Mitola Takes Over in Overtime, Hits Game-Winner at Buzzer

Friday, December 19

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-5

Northern Illinois

4-4

OT 1

Northern Illinois

Dartmouth

Mitola Takes Over in Overtime, Hits Game-Winner at Buzzer

12/19/2014 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mitola's Game-Winning Three Complete Highlights Archived Video Broadcast Box Score (HTML)

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — What was a long night for junior Alex Mitola turned into one to remember as the Dartmouth point guard drained four three-pointers in overtime, including the game-winner at the buzzer, to help the Big Green (5-5) knock off visiting Northern Illinois (4-4) on Friday night at Leede Arena, 58-55.

After hitting just two field goals in 10 attempts in the first 40 minutes, Mitola drilled 4-of-5 three-pointers to account for every Dartmouth point in the extra period and nearly matched the team's total for the entire second half (13). He finished the night with a game-high 18 points to help hold off the Huskies.

With the score tied, NIU had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of overtime, but Michael Orris could not get his layup to fall and the rebound was tapped out of bounds. The referees originally gave the Huskies possession, but after referring to the replay, the call was overturned, allowing Dartmouth to set up for the final shot with 21.1 seconds on the clock.

Mitola got the ball with six seconds left but found no space, so he quickly dished off to senior Gabas Maldunas, who in turn gave it right back to Mitola. One dribble to his right later, Mitola launched his high-arcing prayer that found its way through the net to ignite the crowd of 701 and give Dartmouth its fourth victory in the last five games.

Northern Illinois opened the scoring in the extra stanza when Darrell Bowie converted two free throws for the first Huskie lead since the first 11 minutes of the game, 48-46. Mitola immediately answered with a trifecta, which Bowie trumped with one of his own. It wasn't long before Mitola drilled another shot from behind the arc, giving the Big Green a 52-51 lead with 1:50 to play.

Again NIU sank two free throws, this time by center Jordan Threloff to give him 10 points on the night. As Dartmouth brought the ball up the court, it looked like Mitola might end as the goat as his pass was stolen, allowing Aaric Armstead to coast in for a layup and a three-point Huskie lead with 1:26 showing on the clock.

The next time down the floor, Mitola misfired from long range, yet freshman Miles Wright ran down the rebound, and the ball eventually found its way back to Mitola, who did not miss a second time to knot the score at 55 with 45 seconds to go, setting the stage for his final heroics.

It took a strong defensive effort in the second half by NIU to even force overtime after the Big Green opened up a 14-point lead at the intermission, 33-19. The Huskies held Dartmouth to a mere four field goals in 23 attempts (.174) and nary a triple in the second stanza. The Big Green also hurt themselves at the charity stripe, sinking just 5-of-11 (.455). A three-pointer by Aaron Armstead with 21 seconds left drew NIU even and sent the game into overtime.

In the opening half, Dartmouth dominated the action, particularly on the glass, grabbing 20 rebounds to just nine for a Huskie team that entered the game sixth in the nation with a plus-11.3 rebound margin. Maldunas led the Green with seven points while Mitola had six, a total he would not increase until overtime.

The score was tied at 19 with a little under seven minutes to play when Dartmouth rattled off the final 14 points of the half. Junior Kevin Crescenzi started the run with a three-pointer, Mitola had a four-point play and junior Malik Gill also cranked one from deep to highlight the run.

Mitola finished the night 6-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-10 beyond the arc for his 18 points. Maldunas was the only other Big Green player in double figures with 11 points while adding seven rebounds. Leading Dartmouth on the boards was junior Connor Boehm with nine caroms, while Gill dished out four assists and had five steals.

After that early rebounding disparity, NIU almost made up the difference with one less board, 36-35. Threloff just missed out on a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Aaron Armstead came off the bench to provide 12 points on four trifectas.

With Mitola's final flourish, the Big Green were able to survive shooting just 33.9 percent (19-of-56) for the game and 52.4 percent (11-of-21) at the line. Both teams hit 11 foul shots, but NIU needed eight fewer attempts (13) to hit the mark. The Huskies did hurt themselves with 19 turnovers, thanks in part to 12 Dartmouth steals.

Dartmouth has one final contest before Christmas, playing at Penn State (11-1) of the Big Ten in a game that will be aired on Big Ten Network Plus on Monday, Dec. 22 at 4 p.m. Northern Illinois has just as great a challenge with a trip to Notre Dame (10-1) on Monday at 7 p.m. (EST).

Notes: Dartmouth has won its last two games in overtime, besting Princeton last February at Leede Arena, 78-69 ... without overtime, Mitola's streak of scoring at least 10 points would have ended, but the extra five minutes allowed him to stretch it to 14 games dating back to last year ... of Dartmouth's 36 rebounds, 16 were on the offensive glass leading to 18 points, NIU had just three second-chance tallies ... the Big Green scored a season-low 13 points in the second stanza and their fewest in any half since scoring 13 in the opening 20 minutes at Cornell on Jan. 29, 2010.