Another Overtime Game, Another Heartbreaking Defeat

Saturday, February 27

New Haven, Conn.

8:00 PM

Dartmouth College

9-17, 3-9Ivy

Yale

20-6, 11-1Ivy

OT 1

Dartmouth

Yale

Another Overtime Game, Another Heartbreaking Defeat

2/27/2016 10:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale guard Makai Mason hit a 16-footer with five seconds in regulation to force overtime, and the Bulldogs were able to stave off another late-season upset against Dartmouth with a 76-71 triumph on Saturday night at Lee Amphitheater. Mason and Brandon Sherrod each had 16 points to lead Yale (20-6, 11-1 Ivy) while sophomore Taylor Johnson led all players with 18 for the Big Green (9-17, 3-9 Ivy).

It was the second-straight night that Dartmouth's opponent stole a victory from it in the final seconds of regulation. Brown hit a three-pointer with eight seconds left on Friday night to force overtime before defeating the Green, 84-83.

In the overtime period, Dartmouth had three shots rim out from close range before the Big Green's leading scorer this season, freshman Evan Boudreaux, picked up his fifth foul with 3:39 to play. Yale proceeded to sink 5-of-6 foul shots in the next minute and a half to build up a 68-63 lead.

Sophomore Cameron Smith finally got a shot to fall for Dartmouth with a layup, and the two sides began trading buckets, including an emphatic slam by Yale's Justin Sears with 44.4 seconds remaining. When senior Tommy Carpenter scored on a putback 12 seconds later, the Big Green were still within three at 72-69.

But Mason sank four free throws in the final 11.2 seconds to secure the victory for the Bulldogs, keeping them atop the Ivy League standings by half a game over Princeton.

Sophomore Miles Wright nearly played the hero for Dartmouth in the final minute of regulation. His three-pointer from in front of the Big Green bench with 21.6 seconds left gave them a one-point lead, 62-61, then he stole the ball at the other end and was fouled. After sinking the second of two foul shots, however, Mason provided heroics of his own with his stop-and-pop jumper from the right elbow with 5.4 seconds to play, knotting the score at 63. A Dartmouth shot at the buzzer was partially blocked, forcing overtime.

While the Big Green enjoyed a better shooting night from the floor, hitting 47.2 percent (25-of-53) of their shots compared to 41.1 percent (23-of-56) for Yale, the Bulldogs' rebounding proved to be the difference with a 38-27 edge on the glass, including 17 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second-chance points.

The two teams battled back and forth for the first five minutes of the game before senior Connor Boehm, who finished the night with 16 points, started a seven-point spurt for Dartmouth by hitting his fourth-consecutive field goal attempt. But after five free throws gave the Big Green a 15-10 advantage, Yale rattled off 14 straight points while holding Dartmouth scoreless for seven and a half minutes.

Nick Victor started the extended run with his third three-pointer in the first 6:18 of the game, and Khaliq Ghani also knocked down a trey before the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, Sears, hit his first field goal to make it a 24-15 Yale lead with 6:49 left in the half. It would be the Bulldogs' largest lead of the evening.

Wright finally ended the scoring drought by hitting a tough shot in the lane, and Carpenter dropped a 15-footer on the baseline less than a minute later.

Lee Amphitheater nearly shook to the ground when Sears skied for a rebound off a three-point miss and slammed it home in one motion. But Carpenter added two more buckets — the second on a Sears goaltending — and Johnson drove for a layup to bring the Big Green within two at 27-25. The two sides traded free throws before Sears grabbed an air-balled three-point attempt and put it up and in for the final points of the half, leaving Yale with a 31-27 advantage.

In the second half, the difference wavered between four and six points until Johnson and Boudreaux both converted a pair of foul shots to tie the score at 39. A Boehm basket then gave Dartmouth its first advantage in over 20 minutes of action. Add in a Boudreaux three-point play and a tough shot by freshman Guilien Smith, and suddenly the Big Green had a 14-2 run to take a 47-41 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

After trading three-pointers (the first of the game for Dartmouth after nearly 31 minutes), Yale went on a 12-2 run of its own with all 12 points coming in the paint. But thanks to a Wright three-point play and four free throws by Johnson, who was 10-for-10 at the line, the Big Green once again had the upper hand at 59-58 with 1:58 to go.

Sherrod missed a pair of free throws, but Dartmouth could not convert at the other end, missing a pair of shots. Sherrod then redeemed himself by dropping in a layup after a Sears offensive rebound with 44.5 seconds to play. That merely set up Wright's big three-pointer and Mason's game-tying shot.

Mason overcame a tough shooting night, going just 4-of-18 from the floor and 1-of-6 from long range, by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the overtime period and 7-of-8 at the line in the game. Sherrod made 4-of-9 field goals and 8-of-11 foul shots for his 16 points, while Sears collected a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 boards. Victor and Anthony Dallier also reached double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Johnson was just 4-of-5 from the floor to go with his perfect night at the charity stripe in a career-high 37 minutes. Boehm was 8-of-15 to account for his 16 points, matching Boudreaux for the team lead with seven caroms. Wright added 11 points and Boudreaux 10 on a tough 2-of-10 shooting night, ending his streak of 12 straight games leading Dartmouth in scoring.

Dartmouth returns to Leede Arena next weekend for the final two games of the season when it hosts Penn (11-14, 5-6 Ivy) and Princeton (20-5, 10-1 Ivy) on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.