Vanderbilt Tops Big Green in Nonconference Finale, 69-53

Saturday, December 30

Nashville, Tenn. / Memorial Gymnasium

5:00 PM ET

Dartmouth College

4-9,0-0Ivy League

Vanderbilt

5-8,0-0SEC

Dartmouth

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Vanderbilt Tops Big Green in Nonconference Finale, 69-53

12/30/2023 7:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Postgame: Head Coach David McLaughlin

Dusan Neskovic and Brandon Mitchell-Day each finished just a rebound shy of a double-double

By: Justin Lafleur

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With the Dartmouth men's basketball team leading 21-17, Vanderbilt ended the first half on a 14-2 run and carried that momentum into the second as the Commodores defeated the Big Green, 69-53, in the nonconference finale for both sides on Saturday inside Memorial Gymnasium. Senior Dusan Neskovic and sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day each finished with identical stat lines of 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the Big Green attack.

With the loss, Dartmouth falls to 4-9 ahead of the Ivy League opener at Penn next Saturday. Vanderbilt out of the SEC improves to 5-8.

"I thought we defended well in the first half and I thought we were executing just okay on the offensive end," said Big Green head coach David McLaughlin. "I thought Vanderbilt did a really good job, ended the half on a run and made a three at the buzzer. I wouldn't say it took our energy away, but when you're on the road, it's always hard to make up eight points at the beginning of the half.

Neskovic shot just 5-of-15 from the floor, but was 4-of-8 from 3-point range, including one stretch of three 3-pointers in the span of 3:24 in the second half. It wasn't enough, however, to overcome Vanderbilt's duo of Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence, who combined for 45 points with 23 and 22, respectively.

Neskovic catches fire with three 3-pointers in the span of 3:24, but the Big Green trail 59-43 at the under-8 media timeout.

Watch on @SECNetwork+: https://t.co/DVuxus1ggg #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/YKiEChbPG7
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) December 30, 2023

Mitchell-Day's 14 points came on 5-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. All nine of Neskovic's rebounds were on the defensive end while Mitchell-Day grabbed three offensive boards.

Senior Jaren Johnson added 10 points and a career-high five assists with just two turnovers. As a team, the Big Green turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but just four times in the second.

Neskovic scored the game's first five points, then after seven straight Vanderbilt points, a Jackson Munro layup tied the score at seven with 14:52 on the first-half clock.

With the Commodores ahead 11-9, the Big Green scored six straight points behind a Connor Christensen driving layup, two Ryan Cornish free throws, and Mitchell-Day second-chance layup. That gave Dartmouth a 15-11 lead with 10:55 on the first-half clock.

A 4-0 Dartmouth surge, capped off by a Johnson driving layup, gave the Big Green a 21-17 advantage with 7:06 left in the first half, but Vanderbilt responded with a 14-2 run to end the stanza. The only Dartmouth points came from Johnson, via a pair of free throws with 1:02 on the clock, to pull the Big Green within 26-23. However, a Manjon layup gave Vanderbilt a 28-23 lead, then a long step back 3-pointer as the first half expired from Lawrence gave him 13 first-half points and the Commodores a 31-23 halftime lead.

Tason Kamateros began the second half with a 3-pointer to give the Commodores their first double-figure lead. Mitchell-Day twice pulled Dartmouth to within single digits, following two free throws and a layup that made the score 36-27 with 16:27 left in the second half.

Mitchell-Day ends Dartmouth's long field goal drought and gets the Big Green within nine.

Watch on @SECNetwork+: https://t.co/DVuxus1ggg #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/hyVVAo5I67
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) December 30, 2023

"We got stops in three of the first four possessions and couldn't connect on the offensive end," said McLaughlin. "We got two bricks — three stops in a row — in the first six minutes of the second half, but we missed some good looks and didn't connect. When you get stops like that, you really, really need to score on the other end, and we couldn't do that consistently enough tonight."

Vanderbilt reeled off eight straight points to take a 44-27 advantage following a Lawrence 3-pointer with 12:49 on the second-half clock.

Dartmouth scored eight of the next 10 points, including five straight points. A Jayden Williams fastbreak layup and Neskovic 3-pointer in the span of 31 seconds pulled the Big Green within 46-35 with 9:59 still remaining.

Neskovic went on to knock down two more 3-pointers in less than four minutes, but Vanderbilt caught fire on the other end. The Commodores scored on four straight possessions, scoring 11 points in that stretch, with six coming from Manjon. Despite the Big Green offense coming alive, they couldn't keep up with Vanderbilt as the closest Dartmouth could get over the final five minutes was 14.

For the game, the Big Green shot 37.7 percent from the floor (20-of-53), including 37.7 percent form 3-point range (5-of-22). After Neskovic knocked down Dartmouth's first attempt from distance in the first half, the Big Green missed 12 straight before connecting on four of their last nine. Vanderbilt finished at 41.9 percent (26-of-62) and 33.3 percent from behind the arc (9-of-27). Final rebounds were tied at 35. The Big Green turned the ball over 13 times to only six for the Commodores.

"Any team, especially on the road, is going to get us ready for league play," said McLaughlin.

"We go into league play in a little under a week now against a very strong opponent," said McLaughlin. "Everyone in the league is going to be a strong opponent. You get to learn from all these games. I just told the guys in the locker room, we will learn from this, both ends of the ball, collectively as a staff and individually as players. We'll take those lessons, apply them to practice and be ready for the next one."

Dartmouth returns to action next Saturday at Penn in the Ivy League opener. Opening tipoff inside the Palestra is set for 2 p.m.