The buzzer sounded, and the crowd went wild. Leede Arena filled with the sound of whistles as an exuberant crowd rose to its feet to give the Dartmouth men’s basketball team a well-deserved standing ovation. The team’s incredible win over the Cornell University Big Red was assured.
The first half had just ended — a dominant 44-18 lead for the Big Green — and the game had already been decided.
From there, the Big Green’s lead only widened. Dartmouth’s unbelievable 88-49 victory over the Big Red on Saturday concluded a stunning double-header at home. On Friday night, Dartmouth soared, 78-56, over the Columbia University Lions.
“It was just an awesome environment for Saturday night, especially with bad weather,” Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin said. “I thought we had a great environment up there. And I think the crowd energized these guys as well.”
The wins have catapulted Dartmouth to second place in the Ivy League standings, while extending the Big Green’s winning streak to four games. Dartmouth’s last three wins have all been by double digits.
The Big Green, which had struggled from the three-point arc against Columbia, bounced back dramatically against Cornell, sinking 15 of the team’s 34 threes. Dartmouth rained down so many that the Big Green wound up with nearly as many points from three-pointers as Cornell had in total; Cade Haskins ’25 alone was responsible for a third of those. Haskins, who missed the game against Columbia, managed to set the tone early in the Cornell game by hitting four threes in the first half.
“When the ball goes in, it’s a lot easier,” Haskins said. “Though you miss a lot too, so you just keep trusting it. My team trusts me, which makes it super helpful, and they find me. But everyone had it going in tonight. It felt good.”
Dartmouth was effective beyond the perimeter as well, dominating the glass — outrebounding Cornell and Columbia, 90-68. Brandon Mitchell-Day ’26 made his presence known on the glass with 21 total rebounds across the double-header. He only recorded two turnovers over the weekend, both against Cornell.
“Coach really made it a point of emphasis to be able to take care of the ball, especially when they’re pressuring up,” Mitchell-Day said. “And I think we did a good job of that.”
Mitchell-Day’s highlight of the weekend, though, came when he took a pass from Romeo Myrthil ’25 to the basket, flying over the outstretched arms of Cornell’s junior forward, DJ Nix, to notch the game’s poster dunk.
Mitchell-Day and fellow big man Jackson Munro ’26 dominated the paint. Munro racked up five blocks in the Columbia game, three of which occurred in less than four minutes.
“Part of our game plan was we knew we were going to switch a lot of their ball screens,” Munro said. “… Me and [Mitchell-Day] were both often guarding smaller guards, so we tried to use our length against them to sort of meet them at the rim and try to block shots. And we had success with that.”
The team’s stout interior defense, as well as its general defensive effort, helped the Big Green hold Cornell’s and Columbia’s high-powered offenses — which rank first and third in points-per-game in the Ivy League, respectively — to their lowest point totals of the season.
But it was Ryan Cornish ’25 who led the way for the team, racking up 33 points and nine assists across both games. Cornish showed his poise against Columbia, sinking a highly contested three to beat the shot clock with just under seven seconds left in the half. Leede Arena exploded as Dartmouth’s bench, with both relief and excitement, lept to their feet.
“When stuff like that happens, it’s really hard to stay engaged and focused in the game,” Cornish said of Columbia’s mindset after the shot. “It’s a killer on the defensive side.”
While the Lions came out of the break deflated, Dartmouth rode the momentum from Cornish’s shot to a more than healthy victory.
Both victories also allowed the Big Green to showcase its depth, with five different players hitting double-figures this weekend — including Myrthil, who, as if Shakespeare had written the play-by-play, fittingly hit double figures on Valentine’s Day. Against Cornell, every single player made their way onto the score sheet.
“You need multiple players to step up when it comes to league play, and when it comes to February and March, you know, multiple people have to be ready to go,” McLauglin said. “And part of being ready is being unselfish and sharing the ball.”
The cumulative effort by the Big Green was off the charts. The squad dove on loose balls, sprinted on transitions, moved the ball with ease and bombarded Columbia and Cornell players to force 15 total steals across both games. Even when wide margins left little doubt of a win, the Big Green still played in top form, McLaughlin said.
Midway through the second half of the Cornell game, Connor Christensen ’25 planted himself in front of the Big Red’s Jacob Beccles, absorbing a hit from the surging sophomore. While Christensen was called for a blocking foul, the play epitomized the kind of scrappy attitude that has come to define Dartmouth this season.
“Every day, we talk about being the one team that’s first to the floor, the team that hits first on the defensive end,” McLaughlin said. “And [the effort is] just an example of that.”
The scale of these past two wins has led Dartmouth fans to entertain a notion, once thought out of reach: postseason basketball. However, Christensen said the team remains focused on the regular season games still in front of it.
“You’re not in the top four [until] you’re in the top four. The season’s not over ’til it’s over,” Christensen said. “So, you just got to get one day at a time, one practice at a time, one game at a time. … So we’re going to go out every night and attack each opponent the same way. And I think we did that this weekend. We’ll do it again next weekend.”
With only five games left in Ivy League play, including tough games against third-place Princeton University and undefeated Yale University, Dartmouth controls its own postseason destiny. The team very well could secure a spot in the Ivy League playoff. Dartmouth is getting hot at the right time, and if they make it, could play spoiler in Providence.
