Late Big Green Cold Spell Allows Princeton to Rally for Win

Friday, February 20

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

9-14, 2-7Ivy

Princeton

12-12, 5-3Ivy

Princeton

Dartmouth

Late Big Green Cold Spell Allows Princeton to Rally for Win

2/20/2015 9:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Condensed Broadcast Archived Broadcast Box Score (HTML)

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth led for the entire first half, but an 11-2 Princeton run over an eight-minute stretch late in the second half allowed the visiting Tigers to rally for and escape with a 63-56 victory on Friday night at Leede Arena. Amir Bell led four players for Princeton (12-12, 5-3 Ivy) in double figures with 12 points, while senior Gabas Maldunas and freshman Miles Wright each had 16 for the Big Green (9-14, 2-7 Ivy).

With the score tied at 45 and 10 minutes to play, Maldunas gave Dartmouth its final lead of the night with a lefty hook in the lane. After Wright soared for a contested dunk but missed with no foul being called, Princeton rushed down the court allowing Clay Wilson, who scored 11 points on the night, to sink a three-pointer for a 48-47 Tiger lead.

The Big Green proceeded to miss eight of nine shots and three free throws starting with that Wright dunk attempt as the Tigers opened up a 56-49 lead. Alex Mitola ended the extended run with two foul shots and 1:45 on the clock, but Steven Cook responded with a three-pointer from the corner. Dartmouth would not get any closer than five points the rest of the way.

Dartmouth started the contest about as hot as the free sampling of wings from local restaurants on the concourse outside the arena, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first six minutes. Princeton could not find the range early, missing its first eight shots, six from beyond the arc. Wright converted a three-point play and Wesley Dickinson capped the run with a layup before Wilson finally sank one from distance for the Tigers.

Wright answered with a trifecta, but the Tigers starting chipping away at the deficit. After Dickinson dropped in a nifty reverse layup for the Big Green off a feed from Malik Gill to maintain a six-point lead, Bell hit a jumper and Ben Hazel drained a three-pointer to bring Princeton within one at 20-19.

But Mitola and Wright each hit triples, and Maldunas and Tommy Carpenter each converted two foul shots to boost the bulge back to nine at 32-23 with 2:16 left in the half. Princeton drew within five at the intermission, however, thanks to free throws by Spencer Weisz and Cook.

It took about four minutes for the Tigers to take their first lead of the night at 37-36 when Hans Brase grabbed a missed three-pointer and went back up for a layup. Within 20 seconds, Dartmouth was back on top as Wright ripped the net from the right wing for three points, starting a seven-point spurt that he finished off with two free throws.

Princeton answered with a seven-point run of its own by sandwiching a Cook trey between layups by Pete Miller and Weisz. Again the Big Green quickly responded after losing the lead as Maldunas drove the lane and spun for layup. A Tiger free throw knotted the score at 45 before Maldunas gave Dartmouth its final lead Princeton rallied for the win.

Wright, the two-time reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week hit 5-of-8 field goals and 3-of-5 from long range as well as all three free throw attempts for his 16 points. Maldunas was 6-of-14 and 4-of-8 at the line while hauling in seven rebounds and matching a career high with five assists to lead the Big Green's effort on the glass.

Bell was 4-for-8 with a three-pointer and 3-of-5 at the line to account for his dozen points, plus dishes out four assists. Wilson popped a trio of triples in scoring 11, while Weisz and Cook each had 10 with the latter grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.

The two teams posted similar shooting percentages with Princeton holding a slim edge overall (43.2 percent to 41.7) and from outside the arc (30.8 percent to 28.6), but Dartmouth was a bit more accurate at the charity stripe (66.7 percent to 63.0), though the Tigers made 17 foul shots to just 12 for the Big Green. The biggest difference came on the boards where Princeton snared 36 to just 27 for the host, with a more pronounced 22-12 edge in the second half.

Dartmouth returns to its home floor tomorrow evening when it entertains Penn (7-15, 2-6 Ivy) at 7 p.m. Princeton will try to remain relevant in the Ivy League race when it plays at the co-leader, Harvard (18-5, 8-1 Ivy) at 7 p.m. as well.

Notes: Dartmouth's leading scorer, Mitola, finished the game with seven points, his most against the Tigers in six career games … Wright has led the Big Green in scoring for five straight games and is 57.9 percent (33-for-57) over that span … Maldunas needs four rebounds to become the fourth player in Dartmouth history with 700 in a career. Last week he became the 26th Big Green player to score 1,000 points.