Dartmouth Men Top Harvard in Overtime, 75-66

Saturday, January 24

Cambridge, Mass.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

3-13, 1-1Ivy

Harvard

9-7, 1-1Ivy

OT 1

Dartmouth

Harvard

1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? Senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) scored 30 points, including six of Dartmouth's 13 in overtime, to lead the visiting Big Green to their first win in over a month over Harvard on Saturday evening at Lavietes Pavilion, 75-66. The victory ended an eight-game losing streak for Dartmouth (3-13, 1-1 Ivy) and avenged the one-point loss two weeks ago to the Crimson. Harvard (9-7, 1-1 Ivy) got 21 points from Jeremy Lin in the losing effort.

Dartmouth led for most of the game, but Lin forced overtime with a scoop shot in the lane with 1.1 seconds to play, tying the game at 62. The Big Green took charge in the overtime period, however, taking a quick two-point lead on a Barnett jumper. Junior Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.) stole the ball and finished off the fastbreak with a layup just seconds later before Harvard hit a couple of free throws in four tries, cutting the Green lead to two.

Senior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) drained a jumper for Dartmouth before senior Marlon Sanders (Cleveland, Ohio) canned two free throws for a six-point lead. Doug Miller scored for the Crimson on a putback for their only field goal of the final five minutes, and their last points. Barnett sealed the win by hitting a 10-footer from the wing and knocking down two from the line to complete the scoring.

“We were all determined after letting the last one get away, and everybody on this team kept competing and fighting for this one,” said Barnett after the game. “Everyone pitched in and contributed. It was a true team effort and a great win for us.”

The key to the game for Dartmouth was turnovers. The Green coughed the ball up just six times over the 45 minutes while Harvard gave it away 17 times, which Dartmouth converted into 19 points.

Barnett, who sat for parts of the first and second halves due to foul trouble, was 11-of-16 from the floor and converted all six free throws for his second career 30-point game and second this season. Sanders was the other Big Green player to score in double figures, tallying 14 points for the second straight game after scoring just 23 points over the first 14 contests.

Although Harvard outrebounded Dartmouth, 41-35, thanks largely in part to Keith Wright who hauled in 13 boards, nearly everyone chipped in on the glass for the Green with sophomore Clive Weeden (Stow, Mass.) bringing down a season-high seven rebounds.

The shooting percentages were pretty even for the game, but Dartmouth took 17 more shots, hitting 29-of-66 (.439) to the Crimson's 22-of-49 (.449).

After Drew Housman and Lin scored seven straight points to give Harvard an early 11-4 lead, Barnett scored eight during a 12-0 Big Green run. Oliver McNally brought a brief respite for the Crimson with a three-pointer before Barnett slammed home an alley-oop dunk, giving him 12 of the team's first 18 points. Three more Dartmouth buckets gave the visiting Green their largest lead of the half at eight, 24-16.

Harvard whittled away at the deficit at the free throw line, hitting 10-of-14 for the half compared to just 2-of-2 by Sanders. But Sanders and freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) were able to keep the Crimson at bay, scoring the last 12 points for the Green as they took a four-point advantage, 34-30, into the locker room.

Dartmouth led throughout the second half, but never by more than six, before the Crimson rallied and took a 55-54 lead on a Lin three-pointer with 5:14 in regulation. The two teams traded pairs of free throws before Barnett rattled off six straight points.

The Crimson would not back down, however, getting a trifecta from Andrew Pusar with 31 seconds. When Dartmouth missed the front end of a one-and-one, Lin took advantage with his layup.

“I can't say enough about the resiliency of this team,” said head coach Terry Dunn. “We could have hung our heads when they forced overtime, but they fought for everything they got and really earned this win.”

Dartmouth ended a nine-game losing streak at Harvard with the victory.

Dartmouth returns home next weekend to start a four-gam, Ivy homestand beginning with a game against Princeton on Friday, Jan. 30 in Leede Arena at 7 p.m. Harvard, meanwhile, plays host to Penn next Friday at 7 p.m.