On Saturday afternoon, the men’s basketball team (16–7 overall, 7–3 Ivy League) was dealt a painful 83–76 loss in Hanover against Dartmouth (9–15, 5–5). After the loss, the Tigers are now tied with Yale (17–6, 7–3) at the top of the Ivy standings.
Before the game, Dartmouth had had an eight game losing streak. The game began with a 10–0 Big Green run, leaving the Tigers to play catch-up early in the contest.
Senior forward Keeshawn Kellman was able to light a spark, with a strong three-point play four minutes into the first half that sparked an 8–0 run by the Tigers. With 13 minutes left in the first half, the Tigers led 13–12.
After a three pointer by senior guard Ryan Langborg to give the Tigers a 16–14 lead, both sides failed to score for six straight possessions. The six stagnant possessions consisted of blocks and a rebounding fest.
Dartmouth sophomore guard Romeo Myrthil broke the silence with a three-pointer, putting the Big Green up 17–16 with 10:36 left in the half.
Immediately after, senior guard Tosan Evbuomwan went up for a dunk off a feed from Kellman to put the Tigers back in front. This lead did not last long, though, as the Big Green went on to retake their lead with a 6–0 run, going up 23–18 with over 8 minutes remaining in the half.
The Tigers responded to Dartmouth with a pair of three-pointers from first-year forward Caden Pierce to retake the lead with just over three minutes left in the first. Pierce’s triples were the sixth and seventh of the contest, already matching the full-game total in Jan. 21’s 93–90 overtime win against the Big Green.
Evbuomwan closed the half strong for the Tigers, scoring four points in the final two minutes of the half to help the Tigers go into the break leading 40–35.
Going into the second half, Langborg had put up 13 points, Evbuomwan had ten, and Pierce tallied nine. To open up the half, Kellman weaved his way under the rim for a layup to improve the Tigers’ lead to 42–35.
This, however, would be the last time the Tigers would lead the game. Dartmouth guard Izaiah Robinson sank a three-pointer while tightly guarded by junior guard Matt Allocco, starting Dartmouth’s second-half run. The following possession, Dartmouth guard Ryan Cornish pull up for two points under the hand of Pierce for his first points of the game with 18:44 remaining.
On the next play, Dartmouth guard Dusan Neskovic drove into the paint but was fouled hard by Princeton junior forward Zach Martini, but the nature of the collision prompted a nearly two-and-a-half minute stoppage in play to assess whether the foul would be dangerous enough for a flagrant foul. Martini was ultimately charged with a flagrant foul during the intermission.
Coming out of the pause in play, Dartmouth continued their run with seven more points, leading 47–42 with 17:10 remaining in the contest. Evbuomwan ended the 12–0 run with a pick and pop three, but Dartmouth forward Dame Adelekun answered right away with an easy layup off a Neskovic assist.
After turnovers on both ends, Evbuomwan put a stop to the back-and-forth by blowing by a Dartmouth defender for a layup to shrink Dartmouth’s lead to two, 49–47.
Dartmouth didn’t lose their stroke for long, though, and eventually gained a 14-point lead with ten minutes left in the game at 64–50.
The Tigers failed to convert on second-chance points of the night, scoring only seven points off of 12 offensive rebounds.
“I think continuing to get offensive rebounds will lead to more buckets in the future. More possessions equals more shots which we must capitalize on,” Allocco told the Daily Princetonian.
A 9–2 run late in the game lit a glimmer of hope for the Tigers. With 6:32 remaining, a pass from Dartmouth guard Cornish was tipped away by first-year guard Deven Austin who was able to go coast-to-coast and extend on an and-1 layup that gave rise to a Dartmouth timeout.
Soon after, down six with 2:25 left in the game, Allocco closed the scoring gap to 71–67. With the Tigers now down four, Pierce earned a steal out of the Tigers full-court press for a two-hand tomahawk jam, clawing back 73–71.
Unfortunately for Princeton, Dartmouth retaliated with six points of their own for a 81–74 lead.
With the clock winding down, the Tigers attempted to make a final push to win the game, but it was not enough as the Big Green defense remained resilient. After a miss from Langborg, Dartmouth ran out the clock and extinguished any hopes of a Princeton comeback.
“We weren’t sharp enough today to get the win on the road,” said Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98. “We have a week of preparation ahead of a big weekend, and we are looking forward to improving.”
The Big Green prevailed against the Tigers, 83–76. The Tigers aim to get back on track at home against Brown on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Yousif Mohamed is a contributor to the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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