Dartmouth Fights Off Late Harvard Charge for Thrilling 60-59 Road Win

Monday, January 16

Cambridge, Mass. / Lavietes Pavilion

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-12,3-2Ivy League

Harvard

11-8,2-3Ivy League

Dartmouth

Harvard

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Dartmouth Fights Off Late Harvard Charge for Thrilling 60-59 Road Win

1/16/2023 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Big Green pick up their first win over Harvard of fewer than seven points in 18 years

By: Justin Lafleur

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Dartmouth men's basketball team jumped out to a quick lead and would never trail, but it wasn't easy as the Big Green held off a late Harvard charge to pick up a big road win on Monday afternoon, 60-59. The win marks Dartmouth's second straight, improving to 3-2 in Ivy League play for the first time since 2008-09. It's also the first time the Big Green have beaten both Yale and Harvard on the road since 1999. Sophomore Ryan Cornish led Dartmouth in scoring for a second straight game, scoring 16 points, 11 coming in the second half.

Dartmouth improves to 7-12 overall. The Crimson fall to 11-8 and 2-3 in league play.

"They found a way," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "I thought we had a good start to the game. I thought we were really moving the ball. I thought we attacked them inside-out. I thought we defended really, really well, and had a good lead at halftime. Harvard did a really good job of playing aggressively and physically in the second half, forcing us out of what we wanted to do."

Despite Harvard's second-half push, the Big Green still led 60-52 after an Izaiah Robinson free throw with 3:13 remaining. Dartmouth wouldn't score the rest of the way, but played strong defense to hold on for its second straight win at Harvard. In the game's final possession, Harvard had the ball with 16 seconds remaining, but relentless Big Green defense prevented them from getting a shot off.

Relentless. That's what the Big Green were and it showed on the final possession. Harvard had 16 seconds down one and couldn't get a shot off!#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/Tb8AF9wWlV
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 16, 2023

With Monday's win, and a 76-54 victory in last season's finale, Dartmouth has now won two straight against Harvard for the first time since 1998-99. It's the first time since 1995-96 winning back-to-back in Cambridge.

"We had some good looks towards the end that didn't go in and [Harvard] capitalized on some of those with some baskets," said McLaughlin. "Our guys didn't really get tight. In the huddle, they were loose; they knew what we wanted to do, how we wanted to attack them. You need to have that composure when you want to win a game on the road when things aren't going your way towards the end of the game."

Cornish's 16 points included 3-of-4 shooting from three. In the span of 1:39 early in the second half, he completed a 4-point play then knocked down a nearly half-court shot with the shot clock winding down. Senior Dame Adelekun added 14 points, including eight of Dartmouth's first 10 of the afternoon. He posted a game-high nine rebounds as well to just miss a double-double. Freshman Brandon Mitchell-Day had 11, all coming in the first half.

Ryan Cornish (@rcornish21) had a sequence that would make @StephenCurry30 proud early in the second half of this one. How about a 4-point play AND nearly half-court shot in the span of one minute, 39 seconds?! #TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen | #SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/HWeeRhdNKl
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 16, 2023

Evan Nelson led Harvard with 19 points. One game after holding the Ivy League's leading scorer Jordan Dingle to a season-low 14 points, Dartmouth held the league's second leading scorer Chris Ledlum to seven, which tied his season low. Ledlum was limited to 16:53 due to foul trouble, shooting 2-of-5 from the floor.

After the teams traded baskets, the Big Green reeled off 10 straight points and wouldn't relinquish the lead. A Cornish step back jumper put Dartmouth ahead, 12-2, with 15:17 on the clock.

Each team went on to post 5-0 runs, as the Big Green lead hovered between five and 11 for most of the first half. Late in the stanza, five straight Harvard points pulled the Crimson within three at 27-24 with 3:12 left in the half. But Dartmouth responded with five of the final six points of the first, capped off by a tough buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Robinson to give the Big Green a 34-26 halftime lead.

Check out another angle of @izaiahdrobinson's buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the first half, which proved HUGE in today's one-point win!#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen | #SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/o8K2l34Ztb
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 16, 2023

Cornish stole the show early in the second half. With a 3-point play 54 seconds into the half, a 4-point play and nearly half-court shot, he scored 10 points in the span of 2:53. In that span, Dartmouth's lead swelled to as much as 14, 44-30.

Over the ensuing minutes, the Crimson began to slowly chip away, but Dartmouth answered. A Robert McRae III 3-pointer put the Big Green back up double figures at 50-39 with 12:05 on the clock.

Harvard got within five at 51-46 midway through the half following a Nelson 3-pointer, and three at 55-52 with 6:35 remaining — after another Nelson trey.

Five consecutive Dartmouth points, via a Jackson Munro layup and three Robinson free throws, put the Big Green ahead, 60-52. Harvard made a late rally to within one and got possession with 16 seconds remaining, but Dartmouth's defense stood tall.

For the game, Dartmouth shot 42.0 percent from the floor (21-of-50), including 41.2 percent from 3-point range (7-of-17). Harvard finished at 41.7 percent (20-of-48) and 35.3 percent from behind the arc (6-of-17). The Crimson finished with a 34-31 edge in rebounds.

The Big Green return to action on Saturday when they travel to Princeton face the Tigers. Gametime is set for 2 p.m.

We caught up with head coach David McLaughlin following today's win at Harvard! #TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/kWTa76QVVp
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 16, 2023

Ryan Cornish following today's thrilling 60-59 win at Harvard!#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/hF4vltp7Mq
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 16, 2023