Late Longwood Flurry Dooms Dartmouth on the Road, 74-73

Wednesday, December 3

Farmville, Va.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-4

Longwood

3-5

Dartmouth

Longwood

Late Longwood Flurry Dooms Dartmouth on the Road, 74-73

12/3/2014 9:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

FARMVILLE, Va. — Quincy Taylor sank two free throws with 6.8 seconds left, and Dartmouth could not get a 12-footer to fall at the buzzer allowing the host Longwood Lancers to steal a 74-73 victory from the Big Green (1-4) on Wednesday evening at Willett Hall. Taylor finished the game with a career-high 34 points to help Longwood (3-5) rally from seven-point deficit in the final minute of play and snap a four-game skid.

The last 60 seconds ruined fine performances from freshman Miles Wright and junior Malik Gill. The rookie scored a season-high 15 points by hitting 6-of-9 field goals with a pair of three-pointers, while Gill added 14 on 5-of-7 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from downtown, plus dished out a career-high 10 assists for his first career double-double. He is the first Dartmouth player to hand out 10 or more helpers in a game since February of 2002.

Gill drained his fourth triple of the night with 1:01 to play and build the Big Green lead to 73-66. The Lancer rally began innocently enough with two free throws by Shaquille Johnson and 39 seconds remaining. Longwood fouled Gabas Maldunas immediately on the inbounds pass, sending the senior to the line to shoot a 1-and-1. Maldunas misfired on the first attempt, but Wright was able to corral the rebound and get the ball to Gill who was fouled. His 1-and-1 attempt was off the mark as well, but again Dartmouth got the ball off the glass. When junior Connor Boehm also missed on his 1-and-1, the Lancers finally boxed out and got Maldunas to foul out on the rebound.

Johnson, who was 7-of-13 at the line entering the game, once again sank both freebies to give him 18 points and a perfect 11-of-11 showing at the charity stripe, cutting the lead down to three. Following a Big Green turnover, Taylor drove the lane for a layup to make it a one-point game at 73-72. When Dartmouth turned the ball over again bringing it up the floor, Taylor drove to the hoop again and was fouled with 6.8 seconds to go. He swirled in the first shot and hit the second as well for the first Lancer lead since the score was 10-9.

Junior Alex Mitola, who tallied 10 for the Big Green, managed to get a difficult shot off from 12 feet in the paint only to have it bound off the back iron, up and out to set off a Lancer celebration.

Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the floor — Dartmouth a season-high 56.3 percent (27-of-48), Longwood 51.1 percent (23-of-45) — but the difference came at the foul line where the Lancers converted 19-of-24 (.792) compared to just 11-of-19 (.579) for the Big Green. Both sides shot well from long range as well as Dartmouth hit 8-of-18 (.444) behind the arc and Longwood 9-of-21 (.429).

Taylor finished the night 13-of-18 from the floor and 5-of-7 from three-point land, plus knocked down all three of his free throws to account for his 34 points. Johnson led the hosts with five rebounds and five assists to go with his 18 tallies.

Longwood set a frenetic first-half pace from the very beginning, bolting out to a 10-1 lead thanks to a pair of three-pointers and pressure defense. Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier called a quick timeout, calmed his troops and brought Gill off the bench to provide a spark.

Provide a spark he did as the Big Green rattled off the next 15 points. Gill began the run with a three-pointer, grabbed a rebound and fed Tommy Carpenter for a layup, rebounded a Maldunas block and found Alex Mitola in the corner for a three that led Longwood to call a timeout of its own. After the quick break, Maldunas put Dartmouth on top by driving the baseline for a reverse layup, Boehm converted a three-point play and Gill dished to Wright on the break for an easy bucket and a sudden 16-10 lead. The 15-point stretch took less than four minutes.

Twice Dartmouth extended its lead to as many as a dozen points in the opening stanza, first on a Wright three-pointer to make it 37-25 with 2:32 left in the half, and again two minutes later when Gill popped a trey for a 40-28 lead. Taylor had a three-point play with 4.7 seconds on the clock, but Mitola drove the length of the floor and dropped in a lefty layup as time expired to take a 42-31 advantage into the locker room.

After the intermission, Longwood closed the gap to two after six minutes thanks to a three points the hard way by Johnson. The Big Green answered back quickly, however, as Boehm provided a layup and Mitola a three-pointer to start a 10-1 spurt to boost the lead back to 11.

Again the Lancers chipped away at the deficit as Taylor and Johnson ignited the crowd with two triples and a dunk, respectively. When Darrion Allen rebounded his own miss and scored on a putback, Longwood trailed by a single point, 64-63, with four minutes to play.

Yet Dartmouth maintained its composure. A three-point play by Boehm and a three-pointer by Wright put the Big Green up six, 70-64, and when Gill canned his triple with 1:01 to go, Dartmouth seemed to be in control with the seven-point edge, only to see the victory slip away in the last minute.

Boehm was the fourth Big Green player to score in double figures with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, plus led the rebounding efforts with a game-high eight caroms. Dartmouth bested the Lancers on the glass, 29-23.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., Dartmouth will host Maine (1-5), which just picked up its first victory on Tuesday night on a buzzer-beater in overtime against Wagner. Longwood will finish up a brief two-game homestand when UT-Martin comes to Farmville for a 5 p.m. tip on Saturday.