Wright's 21 Points Not Enough to Beat Brown on the Road

Saturday, February 7

Providence, R.I.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-12, 1-5Ivy

Brown

10-13, 1-5Ivy

Dartmouth

Brown

Wright's 21 Points Not Enough to Beat Brown on the Road

2/7/2015 8:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — J.R. Hobbie hit five three-pointers to lead Brown with 17 points and help the host Bears (10-13, 1-5 Ivy) hang on to defeat the Dartmouth Big Green on Saturday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center, 67-64, for their first Ivy League win of the season. Freshman Miles Wright led all players with 21 points — his second straight 20-point game — but it was not enough to keep Dartmouth (8-12, 1-5 Ivy) from dropping its fourth straight contest.

Brown never trailed after the first 14 minutes, but the Big Green closed the gap from six to two in the span of 10 seconds with a minute to play to put the outcome in doubt. Junior Malik Gill drove into the lane, but the 5-9 guard hit the wall that was 6-9 forward Rafael Maia. Undeterred, Gill threw up a wild shot hoping to get a foul call, but instead the ball bounded around the rim before falling through for two. After a timeout, Wright stole the ball shortly after the inbounds pass and scored on a layup with a minute showing on the clock to bring Dartmouth within two at 61-59.

After two free throws by Steven Spieth — who sat most of the second half with four fouls — Big Green forward Connor Boehm drained a three-pointer from the corner with 33.9 seconds to go, bringing Dartmouth within one, 63-62. Again Brown hit two free throws, this time by Tavon Blackmon, leaving the Green 25 seconds with a chance to tie the score with another trifecta.

But as Dartmouth set up its play, Boehm traveled with the ball at the top of the key. Two more Blackmon free throws built the Bear lead back to five, and when Wright dropped in his final points on a putback with 0.8 seconds left, Brown was able to dribble out the clock.

Hobbie hit his five three-pointers in just eight attempts, the last coming with 2:14 to play to respond to a trey by Dartmouth sharpshooter Alex Mitola, maintaining the six-point Bear advantage. The sophomore guard was not the only Bear to score in double figures as Maia recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Cedric Kuakumensah snared 11 caroms to allow Brown to win the battle of the boards on the night, 39-35.

Wright knocked down half of his 14 field goal attempts and 7-of-9 at the line to account for his 21 points, while the Big Green's leading scorer this season, Mitola, chipped in 10 to go with four assists. Center Gabas Maldunas hauled in a season-high 15 rebounds (two shy of his personal best) while adding nine points.

Junior Kevin Crescenzi gave Dartmouth an early 5-4 lead with his first of two three-pointers in the opening stanza, and the Big Green maintained a lead — but never by more than four points — for the next nine minutes. But Maia fueled a 10-2 spurt with a trio of layups to turn the tables and put Brown on top by four, 24-20, with five minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears never relinquished that lead.

A pair of Hobbie trifectas countered the second one for Crescenzi as the Bears extended their lead to eight by the time the buzzer sounded, 33-25. Brown hit half of its shots in the period (13-of-26) and forced 10 Big Green turnovers while holding Dartmouth to 40 percent (10-of-25) from the floor. Freshman Miles Wright, who led the Green with 20 points last night at Yale, poured in nine to lead all players at the break, and Crescenzi added eight by hitting all three of his field goal attempts.

Wright scored the first six points of the second half to quickly whittle the deficit down to two, 33-31, but Hobbie was there to quell the uprising with a long ball. The Big Green turned up the defensive pressure and forced 12 turnovers in the second half (19 for the game), yet they could not get any closer than four points until Mitola hit his lone three-ball 15 minutes later with 2:36 showing on the clock. Nor could Brown extend their lead beyond nine points as the two teams traded baskets and free throws throughout the half.

Dartmouth was held to 38.3 percent shooting (23-of-60) for the game and 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from beyond the arc. And by converting just 14-of-23 free throws (.609), the Big Green failed to take advantage of key scoring opportunities at the foul line.

Brown was able to overcome its 19 miscues that led to 25 Dartmouth points by shooting 22-of-48 (.458) on the night with the five Hobbie triples in 15 attempts by the team. At the free throw line, the Bears made 18-of-26 (.692), including all six in the final minute of play.

Dartmouth will attempt to snap its season-long four-game slide when it returns home next Friday after five straight road games in league play. The Big Green will welcome Cornell (11-11, 3-3 Ivy) to Leede Arena with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Brown will travel to Princeton (10-11, 3-2 Ivy) for an 8 p.m. game on Friday.