Rai's Last-Second Shot Sends Big Green to 65-63 Victory

Friday, February 14

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-14, 1-6Ivy

Columbia

6-17, 1-6Ivy

Columbia

Dartmouth

Chris Knight became the 30th player in Big Green history to score 1,000 points.

Photo by: Doug Austin

Rai's Last-Second Shot Sends Big Green to 65-63 Victory

2/14/2020 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (HTML)Box Score (PDF)Highlights

Dartmouth ended the game on a 9-0 run

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Aaryn Rai hit a turnaround hook shot in the lane with 0.2 seconds remaining to lift host Dartmouth (8-14, 1-6 Ivy) to a 65-63 victory over Columbia (6-17, 1-6 Ivy) at Leede Arena on Friday night. Chris Knight poured in a game-high 23 points, including the 1,000th of his career, and Rai posted a double-double with 11 points and rebounds to help the Big Green end a nine-game losing streak and a 14-game slide in Ivy League play.

When Ike Nweke hit a layup with 6:50 to play, Columbia enjoyed a 63-56 lead and had not allowed Dartmouth to get any closer than three points since 16:38 remained in the game. But Knight started the comeback by hitting the front end of a one-and-one, then dropped in a layup on the next possession with 5:16 to play. Both teams went scoreless for the next three-plus minutes until Knight broke the ice with another layup and 1:55 on the clock, making it a 63-61 contest.

Both teams missed 3-point attempts, but the Big Green got a big offensive rebound when the ball was knocked out of bounds, and senior Ian Sistare capitalized on the second chance by driving for a game-tying layup with 51.4 seconds to go.

Again Columbia misfired on a 3-point attempt — its ninth straight miss from the floor — allowing Dartmouth to play for the final shot. Rai then left the fans crushing on him on Valentine's Day with his game-winning shot.

The first half was a game of runs after the Big Green hit five of their first seven shots to open up a 12-6 advantage. The Lions roared back with 12 straight points, and Dartmouth responded with 12 of its own to reclaim its six-point lead. But Columbia one-upped the Green, scoring the next 14 points for the largest lead for either team all night at 32-24 with 3:35 left in the half. It wasn't until senior James Foye launched a 27-footer at the buzzer that Dartmouth would get within four, 38-34.

Knight, who had a team-high 10 points at the intermission opened the second half with his milestone bucket. Twice more the junior would close the gap to two with layups, but the Lions answered all three times, twice by the Ivy League's leading scorer, Mike Smith. A Smith jumper with 9:23 to play boosted the Columbia lead back to eight, 59-51, and he kept it there with another pull-up shot after Rai tipped in a missed shot for the Green.

Sistare canned a 3-pointer with 7:22 to play before Nweke scored what turned out to be the final points of the night for the Lions, and the comeback was on.

Dartmouth finished the night shooting 47.3 percent (26-of-55) from the floor but just 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from long range. Knight was incredibly efficient, going 10-of-11 on his field goals and 3-of-4 at the line for his 23 points, matching a season-high. Rai, who was 5-of-14 overall and 0-of-5 from distance, pitched in a game-high five assists and stole the ball twice, while Foye added 12 points and four assists.

Smith led Columbia with 18 points, but was just 8-of-19 shooting the ball and 1-of-8 on 3-pointers with four assists while playing every minute. Jack Forrest added 14 on 4-of-10 from the floor with a pair of triple, and Nweke chipped in 10. As a team, the Lions were 21-of-54 (.389) shooting overall and just 5-of-24 (.208) behind the arc (including 1-for-their-last 15), but a perfect 16-of-16 at the charity stripe.

The Big Green will be back in action against tomorrow night when they host Cornell (5-15, 2-5 Ivy), which suffered an 85-63 defeat at Harvard this evening. The game will tip at 7 p.m. and be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action. A live audio stream will also be available for free featuring Brett Franklin on the call through the official website of Dartmouth athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: This was Dartmouth's 400th game at Leede Arena … the Big Green are 206-194 on the court … three of Dartmouth's last four Ivy League wins are against Columbia, with the other coming against Harvard … the home team has won the last eight games in the series between the Big Green and the Lions … this was the fifth game in which a Dartmouth player scored 20 or more points, but the first that the Green won … Dartmouth is 7-2 when holding its opponent to under 40 percent from the floor, but improved to 2-10 when trailing at the half … this was also the Big Green's first win when shooting fewer free throw attempts.