Turnovers Prove Costly in 60-58 Defeat Against Brown

Friday, February 1

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-9, 1-2Ivy

Brown

13-6, 1-2Ivy

Brown

Dartmouth

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Turnovers Prove Costly in 60-58 Defeat Against Brown

2/1/2019 8:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Ian Sistare recorded his first career double-double, but a season-high 20 turnovers were the Big Green's undoing.

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth senior Guilien Smith launched a 3-pointer in the waning seconds that only drew iron as visiting Brown picked up its first Ivy League victory of the season, 60-58, on Friday night at Leede Arena. Obi Okolie led the Bears (13-6, 1-2 Ivy) with 15 points, while sophomore Chris Knight had 15 for the Big Green (10-9, 1-2 Ivy) as well.

Dartmouth could not overcome a season-high 20 turnovers, including four consecutively without point guard Brendan Barry (who fouled out with 4:44 to play) in the final 2:30 that helped Brown score eight straight points to rally from a five-point deficit. Twice the Big Green cut a three-point lead down to one in the final 22 seconds, twice cutting it down to one before Smith's shot was off the mark as time expired.

Brown had to overcome a cold shooting performance by its leading scorer, Desmond Cambridge, who was just 1-of-14 from the floor while scoring four points. But Okolie was there to pick up the slack, as were Tamenang Choh (12 points, team highs of nine rebounds, five steals and four assists) and reserve guard Chris Sullivan (13 points) who canned all three of his 3-point shots. And the Bears turned the 20 Big Green turnovers into 24 points.

Dartmouth got a double-double from junior Ian Sistare — 10 points and 10 rebounds — the first of his career, while sophomore Aaryn Rai added 10 points in his first start of the season. Both Rai and Knight grabbed eight boards as the Big Green battled Brown to a draw on the glass with 34 rebounds apiece, though the Bears had 11 on the offensive end.

"The turnovers and allowing 11 more shots do not make for a winning recipe in a ball game," said head coach David McLaughlin. "The turnovers led to us losing our composure a bit on the defensive end, leading to a couple of easy shots late. We have generally done a good job of taking care of the ball this season, but we got sped up and too often didn't make good decisions with the basketball. It is something we can't afford to do."

The game began with seven straight Dartmouth points as the Green led for the most of the first 14 minutes of the game. Brown clawed back to take an 18-17 lead on a basket in the paint by George Mawanda-Kalema, capping a streak of seven straight points for the sophomore. A Knight layup briefly gave Dartmouth the lead back, but Cambridge's lone field goal of the night put the Bears back on top before Sullivan added another triple to give the visitors a 27-23 lead at the break.

Twice Brown extended its advantage to six early in the second stanza only to have the Big Green rally thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Rai and Barry for a 38-34 lead with 13:40 to play. After Sullivan drained a long ball to give Brown a 43-42 edge, Dartmouth went on a seven-point burst, capped by a 3-pointer courtesy of junior James Foye, leaving the Green up, 49-43, with 6:37 left.

The lead was still six when Barry was whistled for his fourth foul at the defensive end, and 21 seconds later he was disqualified with his fifth on a charge. Still, Dartmouth went up seven on a pair of Rai free throws, 53-46, with 4:10 remaining, only to have Brown score 11 of the next 12 points as the Big Green hit 1-of-2 free throws and turned the ball over five times on their next six possessions.

Okolie started the rally with a 3-pointer, and Zach Hunsaker hit another from the far corner to close the gap to two, 54-52, with 1:54 still to play. Cambridge hit the first of two foul shots before Hunsaker drew a charge (as he did for Barry's fifth foul) that led to Choh scoring under the basket to give Brown the lead for good as it turned out, 55-54.

Dartmouth still had a chance when Brown hit just two of its next four free throws, but after freshman Taurus Samuels hit two from the charity stripe, Okolie did the same. Bear freshman David Mitchell hit the first of two foul shots with 8.7 seconds left, but the second was rebounded to Knight, who passed ahead to Smith for the potential game-winning shot.

Brown shot just 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the floor, 26.7 percent (8-of-30) from long range and 52.6 percent (10-of-19) at the line but overcame its shooting woes with an aggressive defense that picked up 14 steals, five by Choh.

Meanwhile, the Big Green hit 21-of-45 (.467) field goals, but a season-worst 5-of-20 (.250) from deep after entering as the seventh-most accurate team in the country from the perimeter. Knight was 7-of-12 from the floor in scoring his 15 points.

Dartmouth turns around to host Yale (12-4, 2-1 Ivy) tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs had their eight-game winning streak snapped tonight at Harvard in a 65-49 defeat. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Eric Berry calling the action. Fans can also listen to the contests locally on KOOL FM (106.7 FM in Hanover, 96.3 FM in Walpole and 106.5 FM in Keene) or online at koolnh.com with Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy on the call.

Notes: Barry, the nation's leader in 3-point percentage entering the game, finished the night 2-of-6 from the perimeter, dropping his season accuracy at 50.4 percent … Dartmouth dropped below 40 percent from distance, but just barely (.399).