#21 Harvard Wears Down Big Green Men in Ivy Opener

Saturday, January 7

Cambridge, Mass.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-13, 0-1Ivy

Harvard

13-2, 1-0Ivy

Dartmouth

Harvard

#21 Harvard Wears Down Big Green Men in Ivy Opener

1/7/2012 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Dartmouth Big Green men's basketball team took on the challenge of playing at 21st-ranked Harvard for its Ivy League opener on Saturday afternoon and owned a 36-30 lead five minutes into the second half. But the Crimson, coming off a road loss at Fordham, would not be denied as they outscored Dartmouth 33-11 to close out the game with a 63-47 triumph.

Freshman Gabas Maldunas nearly registered his second straight double-double by scoring a team-high 15 points while snagging nine rebounds for Dartmouth (3-13, 0-1 Ivy), which lost its sixth straight game. No one else had more than seven points or four boards for the Big Green.

"Gabas really raised the level of his game today," said Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier after the game. "He was as good as anyone on the court today, and we really gave a terrific effort across the board. But Harvard is a legitimate top-25 team, and they showed why today with so many weapons."

For Harvard (13-2, 1-0 Ivy), Oliver McNally tallied a season-high 17 points, while forwards Keith Wright and Kyle Casey each scored 10 and Brandyn Curry dished out seven assists to help the Crimson win their 22nd straight game on their home court, Lavietes Pavilion.

Dartmouth had an offensive outburst to start the second half, putting 14 points on the scoreboard in a five-minute span to turn a 23-22 halftime deficit into a 36-30 lead. Freshman John Golden started the second stanza with a three-pointer, only to have Wright respond with a pair of layups. But another Golden triple precluded three straight Maldunas buckets, including a one-hand jam off a feed from Golden on the break, as the Big Green ran off nine straight points for that six-point lead.

Offense would be difficult to come by for Dartmouth for the remainder of the game as the Crimson contained the Big Green shooters to just 3-of-12 from the floor over the final 15 minutes. At the other end, meanwhile, Harvard played an effective inside-out game, utilizing Wright in the post while finding its long-range stroke with five threes in the half.

Wright began the comeback with a short jumper, and after the Green missed a three-pointer, McNally countered with a triple to pull the Crimson within one. When Curry pushed the ball up the court all the way to the rim and was fouled for a three-point play, Harvard suddenly sported a two-point lead at 38-36.

Maldunas briefly righted the Dartmouth ship with a driving lefty layup to deadlock the score once more, but Laurent Rivard responded with a three-pointer from the left corner as Harvard took the lead for good at 41-38. The next time down the floor, McNally was fouled from the exact same spot that Rivard hit his three, and converted two of the three foul shots before Rivard drained another trifecta to cap a 16-2 run.

After senior Kirk Crecco dropped in a jumper from the lane, Harvard came right back with a pair of layups to boost its lead into double digits, where it remained and grew to as many as 18.

The game was a back-and-forth affair early with Maldunas (five points) and Casey (seven) providing nearly all of the offense with the score knotted at seven. Casey's three was the first of three straight triples for the Crimson, and his free throw in two tries with 7:23 left until the break gave the Crimson their largest lead of the half at nine, 20-11.

But the Big Green defense held Harvard without a field goal as Dartmouth outscored the Crimson, 11-3, over the final seven minutes of the half. Crecco had four points during the stretch, and classmate Jabari Trotter drained the squad's only three of the first 20 minutes.

"For us to be successful going forward, we're going to have to get everone to raise the level of their play," Cormier stated. "It may not be to the same degree that Gabas has or in the same statistical categories, but everyone needs to reach inside and elevate themselves to a higher level of play."

Harvard finished the game shooting just under 50 percent (21-of-43) and an even 40 percent from downtown (8-of-20), while the Big Green managed to connect on just 37.5 percent (18-of-48) overall and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) of their three-pointers. The rebounding finished virtually even with a slight 28-27 edge to the Crimson, but Harvard grabbed 11 of the last 13 rebounds over the final 13:30 of the game. Not coincidentally, the Crimson also sank 11-of-15 field goals to close out the game.

Dartmouth returns home next Saturday to play its final non-conference game of the season when it hosts Longwood at Leede Arena at 2 p.m. Harvard travels to New Jersey on Tuesday to take on Monmouth at 7 p.m.