Big Green End Season With Comeback 76-69 Win Over Harvard

Tuesday, March 5

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

6-21,2-12Ivy League

Harvard

14-13,5-9Ivy League

Harvard

Dartmouth

Photo by: Chloe Broeker

Big Green End Season With Comeback 76-69 Win Over Harvard

3/5/2024 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Dartmouth held Harvard to just four points over the game’s final 9:21

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. — Harvard made an early second-half surge to take a 56-46 lead, but Dartmouth immediately responded with a 9-0 run and outscored the Crimson 30-13 the rest of the way to pick up a 76-69 win in the season finale for both sides on Tuesday evening inside Leede Arena. Senior Dusan Neskovic scored a team-high 21 points in his final game for the Big Green, marking the fifth time in his last eight games eclipsing 20 points. Dartmouth is now 4-1 over its last five games against Harvard, its best five-game stretch against the Crimson since winning five straight from 1988-90.

"We didn't have the season that we wanted, so this win means everything to us," said Neskovic. "We had the mindset of winning this game together, being together on the court, and I think we showed that. Extremely extremely proud of my guys and this win tonight. It means a lot."

The Big Green have now beaten Harvard in their season finale for a third straight season, and have now won four of the last five meetings against the Crimson.

Tuesday night was marked by plenty of strong performances, with sophomore Jackson Munro scoring a career-high 14 points with a career-high tying nine rebounds to narrowly miss his first-career double-double. Senior Jaren Johnson was awfully close to a triple-double with eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists, along with a career-high three blocks. Sophomore Jayden Williams scored 11 points, knocking down 3-of-5 from behind the arc. It marked the sixth time in his last eight games shooting at least 50 percent from three.

Jackson Munro up to 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three. Big Green currently trail 38-34 at the under-4 media timeout.

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/WAwA4bs8H8 #TheWoods 🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/77ArAtnW2b
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) March 6, 2024

Meanwhile, Chisom Okpara led Harvard with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting.

A tight start saw neither team lead by more than one possession until just over eight minutes in. In that time, there were five ties and five lead changes. An Okpara 3-pointer gave Harvard the game's first two-possession advantage at 23-19 with 11:31 on the first-half clock.

A few minutes later, the Big Green reeled off five straight points, behind an Izaiah Robinson layup and Munro 3-pointer, to pull even at 29, the game's first tie since 16-16.

Dartmouth couldn't get over the hump, as Harvard regained a five-point lead at 41-36 after a Tyler Simon 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining, but a Brandon Mitchell-Day basket with 1:29 on the clock pulled the Big Green within 41-38, which proved to be the halftime score.

Dartmouth actually scored the first five points of the second half, as a Munro putback gave the Big Green a 42-41 lead, their first advantage since 19-18. But from there, Harvard staged a 15-3 run, including eight straight points. Louis Lesmond knocked down two of his five 3-pointers in that span before an Okpara layup gave the Crimson a 56-46 lead.

"I called a timeout down 10, there's a miscommunication on the ball screen between Dusan and Jayden. They didn't switch, something that we work on all the time. So we brought them in and were very direct with them in the huddle," said Big Green head coach David McLaughiln. "This is the time you guys have to respond.

"They went 7-0 before Harvard called a timeout, and they really responded," McLaughlin continued. "I was proud of them; that's not easy to do. I think there was some crowd energy that certainly helped in that case."

In total, the Big Green's run was 9-0, which finished with four consecutive Johnson points to pull within 56-55 with 12:45 left in the second half.

Jaren Johnson jumper caps off a 9-0 run to pull the Big Green within one!

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/WAwA4bs8H8 #TheWoods 🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/maUJxvkEKm
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) March 6, 2024

Harvard went on to increase its lead back to five at 62-57 then 64-60, but the Big Green reeled off a 14-3 run, as Neskovic scored five straight points in the span of 35 seconds to put his team ahead, 71-67. After more than three minutes with neither team scoring, Neskovic found Romeo Myrthil for a dagger corner three, putting Dartmouth ahead 74-67 with 1:13 on the clock. The Crimson couldn't pull any closer than five the rest of the way.

In the end, the Big Green held Harvard to just four points over the game's final 9:21.

For the game, Dartmouth shot 50.0 percent from the floor, its second straight game at 50 percent or higher after none up until that point. The Big Green were 39.1 percent from 3-point range (9-of-23). Harvard finished at 43.1 percent (28-of-65) and 33.3 percent from behind the arc (10-of-30). The Big Green held a 34-32 edge in rebounds. Dartmouth had just 11 turnovers, with Harvard committing only 10.

With the win, Dartmouth finishes its season at 6-21 and 2-12 in the Ivy League. In both of the Big Green's league victories, they erased double-figure second-half deficits. Harvard finishes at 14-13 and 5-9 in the league.

The Big Green's season wasn't what they had hoped, but there were plenty of highlight moments, including three wins over teams that finished top four in their conference standings — New Hampshire (fourth, America East), Boston University (second, Patriot League) and Brown (fourth, Ivy League). Tuesday's win over Harvard came against a team that was in contention for Ivy Madness until this past Saturday, and a team that finished with an above .500 record.

"We spend a lot of time together, with the coaches as well," said Neskovic. "I think we've been doing a great job of keeping the goal in mind and not deviating from that no matter the outcome, staying level through the ups and downs of this game. We wish we had some more ups, but overall, extremely proud of who we became as a team and as individuals."