Big Green Succumb to Ivy Leaders, 77-59

Friday, February 22

New Haven, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

11-14, 2-7Ivy

Yale

18-4, 8-1Ivy

Dartmouth

Yale

Brendan Barry had 17 points to lead the Big Green.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

2/22/2019 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The host Bulldogs shot 60 percent from the floor to send Dartmouth away on Friday night

By: Rick Bender

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Alex Copeland made it a night to remember as the Yale senior scored 23 points — including the 1000th of his career — on 11-of-12 shooting to lead the host Bulldogs (18-4, 8-1 Ivy) to a 77-59 victory over Dartmouth (11-14, 2-7 Ivy) at Lee Amphitheater.

Yale shot 60 percent as a team to cruise to the victory as Azar Swain came off the bench to contribute 16 points on 6-of-8 field goals with three 3-pointers, and Miye Oni quietly nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Big Green got 17 points from junior Brendan Barry and 15 more from junior James Foye as the duo shot a combined 11-of-22 from the floor. Their teammates, however, managed just 12 buckets in 49 attempts as Dartmouth finished the night shooting 37.7 percent (23-of-61) overall and only 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from downtown.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 13-8 lead as Copeland provided four baskets, then rattled off 12 consecutive points to boost their lead to 17. Swain dropped his first two triples during the run which lasted more than six minutes before sophomore Chris Knight dropped in a lefty layup for the Big Green.

Freshman Taurus Samuels hit back-to-back shots, the second from long range, to close the gap to 12 at 29-17, but Copeland helped Yale stretch its advantage to as many as 19 with a steal and the flush at the other end. Foye answered by matching Samuels with a bucket and a triple, but by the time halftime arrived, the Bulldogs lead was 40-25.

In the second half, Barry and Foye did all they could to keep Dartmouth in the game, scoring 20 of the team's first 24 points in the stanza. Yale would not relent, however, as 10 different players scored, extending the lead to as many as 26 when Eric Monroe drilled a 17-footer. The Big Green scored the final eight points on baskets by four different reserves, the last courtesy of New Hampshire native Ben Swett, leaving the difference 18 at the buzzer.

Yale dominated the boards, grabbing 38 rebounds to just 25 for Dartmouth. Although the Bulldogs turned the ball over 14 times to just 10 for the Big Green, they were able to convert those miscues into 13 points compared to 11 for the visitors.

Dartmouth will have the opportunity to shake off the loss tomorrow night at Brown (16-9, 4-5 Ivy), which defeated Harvard this evening, 88-79. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 6 p.m.

Notes: Dartmouth's two losses to Yale have been by a combined 39 points, while its other five league losses have been by a total of just 14 … the Big Green, which entered the game among the top 30 nationally in 3-pointers per game, hit a season-low four from deep … Knight, Dartmouth's leading scorer this season, was held to a season-low four points, just his fourth game in single digits all year … the Big Green have lost their last eight meetings with Yale. The last win in the series came in the final regular-season game in 2015 when Dartmouth denied the Bulldogs an outright Ivy League title on a last-second shot.