Big Green Nipped by Quinnipiac, 72-69

Wednesday, December 8

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-4,0-0Ivy League

Quinnipiac

5-4,1-1MAAC

Quinnipiac

Dartmouth

Aaryn Rai put up a career-high 24 points in the team’s brand-new uniforms.

Photo by: Doug Austin

12/8/2021 8:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (HTML)Box Score ESPN+ Highlights Photo Gallery

Aaryn Rai scored a career-high 24 points while Barry scored the 1,000th point of his college career

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — For the third time in four games, Dartmouth had a chance to tie the game in the final 10 seconds with a 3-pointer, but this time, they could not get the shot to fall — twice — as the Big Green (3-4) came up short against Quinnipiac (5-4) on Wednesday night at Leede Arena, 72-69. Fifth-year senior Aaryn Rai had a career-high 24 points to lead Dartmouth and graduate Brendan Barry surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for an early highlight.

The Bobcats' Matt Balanc countered with a team-high 23 points off the bench with five 3-pointers as Quinnipiac knocked down 13 triples in 29 attempts (.448). But the big difference in the game was converting turnovers into points as the Bobcats turned 11 Big Green miscues into 19 points while Dartmouth only had six points off of eight Quinnipiac turnovers.

Trailing by 11 points with just 3:30 to play, the Big Green got back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Ryan Cornish in the next minute to quickly cut the deficit down to six. Bobcat point guard Dezi Jones stemmed the tide with a pull-up jumper only to be matched by Rai on a layup, and after a shot-clock violation, Barry drove the baseline for a layup to close the gap to three, 72-69.

Senior Garrison Wade then came up with the defensive play of the game for the Green, blocking a Quinnipiac shot and grabbing the loose ball. Dartmouth would have loved to get the ball into Barry's hands to try and work his magic as he had at Bryant and FGCU last week to send games into overtime. But the Bobcats blanketed him to deny him the ball, and Rai's 3-point attempt banged off the iron. The Big Green fouled on the rebound with 6.1 seconds left, and Quinnipiac missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving the host one last opportunity. Cornish managed to get a shot off well behind the arc, but it was off-line as the buzzer sounded.

"When you get down in a game, it's for a reason," Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin said after the game. "They made some tough shots early in the game, but I think in the second half we made some consecutive stops and did a good job. But we needed to have better offensive possessions, take better shots when that happens. We're just too inconsistent with our shot selection. Toward the end, they made plays on the drive and made a couple tough shots. Overall, we just have to have a better identity offensively and a better mentality to get stops defensively."

Dartmouth jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead thanks to 3-pointers by senior Wes Slajchert and Barry, putting him over the 1,000-point milestone over three-plus seasons at Dartmouth and last year at Temple. Another Barry long ball boosted the Big Green lead to seven points, 15-8, but that only sparked a 3-point shootout with Balanc, who hit his first shot from the perimeter.

Cornish answered with his first of four treys on the night, only to be trumped by Balanc. The Bobcat guard then went inside the arc for his next two points before ripping his third triple to give the Bobcats a lead, 19-18, that it never relinquished.

Tyrese Williams then drained one from deep, followed by another Balanc three-ball before senior Taurus Samuels hit from the perimeter to keep the Big Green within two, 25-23. But Quinnipiac kept the offense rolling with a 9-2 spurt, building its lead to nine at 34-25 with just over four minutes left in the half.

The Dartmouth defense put the clamps on from there as the Big Green ended the stanza on an 8-0 run with junior Cam Krystkowiak in a starring role. First he flushed a feed from Barry on the penetration, and he soared high above the rim to tap a miss through the iron just before the buzzer sounded, closing the gap to one, 34-33.

The momentum that ended the first half disappeared at the start of the second half as Quinnipiac went on a 13-2 run to enjoy its largest lead of the night at 47-35 with more than 16 minutes remaining. Rai, who had just four points over the first 20 minutes due to foul trouble, went to work, scoring nine of the next 10 Big Green points to make it a four-point game, 49-45. After Jones connected from deep, so did Cornish followed by Rai, suddenly bringing Dartmouth back within one, 52-51.

When Jones and Bernie Blunt cashed in from downtown, Quinnipiac got some breathing room at 60-53, and kept Dartmouth at arm's length until the final minute when it became a one-possession game again.

Rai was 11-of-16 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers to account for his 24 points, while Cornish was 5-of-8 overall and 4-of-6 from the perimeter to contribute 14 points. As a team, the Big Green were 26-of-56 (.464) from the floor and 11-of-30 (.367) behind the arc, their sixth straight game with at least 10 trifectas, tying a program record.

Quinnipiac was just a little better with its accuracy, sinking 28-of-59 shots (.475) and 13-of-29 (.448) 3-point attempts with seven players hitting at least one long ball. Balanc was 9-of-15 on field goals and 5-of-7 on threes, while Jacob Rigoni had 12 points and Jones 10. Both teams had 31 rebounds with Bobcat forward Kevin Marfo leading everyone with eight boards while Rai and Wade each had six for Dartmouth.

Dartmouth will wrap up a short two-game home stand on Saturday night when Boston University (8-3) comes to town. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 and will be televised on NESN with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action. Big Green fans can also watch a video stream of the game on ESPN+ or listen for free through the official website of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com, to Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy describing the regional showdown.

Notes: Dartmouth has dropped three straight after winning three in a row … the only other time the Big Green hit 10 or more 3-pointers in six straight games was nearly 20 years ago in February of 2002 … Dartmouth lost seven in a row to Quinnipiac and is 4-12 all-time against the Bobcats.