Another Tight Game with Yale Ends in 66-61 Defeat

Tuesday, February 22

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-16,4-8Ivy League

Yale

16-10,10-2Ivy League

Yale

Dartmouth

Aaryn Rai scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.

Photo by: Ed Moran

Another Tight Game with Yale Ends in 66-61 Defeat

2/22/2022 7:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Aaryn Rai scored 19 points to lead the Big Green against the Ivy League leader

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth fell behind by 13 points early in the game, then battled back numerous times to close within a point or two, only to come up short in the end against visiting Yale in a 66-61 defeat on Tuesday evening at Leede Arena. Fifth-year senior Aaryn Rai led the Big Green (7-16, 4-8 Ivy) with 19 points — 17 coming in the second half — but the Bulldogs (16-10, 10-2 Ivy) got a game-high 21 points from their leading scorer, Azar Swain, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds to keep Dartmouth at bay.

Rai stuffed the stat sheet by hitting 8-of-15 field goals with a 3-pointer, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out two assists, blocking two shots and swiping the ball three times. He was joined in double figures by graduate Brendan Barry with 13 (the first 13 Big Green points of the game) to go with four steals, and senior Taurus Samuels with a dozen points and three steals of his own. The Big Green matched a season-high with 13 thefts that forced Yale into 20 turnovers.

On the other side of the court, Swain was 5-of-10 shooting with three trifectas and a perfect 8-of-8 at the foul line for his 21 points, but he was also harassed into six turnovers. Isaiah Kelly was the other Bulldog to reach double digits with 12 points on 5-of-8 from the floor. Yale's two big advantages in the game came at the charity stripe where they converted 15-of-18 while Dartmouth was just 2-of-4, a season-low 50 percent.

The Big Green had trouble scoring against the Yale defense early in the first half, although Barry hit a pair of 3-pointers that gave Dartmouth a 6-5 lead out of the gate. The problem came over the next nine minutes as the Bulldogs held their hosts scoreless while ripping off 14 straight points for a 19-6 lead as six different players scored.

Barry finally broke the spell by driving into the lane and getting a difficult scoop shot to fall. He added his third trey and another bucket in the paint to close the gap to 22-13 with 7:18 left in the half. And sophomore Dusan Neskovic drove to the rim and scored to get a different Big Green player on the board before freshman Romeo Myrthil cranked a 3-pointer. Swain stemmed the tide a bit with two free throws, but Samuels got going with a pull-up jumper and a 3-pointer to suddenly make it a one-point game, 24-23, with 4:14 to go in the half.

But Swain was there again to stifle the rally, immediately launching a long three that found nothing but net, starting another Bulldog run to increase the advantage to nine, 36-27, at the intermission.

After the break, that lead was boosted to 11 on a Matt Knowling short push shot from the baseline before the teams started to trade baskets. Dartmouth managed to put together a seven-point run, capped by a high-arcing 3-pointer by Rai, which he celebrated by stealing the ball back and taking it all the way for a wide-open, two-hand jam. That brought the Big Green back within two at 43-41.

Kelly got three the hard way to open the Yale lead back to seven, 51-44, only to have Rai and Samuels drop in layups, making it a one-possession game again, 51-48, with still 12 minutes to go. But Dartmouth went through another scoring drought, tallying just two points over the next six minutes as the Bulldogs boosted their lead back to 10, 60-50. The bucket that put Yale up by 10, however, was its only field goal of the final 9:18 of the game as it went six minutes without scoring from that point.

Gradually, the Big Green chipped away with a pair of layups by junior power forward Dame Adelekun. When Samuels drove the length of the floor and scored on a contested shot, Dartmouth was back within four at 60-56 with 2:44 on the clock.

It would be two minutes before either team scored as the defenses got very stingy. Both teams missed a shot, and then there were five consecutive turnovers — four on steals — before Samuels had a shot blocked. Dartmouth fouled to stop the clock with 36.1 seconds, but August Mahoney hit both free throws, and Swain sealed the deal with his four foul shots.

The Big Green still have a glimmer of hope to secure the fourth berth in the Ivy League Tournament, but they will need to win their last two games and get a bit of help. Next up is the final home game of the season against Penn (12-13, 9-3 Ivy) on Saturday at 2 p.m. when they will honor the four seniors and one graduate prior to tipoff for their contributions to the program. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, while a free audio stream will also be available through DartmouthSports.com featuring Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy on the mic.

Notes: Dartmouth has lost its last 12 meetings with Yale, dating back to the final game of the 2015 regular season when the Big Green hit a last-second shot that ended up costing the Bulldogs an NCAA bid for the first time since 1962 … Barry is six 3-pointers shy of matching Jim Barton for the Big Green career record of 242 triples.