Second-Half Comeback For Naught in 70-66 Defeat at Columbia

Friday, March 8

New York, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

11-18, 2-11

Columbia

10-17, 5-8

Dartmouth

Columbia

Aaryn Rai men's basketball action versus Princeton

Sophomore Aaryn Rai had his second double-double in the last three games

Photo by: Doug Austin

Second-Half Comeback For Naught in 70-66 Defeat at Columbia

3/8/2019 8:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth stormed back from a 10-point halftime deficit, but came up short in the end

By: Rick Bender

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Dartmouth rallied back from a 10-point halftime deficit to take a three-point lead with eight minutes to play, but Columbia prevailed down the stretch to defeat the visiting Big Green on Friday evening at Levien Gymnasium, 70-66. Patrick Tapé led the Lions (10-17, 5-8 Ivy) to their third straight victory with 19 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Aaryn Rai produced a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 14 boards for Dartmouth (11-18, 2-11 Ivy), which lost its eighth league game by five points or fewer.

Trailing 40-30 coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Big Green went right to work by going on a 14-3 run capped by freshman Taurus Samuels' layup on a feed from junior Brendan Barry, giving Dartmouth its first lead of the night at 44-43 less than four minutes into the stanza. After Columbia regained the lead by going to Tapé down low, Samuels put the Green back on top with a pair of free throws.

When Barry added another layup with 11:55 on the clock, the two teams traded buckets for the next five minutes with Dartmouth always maintaining the lead. It took a Maka Ellis 3-pointer — his third of the night but first for Columbia in the second half — with 6:42 remaining to give the Lions back the lead at 54-52. The lead was up to three a minute later when Rai knotted the game at 56 by getting three the hard way.

Columbia took control from there thanks to a Quinton Adlesh 3-pointer and a backdoor layup by Gabe Stefanini. Junior James Foye drove for a deuce to close the gap back to three, but Stefanini answered with another long ball and the Lions never let the Big Green get closer than four in the final two minutes.

Dartmouth had its worst night shooting from the perimeter of the season, missing all 17 of its 3-point attempts, leaving the team still needing one long ball to set a new school record for triples in a season. The Big Green kept themselves in the game by driving to the hole, hitting free throws and crashing the boards. The team shot 61.4 percent (27-of-44) inside the arc, converting all but two of those field goals in the paint, and 92.3 percent (12-of-13) at the charity stripe. On the boards, Dartmouth owned a 39-26 advantage, including 13 offensive caroms and a 25-11 edge in the second half.

At the other end of the floor, Columbia was hitting on all cylinders in the first half, knocking down 63.0 percent (17-of-27), before finishing the night at 55.8 percent (29-of-52). The Lions also drilled 7-of-16 (.438) from distance, helping them overcome a 5-of-13 performance (.385) at the foul line.

Tapé was an efficient 9-of-11 from the floor in scoring his 19 points, and Ellis came off the bench to add 13 more on 5-of-7 field goals. Stefanini and Adlesh joined them in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively, while the former also handed out a game-high seven assists.

Sophomore Chris Knight led Dartmouth with 18 points, 12 in the first half, on 7-of-13 shooting and a perfect 4-of-4 at the line, while Barry chipped in 14 while hitting half of his 12 shots. The 14 rebounds by Rai matched the best performance of the season by any Dartmouth player.

The Big Green have one last chance to end their losing streak, which has reached seven games, when it plays at Cornell (14-15, 6-7 Ivy) on Saturday. The Big Red, despite defeating Harvard tonight, were eliminated from contention for a berth in the Ivy League Tournament. The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.