Princeton Hands Men a 64-53 Defeat

Saturday, January 31

Princeton, N.J.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-10, 1-3Ivy

Princeton

9-10, 2-1Ivy

Dartmouth

Princeton

1/31/2015 7:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

PRINCETON, N.J. — Spencer Weisz led all players with 16 points for Princeton and Ben Hazel came off the bench to drain four three-pointers as the host Tigers handed Dartmouth a 64-53 defeat at Jadwin Gym on Saturday evening. Princeton (9-10, 2-1 Ivy) hit seven triples in all while not allowing the Big Green (8-10, 1-3 Ivy) to knock down a single long ball for the first time in 78 games.

Senior Gabas Maldunas led Dartmouth with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting while freshman Miles Wright added 10. But 18 turnovers and poor outside shooting contributed to the Big Green trailing by at least five points for the final 31-plus minutes of the game.

Princeton finished the game shooting 47.6 percent (20-of-42) from the floor and 35.0 percent (7-of-20) from downtown. And although the Dartmouth defense forced 17 Tiger turnovers that led to 16 points, Princeton converted 17-of-25 at the line (compared to 9-of-17 for the Green) and used their three-point prowess to keep the visitors at arm's length all night.

The game was tied at nine after little more than six minutes after Maldunas dropped in his first basket of the night by driving to the hole. But Weisz responded by drilling a triple, and Hazel got into the act two minutes later with his first trey as Princeton opened up a seven-point lead.

Maldunas ended the seven-point spurt with another layup, only to have the Tigers build a double-digit lead by hitting 5-of-6 foul shots. When 5-9 junior Malik Gill — who led the Big Green with three assists and a season-high five rebounds — found Wright streaking to the hoop along the baseline for a two-hand ham, Dartmouth seemed energized and poised to rally. Another Gill assist, this time to sophomore forward Wesley Dickinson, and a 17-footer by the speedy guard led Princeton to call time with its lead down to six at 23-17.

Out of the timeout, the Tigers ran a play that freed Pete Miller for one of his five first-half field goals, slamming the ball home. Two more Miller buckets sandwiched around a Hazel three-pointer boosted Princeton's lead to 12 before Dartmouth scored the final three points of the half on another Dickinson layup and a free throw by Mitola, sending the teams into the locker room with the score at 34-25.

The second half started well for the Big Green as sophomore Cole Harrison began the stanza on the floor in place of Maldunas and provided two buckets and a steal in the first minute and a half. But the Tigers would not allow Dartmouth to inch closer as Weisz converted a pair of three-point plays during a 10-2 spurt for a 13-point advantage at 43-30.

Two quick layups by Wright brought the deficit back down into single digits, only to have Weisz score the next five points with a three-ball and a layup. Another Hazel trifecta with just under 12 minutes to play gave Princeton its largest bulge at 53-36.

Having rallied from a 14-point deficit at Harvard to defeat the Crimson a week earlier, Dartmouth was not about to give in, however. Maldunas laid one in, and freshman Cameron Smith provided a spark off the bench with a steal and a layup before finding Dickinson all alone down low for an easy deuce. Maldunas then stole the ball and eventually put another shot in the paint through the hoop to cap a 9-0 run, bringing the Big Green back within eight with 8:52 still to play.

It was nearly four minutes before Dartmouth put more points on the board, shortly after Hazel's final trey of the evening. Maldunas provided a faint glimmer of hope in the waning minutes with two quick buckets to make it a nine-point game, but time was not on the Big Green's side as Princeton closed out the victory.

The rebounding was tight with Princeton holding a slim 27-26 margin, though 6-3 guard Amir Bell led all players with seven boards for the Tigers and Gill's five paced Dartmouth. And despite the Big Green shooting 48.9 percent (22-of-45) for the game, the Princeton defense shut down the team's top two scorers in Mitola and Boehm, both of whom produced season lows with five and two points, respectively.

Dartmouth will finish up a five-game road swing in Ivy play next weekend when it plays at league-leading Yale (15-6, 4-0 Ivy) on Friday in a game televised by CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. and at Brown (9-12, 0-4 Ivy) the following night at 6 p.m. Princeton takes to the road as well, taking on Columbia (10-8, 2-2 Ivy) and Cornell (10-10, 2-2 Ivy).

Notes: Mitola missed a foul shot with 4.8 seconds left in the first half, ending a streak of 27 consecutive free throws made … Dartmouth is just 3-43 at Jadwin Gym since it opened … the Big Green have lost two straight games, but have not had a three-game streak — winning or losing — all year.