Dartmouth Survives in Overtime, 80-75

Sunday, November 17

Lowell, Mass.

3:30 PM

Dartmouth College

4-1

UMass Lowell

2-5

OT 1

Dartmouth

UMass Lowell

Ian Sistare led the Big Green with 15 points.

Photo by: Doug Austin

11/17/2019 5:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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After losing a 19-point lead, the Big Green defeat host UMass Lowell

By: Rick Bender

LOWELL, Mass. — Dartmouth did not despair from letting a 19-point lead slip away in the second half, rallying in overtime to defeat UMass Lowell, 80-75, in the final game of the River Hawk Invitational. Senior Ian Sistare led four Big Green players in double figures with 15 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to help Dartmouth improve to 4-1 on the season and claim a share of the tournament title. The River Hawks dropped to 2-5 despite the valiant comeback and lost all three games this weekend by a combined nine points.

Sistare finished the game shooting 50 percent overall (5-of-10), from downtown (3-of-6) and at the foul line (2-of-4), while junior Chris Knight provided 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Senior James Foye also had three of the Big Green's season-high 11 triples while tallying a dozen points, and junior Aaryn Rai chipped in 10, including some of the most crucial points in overtime.

After converting just 7-of-16 foul shots during regulation, Rai and sophomore Trevor Ary-Turner came up clutch in the overtime period. Rai hit two free throws early in the extra session, then added four more after Ary-Turner drilled a 3-pointer with 1:10 left that brought Dartmouth back from a four-point deficit. After Rai gave the Green a three-point lead with his freebies, Ary-Turner put the game on ice with two more in the final two seconds.

The Big Green were in complete control for the first 30 minutes of the game, scoring the game's first eight points of the contest. Their lead reached double digits after not even six minutes of play at 15-4 on a Taurus Samuels driving layup. Two minutes later, the sophomore popped a 3-pointer and Knight dropped in a layup to make it a 25-10 game after eight-and-a-half minutes of action.

After Obadiah Noel (15 points) responded with a 3-pointer for UMass Lowell, both teams went silent as the scoreboard did not change for just over five minutes. Jordyn Owens ended the drought by hitting the first of two free throws, and the River Hawks managed to get within seven, 27-20, when Josh Gantz (16 points) rained down a long ball.

Sophomore Wes Slajchert answered right back with a trey of his own, starting an eight-point Dartmouth run, capped by Sistare's first 3-pointer of the day. By halftime, the Big Green had a 39-25 lead as they hit 60 percent (15-of-25) from the floor and 50 percent (6-of-12) from long range in the opening stanza. But their performance at the charity stripe (3-of-7) was an omen of things to come.

Dartmouth stretched its lead to 19 points initially on an Ian Carter bucket little more than three minutes into the second stanza, only to have the River Hawks cut their deficit down to 12 with just under 13 minutes to play. Sistare went on a personal 9-2 run at that point with a 3-point play and a pair of trifectas, boosting the Big Green lead back to 19 points a 62-43 with 10:30 to play, and the game seemed to be well in hand.

But UMass Lowell started to find its outside stroke, drilling three 3-pointers as part of a 14-0 run to close the gap to five, 62-57, with five minutes remaining. Ron Mitchell, who came off the bench to lead all players with 17 points — all after halftime — provided five in the run, as did Noel.

Dartmouth had opportunities to put the game away in the final minutes at the foul line, but twice missed the front end of a one-and-one, and two other times managed to convert just one following a two-shot foul. Still, when Foye drilled one from behind the arc with 1:05 to play, the Green were back up five, 67-62.

The River Hawks would not give in, however, as Connor Withers drained a long jumper and Mitchell popped a long 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game with 19 seconds left. Knight got a good look under the basket as time expired, but his shot rolled off the rim, sending the game into overtime.

Sistare quickly put Dartmouth back on top with a layup, only to have UMass Lowell go on an 8-2 run, capped by a trifecta by Christian Lutete, giving him seven points on the night after averaging 24 over the first six games. It was at that point that Ary-Turner and Rai took over to lift the Big Green to victory.

Dartmouth finished the game hitting 15-of-24 free throws (.625) to go with 27-of-57 (.474) from the floor and 11-of-24 from distance (.458). The River Hawks, meanwhile, were exactly the same shooting overall, but went 8-of-26 (.308) behind the arc and 13-of-20 (.650) at the line. UMass Lowell outrebounded Dartmouth, 38-33, but also turned the ball over 17 times to just 14 for the Big Green.

Dartmouth has one more game before a 10-day break, hosting Division III Thomas College (2-0) on Tuesday night at Leede Arena. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. with the game streamed live on ESPN+ featuring Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, as well as a free audio stream through DartmouthSports.com with Brett Franklin on the call.

Notes: Dartmouth tied with Merrimack and Jacksonville for the tournament title as each team won two of their three games, while UMass Lowell dropped all three … the win was the first in overtime for the Big Green since an 80-79 triumph over Columbia on Feb. 18, 2017 … Dartmouth is 2-0 on the road for the first time since 1995-96. The last time the team was 3-0 in road games to start a season was in 1986-87 … the Big Green are 3-0 all-time against UMass Lowell.