouled on the next possession to bring the score to 63-60 with just 27 seconds left on the clock.
Unfortunately, Princeton wouldn’t go down easily. Will Barrett exploded through contact in the lane to set up an old-fashioned three-point play. He hit the free throw, and Golden missed a last-second three, sending the game to overtime.
Dartmouth did not lose its composure in the extra period, as the team poured in a whopping 15 points in five minutes thanks to Princeton hacking and the Big Green going 11-of-12 from the line. The game was in reach for the Tigers until the team’s bench committed a technical foul with 36 seconds remaining and Dartmouth leading 70-67.
Mitola knocked down the two technical free throws, then got fouled and hit two more. Brandon McDonnell ’16 then took over, sinking two free throws of his own and throwing down a slam in transition with 11 seconds left to seal the game.
Melville said the two wins this weekend changed the tone for the team going forward.
“We want to raise the bar and our expectations of others and of ourselves,” he said. “We’re ready for everybody, so any game that we play is going to be a competitive game, and we’re going to play every game expecting to win.”
Harrison agreed, saying that the victories changed the Big Green’s entire outlook on their place in conference competition.
“It makes us as a team more relevant again in the standings, because Harvard could suffer a loss or two anywhere throughout, and if we keep playing like we should, we can be right there in it at the end,” he said. “We’re capable of winning the rest of the games we have.”
The Big Green will square off against Yale University next Friday night, then against Brown University on Saturday. Both games will be at Leede Arena.
