Maldunas Hits 1,000 Points as Men Tame Lions, 61-49

Saturday, February 14

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Columbia

Maldunas Hits 1,000 Points as Men Tame Lions, 61-49

2/14/2015 9:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — With the score tied at 37 and just under 12 minutes to play, the Dartmouth Big Green scored 13 straight points over nearly a nine-minute span to pull away and defeat the visiting Columbia Lions on Saturday night at Leede Arena, 61-49. Freshman Miles Wright led all players with 16 points to help Dartmouth (9-13, 2-6 Ivy) snap a five-game skid, while Steve Frankoski paced Columbia (11-11, 3-5 Ivy) with 14.

Both squads had a player join the 1,000-point club during the game as well. The Lions' Maodo Lo reached the milestone in the first half with his lone three-pointer of the night and finished the game with 11 points. In the final two minutes, senior Gabas Maldunas hit the first of two free throws to also score 11 on the night and give him exactly 1,000 for his Big Green career.

Dartmouth was able to overcome 19 turnovers, which matched a season high, by dominating the glass with 33 rebounds to just 20 for Columbia as Maldunas just missed out on a second straight double-double with nine boards. The Big Green defense also forced 17 Lion turnovers and converted them into 22 points, and despite taking a season-low 38 field goal attempts, they knocked down half of them, including 7-of-12 (.583) from long range.

Columbia, meanwhile, was held to 39.1 percent from the floor (18-of-46) and just 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from downtown. Dartmouth had a large advantage at the free throw line, going 16-of-27 (.593) compared to 6-of-9 (.667) for the visitors.

After a John Golden three-pointer pushed the Dartmouth lead to 37-33, Frankoski and Isaac Cohen provided baskets to knot the score at 37 with just under 12 minutes on the clock. But until Frankoski splashed his final triple with three minutes remaining, Columbia could not dent the scoreboard as it missed eight shots, turned the ball over twice and committed a flagrant foul that gave the Big Green two free points.

Maldunas began the 13-point run with a layup off a feed from Golden, and junior Malik Gill rained down his only field goal of the night from 24 feet out for a 42-37 lead. Less than a minute later, Wright drained a three-pointer from the right wing off a feed from Gill, and shortly after junior Alex Mitola swiped the ball, he took an forearm to the head that sent him to the line for two free throws and a 10-point lead. Gill added another free throw before Maldunas bookended the run with another layup.

Even when Frankoski ended the Lion scoring drought with his last trey, Mitola answered right back with the shot clock about to expire and 2:20 to play for his third trifecta of the evening as he finished with 13 points. The Lions never cut the deficit back to single digits again.

Dartmouth began the game in a similar fashion to the way head coach Paul Cormier's team closed it out — thoroughly dominating the scoreboard. Over the first eight minutes, the Big Green outscored Columbia, 19-2. But by halftime, the Lions had closed the gap to just two, 28-26, as they put together a 12-2 run over the final five and a half minutes.

Columbia did manage to claim the lead for a grand total of 17 seconds at 31-30 in the second half when Frankoski cashed in his third of four three-pointers on the night (without a miss). It was sophomore forward Wesley Dickinson, making his first career start, who put the Green back on top with a scooping layup in the lane. Just a few minutes later, Golden drained his three-pointer and Columbia tied the score at 37, and Dartmouth was off to the races.

Wright hit 6-of-9 overall and 2-of-4 from behind the arc as the rookie topped the Big Green in scoring for the fourth straight game in hopes of garnering his second straight Ivy Rookie of the Week award. He also hauled in six rebounds, four on the offensive glass, and stole the ball twice.

The 6-9 Maldunas was 5-of-10 from the floor and led Dartmouth with three assists, while Mitola popped 3-of-4 three-pointers and converted all four of his foul shots for his best scoring output since helping the Green win at Harvard with 18 points back on Jan. 24. Gill joined the trio in double figureds with 10 points thanks to hitting 7-of-10 free throws to go with his triple, and Dickinson blocked a career-high four shots in 25 minutes on the court.

Lo may have reached 1,000 points for the Lions, but their leading scorer on the season knocked down just 5-of-14 field goals and 1-of-7 three-pointers. Kyle Castlin led Columbia with six rebounds and added nine points.

Dartmouth will continue its four-game homestand by hosting Princeton and Penn next weekend, beginning with the Tigers on Friday at 7 p.m. Columbia will remain on the road, taking on Brown on Friday at 8 p.m.

Notes: Maldunas is the 26th player in Dartmouth history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, and first since Alex Barnett '09 six years ago … Mitola is closing in on 1,000 points as well. The junior has 925 in 78 career games, and would reach the mark by averaging exactly 12.5 points over the final six contests (which is just below his season average of 12.7) … junior Connor Boehm, who had started the previous 27 games and 45 of the last 46, was unavailable and did not play, ending his string of 77 consecutive games played to start his career.