Dartmouth Can’t Get Over the Hump in 89-79 Defeat at Penn

Saturday, February 25

Philadelphia, Pa. / The Palestra

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

9-18,5-8Ivy League

Penn

17-11,9-4Ivy League

Team	1	2	F
Dartmouth	40	39	79
Penn	48	41	89

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Dartmouth Can’t Get Over the Hump in 89-79 Defeat at Penn

2/25/2023 6:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights

Dame Adelekun leads the Big Green with 24 points and nine rebounds

By: Justin Lafleur

PHILADELPHIA — Trailing by as many as 14, the Dartmouth men's basketball team wouldn't back down, pulling as close as three in the second half, but Penn had too many answers in the end as the Quakers defeated the Big Green, 89-79 on Saturday at The Palestra. Penn's eighth straight win ended Dartmouth's hopes of a top-four finish and a berth in Ivy Madness. Senior Dame Adelekun led the Big Green with 24 points, his fourth game with 20+ points this season and third in the last seven contests.

With the win, Penn improves to 17-11 and 9-4 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth falls to 9-18 and 5-8 in the league.

"I thought we didn't quite have an edge to us defensively in the first half," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "Penn did a really good job of getting to loose balls. We talk about being a 'one team' — first team to hit, first team to the floor. I thought they were better at us in the first half and it resulted in a deficit for us.

"We challenged the guys at halftime with that exact statement and I thought they responded," McLaughlin continued. "We cut the game to a single possession and we either couldn't execute on the offensive end or we couldn't get the stop we needed on the defensive end."

We caught up with head coach David McLaughlin following today's defeat at Penn.#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/uQVOe76KN9
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 25, 2023

Along with Adelekun's 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, he added nine rebounds to just miss a double-double. Three other Big Green players scored in double figures, with junior Dusan Neskovic adding 12 on four made 3-pointers, senior Cam Krystkowiak posting 11 and sophomore Ryan Cornish scoring 10. Dartmouth knocked down 13 3-pointers as a team to tie a season high (on 29 attempts).

Jordan Dingle, the nation's second leading scorer, led Penn with a game-high 27 points.

Penn scored the first four points of the game, but Dartmouth responded with the next three, as a Krystkowiak trey made it 5-4. The next three minutes saw five lead changes, with Neskovic and Cornish knocking down 3-pointers in that span.

An Adelekun free throw tied the score at 12, but the Quakers responded with an 8-0 run. Just over midway through the first half, an Adelekun 3-pointer got the Big Green back within two at 24-22 and less than a minute later, Neskovic knocked down his second trey to get Dartmouth within one, 26-25, with 8:03 on the clock.

A Cornish driving layup pulled the Big Green within six at 36-30, but a 10-2 run, capped off by a Clark Slajchert 3-pointer, gave Penn its largest lead at 46-32 with 1:40 left in the first.

3:51 1st | Jayden Williams entered the game and almost instantly knocked down a three. We've reached out final media timeout of the first half with the Quakers leads, 36-30.

📺: @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/TZsAh9AC8b #TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/so3l9MSCi7
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 25, 2023

The Big Green had an answer, scoring eight of the final 10 points of the half — behind 3-pointers from sophomore Romeo Myrthil and Neskovic, while Adelekun had a putback in the final seconds to make the score 48-40 after 20 minutes of play.

The Penn lead hovered between six and 10 through the early stages of the second half before a Myrthil driving layup got the Big Green within 55-50 with 15:30 on the clock. Three minutes later, the Quakers' lead swelled back to 12 after three Slajchert free throws, but Dartmouth had another answer. A 9-0 run, capped off by a Jaren Johnson 3-pointer and Cornish layup, pulled the Big Green within 64-61 with 9:27 on the clock. It was as close as they had been since 7:22 remaining in the first half.

7:53 2nd | Ryan Cornish with this TOUGH finish got the Big Green back within three. Penn has answered with the next four to lead 68-61, but there's a LOT of basketball left in this one.

📺: @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/TZsAh9AC8b #TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/rmFRN6goCE
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 25, 2023

Coming out of a timeout, Penn scored the next seven points to take a 71-61 lead with 7:40 remaining, but the Big Green clawed back to within six (79-73) with 3:12 to go. They got as close as five on two other occasions. An Adelekun 3-point play pulled Dartmouth within 81-76 and an Adelekun layup made it 83-78 with 2:05 remaining. The Big Green pulled within six with 36 seconds on the clock, but that's as close as they would come.

Dame Adelekun had his defender's head spinning on this play 🌀

What a move for ✌️ of Dame's 24 points this afternoon — the third time in his last seven games with 20+ points.#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/aFufW1qpUN
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 26, 2023

For the game, Dartmouth shot 52.7 percent from the floor (29-of-55), including 44.8 percent from 3-point range (13-of-29). Penn finished at 61.5 percent (32-of-52) and 42.1 percent from behind the arc (8-of-19). The Quakers held a 28-21 edge in rebounds. Each team had 15 turnovers.

"Penn is playing at a high level right now," said McLaughlin. "They shot the ball at a high level and we shot the ball at a high level, but they just made more plays."

The Big Green will close their season next Saturday when they host Harvard on Senior Day, vying for the program's first season sweep against the Crimson since the 1998-99 season. Before the game, the team's five seniors — Dame Adelekun, Jackson Blaufeld, Paul Hudson, Cam Krystkowiak and Nate Ogbu — will be recognized.

"We want to end the season with a great week of practice," said McLaughlin. "We're going to compete on Monday, we're going to learn from this game and we're going to make sure guys are getting better across the board. We'll have a fun week and be ready to attack it on Saturday."