Big Green Post Wire-To-Wire Win Over Thomas College

Monday, December 18

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

4-7,0-0Ivy League

Thomas College

4-6,2-1North Atlantic

Thomas (ME)

Dartmouth

Photo by: Ryan Yong

Big Green Post Wire-To-Wire Win Over Thomas College

12/18/2023 11:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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A season-high four Dartmouth players scored in double figures

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth men's basketball team won at home for the fourth time in its last five tries, defeating visiting Thomas College, 77-48, on Monday night inside Leede Arena. Junior Connor Christensen paced the Big Green offense with a career-high 15 points, 10 of them coming in the second half as four Big Green players reached double figures in scoring for the first time this season. Dartmouth got a boost with the return of senior Dusan Neskovic and sophomores Brandon Mitchell-Day and Jayden Williams, who had all been out for various lengths of time due to injury.

The Big Green are now in the midst of their best stretch at home (4-1 over five games) since the 2018-19 season. For the season, Dartmouth improves to 4-7.

"This non-conference, we have defined some roles, we've allowed guys to get outside their comfort zone a little bit and define who they want to be as players, as well as within the team construct," said assistant coach Jabari Trotter. "Now, we have some guys who were hurt and are coming back — rotational players and starters, guys who are getting a lot of minutes — and we have to integrate them back into what we do."

On Monday, the three were integrated effectively, with Dartmouth's top three scorers at halftime being Neskovic (8), Williams (7) and junior Nikola Dimitrijevic (7). For the game, Christensen shattered his previous career high of six points, finishing Monday 4-of-5 from the floor, 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds, an assist and steal.

"I try to be a guy who comes out and does a little bit of everything, especially leading the charge on the defensive end and on the glass, and doing the little things," said Christensen. "I like to be that guy we can plug and place with a bunch of different lineups. I think that's why my role is increasing on the team this year."

Junior Ryan Cornish stepped up, scoring 14 points, dishing four assists and adding six rebounds, two steals and a block. Neskovic finished with 10 points in 15 minutes, seven points coming in the span of 53 seconds late in the first half. Sophomore Jackson Munro scored 10 points as well on 4-of-6 shooting. Munro, Cornish and Christensen combined to shoot 14-of-19 from the floor. Making his first start of the season, senior Robert McRae III tied a career-high seven rebounds.

Metin Yavuz led Thomas College with 13 points.

A slow start offensively saw Dartmouth lead by just three at 10-7 a little more than six minutes in. Not long after, a Dimitrijevic 3-pointer gave the Big Green a 14-7 advantage, then he made it 15-7 with exactly 10 minutes left in the first half. That score stood until a Cornish jumper with 7:06 on the clock.

Dartmouth's offense came alive, posting a 9-0 run in the span of 1:35, a run that reached 16-3 since the Big Green's 10-7 lead. A Dimitrijevic block led to a Mitchell-Day fastbreak dunk to give Dartmouth a 26-10 advantage with 5:22 left in the first.

Thomas College scored five of the next seven points, but a 6-0 Big Green surge, ending with a Dimitrijevic 3-point play and Neskovic layup, gave Dartmouth a 34-15 lead. A Neskovic 3-pointer with 44 seconds on the clock made the score 39-21, which proved to be the halftime margin.

The Big Green quickly extended their lead to 20, reaching 25 after a Munro 3-pointer made it 52-27 with 15:43 left in the second half.

Dartmouth held a comfortable lead the rest of the way. The Terriers did rally to within 16 at 60-44, but just over a minute later, the Big Green lead was back to 20 after two McRae III free throws. First year Niko Abusara was tremendous down the stretch. Not long after entering, he posted two points, two assists, a steal, block and rebound in exactly one minute of game action. His free throw rounded out the scoring and gave the Big Green the 77-48 victory.

For the game, Dartmouth shot 42.4 percent from the floor (25-of-59), including 27.6 percent from 3-point range (8-of-29). Thomas College finished at 33.3 percent (19-of-57) and 27.3 percent from behind the arc (6-of-22). The Big Green held a 44-30 edge in rebounds.

Dartmouth will wrap up its four-games-in-nine-days stretch on Thursday at Sacred Heart. Opening tipoff is set for 11:30 a.m. on NEC Front Row.

"We got some guys back and we're getting closer to league play and that's what really matters," said Christensen, "Sacred Heart is a team that was picked at the top of their conference and we're heading right into break here. Guys need to make sure we have a great two days of prep and are really focused going into Thursday's game."