Cornell Spoils Boehm's 1000th Point with Late Rally

Saturday, January 30

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-11, 1-3Ivy

Cornell

9-9, 2-2Ivy

Cornell

Dartmouth

Cornell Spoils Boehm's 1000th Point with Late Rally

1/30/2016 9:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Trailing by nine with 3:35 to play, the visiting Cornell Big Red scored 16 of the final 19 points — 14 at the foul line — to rally for a 77-73 victory over the Dartmouth Big Green on Saturday night at Leede Arena. Matt Morgan scored 32 points for Cornell (9-9, 2-2 Ivy), helping the Big Red spoil the night on which senior Connor Boehm surpassed 1,000 points for his career while scoring 22 for Dartmouth (7-11, 1-3 Ivy).

In addition to Boehm's milestone, freshman Evan Boudreaux added 24 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for his sixth double-double as he dueled Morgan in a battle of the Ivy League's top scoring rookies.

The Big Green had not hit a three-pointer all evening until Boehm drained one from the left corner in front of his own bench with 3:42 left to play, giving Dartmouth a 70-61 advantage. But that lead was not safe as Cornell repeatedly found ways to get to the free throw line, starting with Morgan hitting 1-of-2 10 seconds later.

While the Big Green missed their next three shots, Morgan managed to hit 3-of-4 foul shots with Tony Whiteside driving for a layup in between to make it a three-point game with 2:04 on the clock. A turnover and a foul sent Morgan back to the line — where he was 17-of-23 for the game, all in the second half — and he converted both to make it a one-point game. Following a Dartmouth shot-clock violation, Darryl Smith took his turn at the charity stripe and gave the Big Red the lead, 71-70, with two more freebies.

The run continued with two more free throws from both Smith and Morgan as the Big Green misfired on two more three-point attempts. When JoJo Fallas sank 1-of-2 foul shots with 7.5 seconds left for a 76-70 lead, the run reached 15 points and seemed to put the game away. But senior Malik Gill gave Dartmouth one last gasp by drilling a 25-footer with 1.7 seconds on the clock, making it a one-possession game at 76-73. But Morgan hit the second of two free throws moments later to put the game out of reach.

Over the final 3:32, Cornell connected on 14-of-18 foul shots and hit the only shot from the floor it was credited with. The Big Green meanwhile, missed six straight shots before Gill's triple, turned the ball over twice and did not earn a single trip to the foul line.

Dartmouth controlled the second half up until those final few minutes, quickly erasing a six-point halftime deficit by starting the stanza on an extended 19-3 run to take a 54-44 lead. Halfway through the period, Boehm dropped in a layup for a 12-point Big Green advantage, their largest of the night at 58-46.

Morgan rallied Cornell by scoring nine points during an 11-2 spurt, capping the rally with a three-pointer to make it a 60-57 game. Boudreaux responded with a layup off a feed from Gill, who distributed a game-high five assists, but Morgan swished three free throws after a foul call outside the arc to close the gap to two.

It looked as if Dartmouth had withstood the Big Red uprising as it posted eight of the next nine points with Boehm providing the last three with his long ball. But the rest of the game belonged to Cornell.

The Big Red enjoyed a sizzling first half from the floor, draining 17-of-27 (.630) overall and 6-of-10 (.600) from downtown. The field goals were few and far between in the second half, however, as Cornell managed to make just 5-of-20 (.250) shots, including 1-of-7 (.143) behind the arc. The difference came at the foul line as the Big Red sank 25-of-33 (.758) in the second half after attempting just two in the first 20 minutes.

Dartmouth finished the night shooting 42.2 percent (27-of-64) but just 2-of-17 (.118) on three-pointers. At the charity stripe, the Big Green were efficient, canning 17-of-22 (.773), and they held a rebounding advantage of 39-30. Both teams committed 15 turnovers, but Cornell was much more adept at converting those miscues into points, tallying 26 to just 15 for Dartmouth.

Boudreaux was 8-of-16 from the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line for his 24 points, one shy of his season high. Boehm knocked down 8-of-10 field goals (with his only two misses from long range) and 5-of-9 foul shots.

Morgan hit half of his field goal attempts, going 6-of-12 overall and 3-of-6 from deep to go with his 17 free throws. Smith was the only other Big Red player in double figures with 13 points while David Onuorah led Cornell with seven rebounds.

Dartmouth hits the road next weekend for its historically most difficult weekend when it plays at Penn and Princeton on Feb. 6-7. The Big Green have won just four games at The Palestra in the last 56 seasons and only once has swept the two games (2009). Cornell returns to Ithaca to host Brown and Yale next weekend.

Notes: Boehm has 1,015 points in his career, surpassing three players to sit 25th on the all-time list at Dartmouth … Boudreaux's 16 rebounds are the most by a Big Green player since Gabas Maldunas had 17 against UMass Lowell on Nov. 16, 2013 ... Dartmouth's two opponents this weekend, Columbia and Cornell, combined to sink 51-of-71 free throws … the Big Green still have not won a game this season when they did not lead at the half. They are 7-0 when ahead at the intermission and 0-11 when trailing or tied.