The men’s basketball team could not find a way to get back in the win column this weekend, dropping both of its games on the road. The Big Green fell 67-57 to Princeton University on Friday night, and 74-65 to the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday night. The Big Green (9-15, 2-8 Ivy) has now lost six straight games.
Dartmouth started out well against Princeton (15-8, 3-6 Ivy), keeping the score close for much of the first half.
The Big Green held a one-point advantage with 6:16 remaining in the period thanks to a finger-roll layup in transition by Eli Harrison ’17 to beat two trailing defenders. After that, though, the Princeton defense clamped down, preventing the Big Green from hitting any more field goals before the break.
In the absence of the Big Green’s offensive production, Princeton began to open the game, going on a 14-1 scoring binge. The Tigers, like Dartmouth, shot poorly in that stretch, making just two field goals. The team made up for its inefficiency on the offensive end, however, by going 8-10 from the foul line before heading into halftime.
Princeton held a 12-point advantage heading into the break.
Captain Tyler Melville ’14 said the first half’s end made it hard for the team to find its scoring rhythm.
“We started slow at Princeton, which made it tough for us to get going offensively,” he said.
Princeton was relentless to start the second period. In the first minute of play, senior Will Barrett drained a long ball and sophomore Hans Brase cut his way through the Dartmouth defense for a layup, stretching the Tiger lead to 17.
The Big Green would not go down easy, though. Connor Boehm ’16 muscled his way through the paint to the hole for a conventional three-point play, sparking an 8-0 run for the visiting Big Green.
Dartmouth continued to battle for the first half of the second period, keeping Princeton within single digits at 45-37 with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
The Tigers then exploded on a 13-3 run that effectively sealed the game. Dartmouth ended the game on a 10-1 run over the final two minutes, but it was too little, too late — the home team held on for the win.
Melville and John Golden ’15, who scored a combined 40 points in Dartmouth’s overtime win against the Tigers earlier in the season, were held to just six in the contest. Golden said that Princeton may have scouted him and Melville and made adjustments, but that he had to play better nonetheless.
“There’s no excuse,” he said. “If we want to win, I can’t have one point. Maybe they did [scout us], but I just played very poorly, and if we’re supposed to win down the stretch with injuries, I have to play better.”
Wesley Dickinson ’17 was a bright spot in the game for Dartmouth, pouring in a career-high 10 points on 3-4 shooting.
“He’s a great kid, and it was great to see him contribute to the team as far as getting rebounds, making free throws, getting putbacks,” Melville said. “I think Wes is going to be a key addition to this team going forward.”
Dartmouth fell short again on Saturday, as a balanced scoring attack and resilience in the second half propelled Penn (7-16, 4-5 Ivy) over the Big Green 74-65.
Five of Penn’s players reached double figures, while Dartmouth had just two, led by a career-high night for Brandon McDonnell ’16, who had 18 points on the game along with Kevin Crescenzi ’16.
Neither team got an edge in the first half. The Big Green came out hot, making its first seven field goals to gain a 14-8 advantage in the opening five minutes.
The scoring went back and forth for the rest of the period. Penn went on a 10-0 run starting at the 8:00 mark, only to have Dartmouth respond with an 11-5 run of its own to close out before the break. Penn maintained a slim 38-34 lead.
The Big Green remained close in the beginning of the second half with back-and-forth scoring. The start was punctuated by Golden wowing the crowd with two two-handed throwdowns to make the score 52-46.
Despite the fact that the Big Green couldn’t close out on its final runs in either contest, McDonnell said he admired that the team didn’t rest until the final buzzer.
“In both games we were trailing at halftime, but at no point did we think we were out of it, even late in the game,” he said. “There was no point where myself or anyone on the team showed any signs of giving up.”
The Big Green hopes to snap its losing streak next weekend in a two-game homestand. The team will play Columbia University on Friday night and Cornell University on Saturday night. Golden believes these home games can renew the team’s confidence.
“We tend to play much better at home,” he said. “These two games could be huge, because we could get two wins at home and go into the last weekend with confidence, get a couple more wins and finish out the year strong.”
The last time the Big Green squared off against its Empire State rivals, it was swept, falling 70-67 at Cornell before losing to Columbia 69-59.
