Final Shot Off the Mark in One-Point Loss to Harvard

Monday, January 17

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

4-11,1-3Ivy League

Harvard

10-5,2-1Ivy League

Harvard

Dartmouth

Dame Adelekun had a team-high 14 points.

Photo by: Chris Leung

Final Shot Off the Mark in One-Point Loss to Harvard

1/17/2022 8:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth just missed out on rallying from a 13-point deficit in the 60-59 defeat

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — After Harvard missed the front end of a one-and-one with 7.8 seconds to play, Dartmouth fifth-year senior Aaryn Rai hauled in his 10th rebound and set off down the court to attempt a buzzer-beater with the Big Green trailing by one. But unlike his game-winner against Columbia on a different holiday two years ago, this time his shot in the lane was off the mark, allowing the visiting Crimson (10-5, 2-1 Ivy) to fend off Dartmouth (4-11, 1-3 Ivy) and escape Leede Arena with a 60-59 victory after leading by 11 with 6:50 to play.

Harvard led by as many as 13 in the first half and still had a 12-point lead at 53-41 with 10:40 to play. When the Crimson's Noah Kirkwood, who tallied a game-high 24 points, answered a 3-pointer by Dartmouth long-distance marksman Brendan Barry with a fadeaway jumper, Harvard had a comfortable 55-44 advantage with just under 10 minutes to play.

At that point, the Big Green became a big swarm on defense, holding the guests to a paltry five points on 2-of-12 shooting the rest of the way. But Dartmouth could not get its offense going either, knocking down just three field goals in its final 14 attempts. The only way the Big Green could get back into the game was at the foul line, making all nine of their attempts in that span.

The comeback truly began after Crimson guard Denham Wojcik drove to the rim for a layup to make it a 57-46 Harvard lead with 6:50 to play. Dartmouth proceeded to score the next seven points on two free throws by junior Dame Adelekun (who led the Green with 14 points), a three-point play by rookie Ryan Cornish and a layup by sophomore Izaiah Robinson, cutting the Dartmouth deficit down to four.

Kirkwood seemed to swing the momentum by knocking down a step-back 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:10 on the clock, boosting the Harvard bulge back to seven at 60-53, but the Big Green went to the charity stripe on its next two possessions while in the double bonus, converting all four tries to close the gap to three with 1:37 left.

When Kirkwood misfired on a long ball, Dartmouth took a shot at knotting the score when Barry let a deep one fly. Rai rebounded the miss and agonizingly watched his putback roll off the rim. Undeterred, he grabbed that rebound as well but had his shot swatted away by Kirkwood. Again Harvard missed a 3-pointer, and Cornish fired up an extremely long three with 13 seconds still showing. His quick trigger ended up falling into Adelekun's hands under the basket, and he quickly scored with 10 seconds to go as Big Green head coach David McLaughlin called its last timeout.

Dartmouth strategically fouled after the inbounds pass, putting Harvard in the bonus to shoot one-and-one, which led to Rai's game-winning attempt.

In retrospect, the first half looked like an entirely different game. Dartmouth hit its first five shots but still found itself behind at the first media break, 12-10, as Harvard hit a trio of treys, including a four-point play by Louis Lesmond. The Crimson put together a pair of nine-point runs in the opening half and enjoyed a 37-24 lead before the Big Green rattled off seven straight points on a Rai layup, Barry trifecta — which gave him 1,000 points in a Dartmouth uniform — and two foul shots by junior Nate Ogbu. Harvard got the last lick before the buzzer sounded, however, as Kirkwood drove in for a layup and a 39-31 edge.

The Big Green would not put a dent in that difference even once until Cornish's three-point play during the stretch run with 4:12 on the clock.

Dartmouth shot just 34.0 percent (18-of-53) on the night after starting the game 11-of-24 (.458) overall and 5-of-11 (.455) from downtown. Similarly, Harvard ended up at 41.8 percent on its field goals (23-of-55) after opening the night 15-of-26 (.577) from the floor in the first half and 5-of-9 (.556) on 3-point attempts. And while the two teams ended up even on the boards with 34 rebounds apiece, the Big Green had a big 13-3 advantage on the glass in the final 6:50 in their foiled comeback.

Kirkwood finished the game 9-of-15 overall with two triples and 4-of-4 at the line for his 24 points while dishing out five assists and stealing the ball three times. The only other Crimson player in double figures was Lesmond, who tallied all 12 of his points in the first half.

Adelekun was an efficient 4-of-5 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the foul line to account for his 14 points, and Cornish added 13 with a pair of triples and 5-of-5 at the stripe.

Dartmouth will next host league-leading Princeton (14-3, 4-0 Ivy) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, and a free audio stream will also be available through DartmouthSports.com with Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy providing the call.

Notes: Notes: Dartmouth has a chance to win or tie the score in the final 10 seconds of regulation seven times this season, winning just one of those games and losing twice in overtime … Barry is the 31st Big Green player to score 1,000 points in a Dartmouth uniform and the first since Chris Knight hit the mark two years ago … the 17-of-18 performance at the foul line was not the best by percentage for the Big Green this season. Twice they have been perfect at the line — 11-of-11 at Vermont and 5-of-5 at California … over the last four games, the team is 56-of-68 (.824) shooting free throws.