Career Efforts Not Enough in Season-Opening Loss at Fordham

Monday, November 7

Bronx, N.Y. / Rose Hill Gymnasium

7:30 PM

Dartmouth College

0-1,0-0Ivy League

Fordham

1-0,0-0Atlantic 10

Dartmouth

Fordham

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Career Efforts Not Enough in Season-Opening Loss at Fordham

11/7/2022 11:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights

Neskovic, Adelekun and Cornish combined for 58 of Dartmouth’s points

By: Justin Lafleur

BRONX, N.Y. – Junior Dusan Neskovic and senior Dame Adelekun each eclipsed 20 points, each posting career highs in the process, but it wasn't enough as the Dartmouth men's basketball team dropped its season opener at Fordham on Monday evening. Neskovic scored 16 of his 23 points in the first half while Adelekun posted 15 of his 21 in the second half. In the end, the Big Green couldn't overcome 57 percent shooting by the Rams.

"I saw a team that has a chance to be good at a few things, but doesn't quite know t its identity yet," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "A team that isn't understanding how important it is to get stops consistently. We don't quite know how to play physical basketball without fouling yet, and how to get stops as a five-person unit. You can't expect to win a game when the other team shoots 57 percent, and they shot over 65 percent from two in the second half."

Neskovich knocked down his first five 3-point attempts of the evening, finishing 5-of-6 from the game from distance and 9-of-15 from the field. He added six rebounds and two assists. Adelekun's 21 points came on 8-of-14 shooting, while he posted five rebounds and two assists. They became the first Big Green teammates to eclipse 20 points in a game since last Dec. 16 at Stanford when Taurus Samuels scored 22 and Brendan Barry had 20. Sophomore Ryan Cornish added 14 points and a team and career-high five assists.

"Especially in the first half, Dusan really let the game come to him, wasn't forcing much, really stepped into his catch and he can go off the drive a little bit," said McLaughlin. "I thought he played really well and he's been working really hard. For Dame, a continuation of how he finished last year. It allows us to play inside-out basketball.

"Happy for both those guys, but there's a lot of work to do be done for both of them as well."

Darius Quisenberry led Fordham with 20 points, pacing four Rams in double figures.

The Big Green came out of the gate on fire, as 3-pointers from sophomore Cade Haskins and Neskovic, with an Adelekun dunk sandwiched in between, gave Dartmouth an 8-0 lead. Just 30 seconds later, Cornish finished a floater in the paint to give the Big Green a 10-0 advantage with 17:41 on the clock.

Dame dunk? Yes please! pic.twitter.com/KLfHr3gWex
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022

Fordham immediately responded with a 10-0 run of its own, capped off by a Quisenberry 3-pointer to even the score with 15:07 remaining in the first half.

Dartmouth had an immediate answer, scoring 10 of the next 14 points, as a Romeo Myrthil trey helped the Big Green take a 20-14 lead. A few minutes later, the Rams reeled off seven consecutive points to take a 27-25 advantage with 8:55 on the clock, but senior Cam Krystkowiak responded with a 3-pointer just 16 seconds later to put Dartmouth back in front.

Fordham opened its first lead, but Cam Krystkowiak knocks down a 3-pointer to put the Big Green back in front at the under-8 media timeout.

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/BNRrnGcVw1 pic.twitter.com/gYArKjcjU9
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022

The teams traded the lead over the ensuing minutes until a 9-0 Fordham run gave the Rams their largest lead at 38-30. But the story of the first half, Neskovic, broke a 4:09 Dartmouth scoreless drought with his third 3-pointer of the first 20 minutes to pull the Big Green within 38-29 with 2:29 on the clock. In the final minute, he knocked down his fourth from distance to get Dartmouth within 41-38.

Have a half, Dusan Neskovic! He finished the first half with a career-high 16 points, including 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc.

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/BNRrnFUMhT pic.twitter.com/L7vbTKzZcY
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022

Not today. Brandon Mitchell-Day with the EMPHATIC first-half block. @ESPNAssignDesk, you may want to check this out. #SCTop10

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/BNRrnGcVw1 pic.twitter.com/xRH2ZUk9zm
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022

Early in the second half, Neskovic's fifth 3-pointer of the game pulled Dartmouth within 45-43, but the Rams answered with a 13-0 run to create some separation. Dartmouth battled and didn't let the margin reach more than 15 until nearly midway through the second when it reached as much as 17.

The Big Green had one last run in them. In the matter of just 1:25, they cut a 16-point deficit in half behind back-to-back Cornish threes and an Adelekun layup. That got Dartmouth within 72-64 with 7:33 on the clock. Two Krystkowiak free throws got the Big Green as close as six, 74-68, with just under five minutes remaining, but that's as close as they would get. Fordham immediately answered with eight straight points to reopen a 16-point advantage, on the way to the 88-74 final.

Make that a career-high 21 points for Dame.

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/BNRrnFUMhT pic.twitter.com/RIi37XIlcT
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022

"I thought we did some nice things on the offensive end and started to form an identity, but let their switching rush us a little bit," said McLaughlin. "It's a good lesson for our guys. We're not ready to win a game like this; we will be. I think they have the right attitude; I think they want to be really good and they want to form an identity where we can play our brand of basketball at both ends of the floor."

For the game, Dartmouth shot 42.4 percent from the field (25-of-59), including 45.8 percent from 3-point range (11-of-24). Fordham finished at 57.4 percent (35-of-61) and 40.0 percent from behind the arc (8-of-20). The Rams held a 35-28 edge in rebounds.

The Big Green will return to the court on Friday when they host Bryant in their home opener. Opening tipoff inside Leede Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Students get free pizza while there will be a prize wheel for all fans. Fans can also enter to win a shot to shoot for $50K during a "Shoot, Turn, Shoot" promotion. The general public can purchase tickets in advance by clicking here.

We caught up with @DartCoachMac following tonight's season opener at Dartmouth pic.twitter.com/f1d2V9pjvj
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) November 8, 2022