Dartmouth Earns First Ivy Win by Besting Brown, 58-46

Saturday, January 8

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

4-9,1-1Ivy League

Brown

9-9,1-2Ivy League

Brown

Dartmouth

Ryan Cornish scored a team-high 14 points in his first career start.

Photo by: Mitchell Layton

Dartmouth Earns First Ivy Win by Besting Brown, 58-46

1/8/2022 8:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Rookie Ryan Cornish led Dartmouth with 14 points in his first career start

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth ended more than a month of frustration by snapping an eight-game skid and defeating the visiting Brown Bears on Saturday night at Leede Arena, 58-46. Freshman Ryan Cornish led three players in double figures with 14 points for the Big Green (4-9, 1-1 Ivy), while junior Dame Adelekun pitched in his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Bears (9-9, 1-2 Ivy) could not reproduce its shooting numbers from last night when they handed Harvard an 11-point defeat, hitting just 30.4 percent (17-of-56) from the floor and 15.4 percent (4-of-26) from the perimeter against the Dartmouth defense.

The turning point of the game came in the middle of the second half in what was a nip-and-tuck battle. Brown's Perry Cowan sank a pull-up 15-footer from the wing in front of his bench for a 35-34 lead, but the Big Green rattled off the next 14 points, beginning with a three-point play from fifth-year senior Aaryn Rai. After he converted two more foul shots, sophomore Izaiah Robinson get a friendly bounce on a 3-pointer, Adelekun and Robinson each dropped in a layup and Cornish sank two free throws to complete the run that spanned a little more than four minutes for a 48-35 advantage with 6:58 to play.

Brown was not ready to give up, however, and answered with nine straight points of its own with six points from Tamenang Choh, who had half of the Bears' 46 points on the night, and a trifecta from Cowan. With the lead down to four at 48-44 and just 3:26 remaining, Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin called a timeout to gather his team.

The set play McLaughlin drew up during the timeout was executed to perfection with graduate Brendan Barry draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key, stemming the tide. The two teams traded free throws before the Big Green sealed the victory with a pair of steals and breakaway dunks by Cornish and senior Garrison Wade, essentially a group barbaric yawp that washed away the losing streak.

"I thought we had a great defensive presence throughout the game, especially in the second half," McLaughlin said. "Brown had their run with a couple of nice plays and we committed a turnover against their pressure, but we came back, made a some tough shots and then were able to really defend when we had to the last couple possessions."

The Bears certainly didn't show any ill-effects of playing the night before in the first four minutes of the game by jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead. That 10-point spurt to open the night was bookended by Brown 3-pointers, the first by Choh, the second by Kino Lilly Jr., Brown's leading scorer on the season.

The duo of Cornish and Adelekun gradually got the Green back in the game, scoring their team's first 12 points, including a Cornish triple, that inched Dartmouth back within four at 16-12. Brown scored just six points over a 10-minute span after its initial outburst, but Dan Friday popped a trifecta and Lilly Jr. stole the ball and scored on a breakaway layup to open up a 21-12 advantage.

But the Big Green closed the half on a 12-2 run to take a 24-23 lead at the intermission thanks to a corner 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Wade off a no-look dish from Barry.

When Cornish started the second stanza with a 3-pointer, Dartmouth looked ready to take control of the game. But the Bears roared back with a basket by Jaylan Gainey followed by two more from Choh to take a 29-28 lead. Barry drained his second of three treys on the evening to put the Green back on top, 34-31 following three minutes of scoreless action before Brown sank a couple of shots for what turned out to be its final lead of the night at 35-34, setting up Dartmouth's 14-point run.

The Big Green connected on barely one-third of their field goal attempts (19-of-56) and only 7-of-24 (.292) from distance on the night. As a team, Dartmouth corralled a season-high 43 rebounds, 14 on the offensive glass, with Wade joining Adelekun in double figures with a career-high 11 boards (and just missing out on his first double-double with nine points). Barry had four of the Green's nine steals and chipped in 10 points as well.

Choh had a double-double of his own with 23 points on 8-of-13 from the floor and a dozen rebounds. But his teammates hit just a woeful 9-of-43 (.209) field goals, contributing to Dartmouth ending a personal four-game slide against Brown.

The next game on the Dartmouth schedule against NVU-Johnson on Tuesday, Jan. 11 has been postponed. No make-up date has been announced as of yet. The Big Green will next play at Penn (5-11, 2-1 Ivy) next Saturday at the Palestra in a game that will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 2 p.m.

Notes: Dartmouth maintained the all-time advantage against Brown, improving to 82-80 versus the Bears … the 46 points were the fewest for an Ivy League opponent since Cornell had 45 on Feb. 28, 2015 … the last time the Big Green had two players grab at least 10 rebounds in the same game came on Dec. 21, 2019 against Bryant (Rai and Chris Knight had 10 apiece).