Big Green Erase 14-Point Deficit to Beat Brown in Thrilling Fashion, 75-71

Saturday, January 27

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-12,1-3Ivy League

Brown

5-14,1-3Ivy League

Brown

Dartmouth

Photo by: Chloe Broeker

Big Green Erase 14-Point Deficit to Beat Brown in Thrilling Fashion, 75-71

1/27/2024 7:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights

Brandon Mitchell-Day and Dusan Neskovic each scored 20+ points to lead Dartmouth

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. — Trailing by 14 in the first half and 11 at the half, the Dartmouth men's basketball team staged a furious comeback, outsourcing Brown 49-34 in the second half to beat the Bears, 75-71 on Saturday afternoon in Leede Arena. Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day led the offense with a career-high 22 points, along with 10 rebounds for his third-career double-double, including an emphatic slam in the final seconds to put the game out of reach. The victory marked the 250th in David McLaughlin's career as collegiate head coach, including his time at Stonehill.

With the win, Dartmouth improves to 5-12 and 1-3 in Ivy League play. Brown falls to 5-14 and 1-3 in the league. After Saturday's action, the Big Green, Bears and three other teams (Columbia, Harvard and Penn) are all tied for fourth place with identical 1-3 Ivy records.

"Fighting through adversity all week," said Mitchell-Day when asked what fueled the comeback. "The last two Ivy games we had, we didn't put up the performance we thought we could. Coach preached all week just playing hard and playing tough. We got behind Coach's statement at halftime of being the tougher team; the guys bought into that, were able to out-physical them and make the 50-50 plays to cut that lead down."

Along with Mitchell-Day's big performance, junior Dusan Neskovic also netted 20 points on 7-of-12, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. It marked the first time since Jan. 21 of last season that two Big Green teammates scored 20+ in a game, when Ryan Cornish had 31 and Neskovic netted 24 at Princeton.

Nana Owusu-Anane led Brown with 20 points. The Ivy League's leading scorer Kino Lilly Jr. was held to just 14 points, more than five points below his average entering the day and his fewest points scored in seven games (since scoring 13 on Dec. 10 at Providence). The Big Green held Lilly Jr. to just 4-of-12 shooting from the floor.

As a team, Dartmouth knocked down 12-of-20 3-pointers for the game, as Mitchell-Day was 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Sophomore Jackson Munro returned from injury and made a major impact, scoring nine points and adding a game-high five assists along with three rebounds. He was 2-of-2 from behind the arc, connecting on a pair of clutch second-half treys. Dartmouth assisted on 19 of its 27 field goals as a team.

"The guys played really hard," said McLaughlin. "It sounds like a simple thing, but we just kept believing and we told them at halftime, we missed some shots in the first half. You have to play without fear, have full confidence and continue to attack. I thought we did a really good job of getting paint touches against them and were able to score it from there or kick it out. We didn't necessarily kick it out for threes at times, but kick it out for second drives.The guys made really good second-level decisions off of that."

The Big Green's 49 points in the second half tied a season high for a half and were the most against a Division I opponent (the other was 49 in the first half vs. Westfield State).

Brown opened an early 17-5 lead just seven minutes into the game, with its lead reaching 14 at 21-7. With the Bears ahead 23-9, the Big Green began chipping away. Dartmouth staged an 11-2 run, concluding a trio of 3-pointers, two from Neskovic and one from Mitchell-Day. Neskovic's second pulled the Big Green within 25-20 with 6:11 left in the first half.

The Bears' lead swelled back to 12, as Brown took a 37-26 lead into halftime.

Brown scored first in the second half, but the Big Green immediately answered with a 7-0 run, beginning with five straight points from Mitchell-Day.

With just over 14 minutes on the second-half clock and trailing by 10, a Munro 3-point play and Jaren Johnson jumper cut Dartmouth's deficit in half, to 46-41.

The Big Green continued to chip away, pulling within one after a Neskovic 3-point play made the score 52-51 midway through the second half. Brown eventually extended its lead back to seven, 65-58 with 5:57 remaining, but Dartmouth answered with an 8-0 run to take its first lead since the opening minutes. A Romeo Myrthil jump shot capped off the rally, making the score 66-65 with 3:10 on the clock.

The lead changed twice more over the ensuing minute and a half. A Mitchell-Day 3-pointer, his fifth of the game, gave Dartmouth a 71-70 lead. One Brown free throw evened the score, but Mitchell-Day grabbed a big offensive rebound and was fouled, hitting two free throws to give the Big Green a 73-71 advantage. Following a stop, Myrthil's long pass over the Brown defense connected with Mitchell-Day, who put an exclamation point on the victory with the emphatic dunk, giving Dartmouth a 75-71 lead, which proved to be the final.

For the game, the Big Green shot 46.6 percent from the floor (27-of-58), including 60 percent from 3-point range (12-of-20). Brown finished at 44.2 percent (23-of-52) and 33.3 percent from behind the arc (9-of-27). The Big Green held a 37-28 edge in rebounds.

Dartmouth will wrap up its four-game homestand next weekend when it hosts Cornell on Friday night and Columbia on Saturday night. Gametimes are set for 6 and 7 p.m., respectively. To purchase tickets, head to DartmouthSports.com/Tickets.