Big Green End Road Trip with Another Tough Loss

Tuesday, December 21

Bakersfield, Calif. / Icardo Center

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-8,0-0Ivy League

CSU Bakersfield

5-4,0-0Big West

Dartmouth

CSU Bakersfield

Brendan Barry is the fifth Big Green player with 200 3-pointers in a Dartmouth uniform.

Photo by: Chris Leung

Big Green End Road Trip with Another Tough Loss

12/21/2021 7:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Brendan Barry hit his 200th 3-pointer at Dartmouth, one of five in the game for the graduate

By: Rick Bender

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — If the Dartmouth Big Green feel a little like the character Phil Connors of Groundhog Day fame, it isn't difficult to understand why.

Trailing by three points with the ball in the final seconds for the fifth time in its last eight games, Dartmouth could not quite get over the hump as host Cal State Bakersfield (5-4) staved off the Big Green (3-8) on Tuesday afternoon at the Icardo Center, 61-57. Graduate Brendan Barry led all players with 19 points thanks to five 3-pointers — the fourth of which was the 200th of his Dartmouth career — but the Roadrunners sank their final four free throws to help seal the victory.

The Big Green were initially down just one with the ball in the final minute, and fifth-year Aaryn Rai looked like he had an easy layup that would have given Dartmouth the lead with 20 seconds left. But Justin McCall, who led CSU Bakersfield with 16 points, made the defensive play of the game by recovering to block the shot, grab the rebound and get fouled. He sank both free throws to give the hosts that fateful three-point advantage, 59-56, with 17 ticks left.

Dartmouth would have liked to get Brendan Barry a look from behind the arc, but the CSUB defense was well aware of this fact, allowing senior Taurus Samuels to get a chance to tie the game. When his shot was short, Rai grabbed the rebound and raced to put up another 3-point attempt, and he was fouled in the act of shooting, giving him a chance to tie the game with 3.7 seconds showing on the clock.

Rai's first attempt was off the mark, however, and after he converted the second one, he rifled the ball off the rim in hopes for a quick rebound. A lane violation was called instead, turning the ball over, and when the Big Green fouled on the inbounds pass, Grehlon Easter sank both for his only two points of the game for a four-point lead, ensuring the Roadrunners would escape with the win.

Though CSU Bakersfield jumped out to an 8-3 lead about five minutes into the game, a seven-point Dartmouth run fueled by five from senior Garrison Wade put the Green on top, 13-10. While the Roadrunners managed to knot the score at 16 on a Shawn Stith layup with 8:30 left in the half, Dartmouth would not fall behind for the rest of the half.

A 3-pointer from freshman Romeo Myrthil put the Big Green up by five, 21-16. When CSUB rallied to tie the score at 22, Wade answered with his second long ball. Junior Cam Krystkowiak capped another seven-point run with a layup to give Dartmouth its largest lead of the game at 29-22, and Barry sank a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds left to keep the difference at the break at five, 31-26.

The second half started much like the first with very little offense from either team. After six minutes of play, the Dartmouth lead remained at five, 42-37 thanks to consecutive triples from Barry, with a trifecta from Roadrunner Kaleb Higgins sandwiched between the two. But the Big Green would go nearly five minutes without scoring as CSUB put together its own seven-point spurt with a McCall dunk putting the Roadrunners on top.

Freshman Ryan Cornish ended the drought by driving to the rim and finishing with his left hand, but Bakersfield reclaimed the lead and went up by five points with seven minutes to play, 51-46, spurred by another McCall dunk.

Barry came to the rescue, however, dropping back-to-back treys again, and suddenly Dartmouth was back on top, 54-53, with four minutes to go. The two teams traded buckets before Justin Edler-Davis pulled up for a 15-footer in the lane, edging CSUB back in front, 57-56, with 2:24 remaining. Twice the Big Green had a chance to retake the lead, but an offensive foul and a missed shot set up the final sequence that started with Rai's blocked shot.

Barry was 5-of-10 from the perimeter and 4-of-4 at the line for his 19 points, while Wade was 4-of-8 with three triples in scoring 12, nine of which came in the first half. As a team, Dartmouth shot 38.0 percent (19-of-50) from the floor and 34.4 percent (11-of-32) from the perimeter. The rebounding was nearly even with CSUB holding a 32-31 advantage though Rai led everyone with nine boards. But the Big Green turned the ball over a season-high 16 times that led to 17 Roadrunner points, compared to eight turnovers that Dartmouth converted into nine points.

CSU Bakersfield did most of its damage inside the arc with just a trio of treys in 12 tries while shooting 24-of-53 (.453) overall. McCall was 7-of-11 and perfect in two tries at the line for his 16 points, while David Walker came off the bench to provide 11 on 5-of-6 shooting.

Dartmouth will have a week off before resuming play at home on Dec. 29 at 1 p.m. against its in-state rival, New Hampshire. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, while a free audio feed featuring Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy will be available through the official website of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: In the first two of the five games with three-point deficits in the final seconds, Dartmouth hit the 3-pointer to send the games into overtime, beating Bryant but losing at FGCU … Barry entered the game 10th in Division I with 3.7 triples per game … with another 10 3-pointers, Barry (201) will move into Dartmouth's top three for career long balls, Jim Barton '89 (242) and Greg Buth '01 (240) … the Big Green are now 0-3 against Cal State Bakersfield all-time, all three of which have come in the last seven years and been decided by no more than seven points … Dartmouth, 25th in the NCAA in 3-pointers per game, has had at least 10 in eight of its 11 games.