Senior Night Spoiled in 84-65 Loss to Princeton

Saturday, March 5

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-18, 4-10Ivy

Princeton

21-6, 11-2Ivy

Princeton

Dartmouth

Senior Night Spoiled in 84-65 Loss to Princeton

3/5/2016 8:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Steve Cook seems to really enjoy playing against Dartmouth. The junior Princeton forward tallied 27 points — a total he first attained against the Big Green last month at Princeton — while draining six three-pointers to lead the Tigers to an 84-65 victory on Dartmouth's Senior Night at Leede Arena. But with Yale's 71-55 victory over Columbia tonight, Princeton (21-6, 11-2 Ivy) will finish second in the Ivy League standings behind the Bulldogs, who earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 54 years.

Senior Connor Boehm scored 18 points and brought down seven rebounds in his final collegiate game for Dartmouth (10-18, 4-10 Ivy), as the Big Green played without the services of their leading scorer and rebounder, freshman Evan Boudreaux, who missed his only game of the season with a foot injury. Freshman Guilien Smith added 11 for Dartmouth while senior Malik Gill added nine to go with four assists and a pair of steals.

The Big Green briefly had an early 7-5 lead after two straight Boehm buckets in the paint. But over the next four minutes, Princeton rattled off 17 of the next 19 points as Spencer Weisz, Devin Cannady and Cook each hit a three-pointer for a 22-9 Tiger advantage.

Senior Brandon McDonnell tried to turn the momentum with a two-hand slam for Dartmouth, but Cannady came right back with another triple before Cook really started to heat up. Of Princeton's next 19 points to close out the half, Cook provided 17 with four long balls, a three-point play and a two-hand stuff to send the Tigers to the locker room with a 21-point lead, 44-23.

Princeton shot a robust 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the opening stanza, including 50 percent (8-of-16) from long range. The Tigers also took advantage of some sloppy Big Green play, turning 11 turnovers into 19 points while Dartmouth went 10-of-26 (.385) from the floor with nary a three-pointer.

The difference became even greater at the outset of the second half, even though sophomore Cameron Smith began the period with a steal and a reverse jam to the delight of the partisan crowd. But Cook, Henry Caruso and Cannady each popped a triple in the first three minutes, and when Myles Stephens dropped in a layup shortly before the first media timeout, Princeton enjoyed a 30-point lead, 59-29.

Dartmouth was not discouraged, however, and gradually cut into the deficit, beginning with a trifecta by senior Kevin Crescenzi. Junior Wesley Dickinson provided four straight points, and Boehm added five more before Guilien Smith drained a three-ball to get the Green within 21, 65-44, with 10 minutes to play.

Amir Bell answered for Princeton with the Tigers' 12th and final three-pointer of the night, but Dartmouth kept plugging away. Boehm drilled his second trey of the night, and after Dickinson spun in the lane for a lefty layup, junior Quinten Payne stole a Tiger pass and threw down a wide-open two-hand slam to get the difference under 20 points, 72-53, for the first time since Cameron Smith's at the outset of the half.

Twice Dartmouth would close to as few as 14, first on a long Gill three-pointer, and again when senior Matt Rennie hit the first of two free throws with 2:44 to play. That turned out to be the final Big Green point of the night as Princeton closed out the win with five straight points.

The Tigers finished the night shooting 54.5 percent (30-of-55) and 48 percent (12-of-25) from downtown. Joining Cook in double figures were three of his fellow starters — Pete Miller (11), Caruso and Bell (10 apiece), while Weisz dished out nine assists (the most by a Dartmouth opponent all season) to go with his nine points.

Dartmouth found its stroke in the second half, knocking down 15-of-29 (.517) from the floor and 5-of-9 (.556) behind the arc over the final 20 minutes.

The Big Green finish the season all alone in sixth place in the Ivy League standings, plus won at least 10 games for the third straight year for the first time in 19 years.

Notes: Dartmouth had 30 rebounds to finish the season with 1,004 caroms. The last time the Big Green had at least 1,000 rebounds in a season? 1960-61, the year before Yale last went to the NCAA Tournament … Boehm's 18 points give him 1,127 in his career and boosted him a 10-point average (112 games) … although he fell one rebound short of 600 for his career, Boehm will graduate as Dartmouth's eight-leading rebounder … Gill ends his career 10th all-time at Dartmouth with 258 assists and fourth with 167 steals.

The 2016 senior class (left to right) — Matt Rennie, Malik Gill,
Kevin Crescenzi, Tommy Carpenter, Brandon McDonnell and Connor Boehm
(courtesy Tom McNell)