Dartmouth Cruises to 29-Point Victory Over Columbia

Saturday, February 19

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-15,4-7Ivy League

Columbia

4-20,1-11Ivy League

Columbia

Dartmouth

Dusan Neskovic had career highs of seven points and 10 rebounds.

Photo by: Brian Foley

Dartmouth Cruises to 29-Point Victory Over Columbia

2/19/2022 8:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Brendan Barry hit six 3-pointers and Dusan Neskovic had 10 rebounds off the bench

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth men's basketball team overwhelmed Columbia on Saturday night at Leede Arena, opening up a 30-point lead early in the second half to defeat the visiting Lions (4-20, 1-11 Ivy), 79-50. Graduate Brendan Barry hit six of the team's 11 3-pointers to lead the onslaught for the Big Green (7-15, 4-7 Ivy), which enjoyed its largest margin of victory over an Ivy League opponent since a 35-point win over Columbia on Valentine's Day in 1997.

The victory, combined with Harvard's win over Cornell in overtime tonight, leaves Dartmouth just a single game out of fourth place (behind Harvard) in the race for the final berth in the Ivy League Tournament with three games to play for both teams.

Eleven of the 13 Big Green players who dressed scored with Barry leading the way with 18 points — all coming on his six triples. Junior Dame Adelekun was the only one of Barry's teammates to reach double figures with 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Starring off the bench was sophomore Dusan Neskovic, who posted personal bests of seven points and 10 rebounds, helping the Green enjoy a 47-33 advantage on the glass.

After Dartmouth took a quick 6-2 lead, the Lions roared back with three straight 3-pointers, two from Zavian McLean, to go up 11-6. But the Big Green roared louder, scoring the next 15 points — all from the perimeter — starting with a corner trifecta from senior Garrison Wade. Barry then got his act going with a triple of his own to put Dartmouth back on top, and after 6-10 freshman Nikola Dimitrijevic hit the first long ball of his career, Barry went back-to-back for a 21-11 lead.

Even though Robbie Stankard ended the run with a layup for Columbia, the Big Green ripped off seven more points with a 3-pointer by sophomore Izaiah Robinson sandwiched between layups, boosting the advantage to 15 at 28-13.

Even with McLean doing everything he could to keep the Lions in the game, Dartmouth kept adding to the Columbia deficit. McLean popped his third 3-pointer, but Barry answered with his fourth. McLean sank a 14-footer, but the Big Green responded with three layups. By the end of the half, McLean had 18 of the Lions' 30 points, while Dartmouth was 9-of-20 from distance with five of those treys courtesy of Barry.

The Big Green did not let up after the intermission, scoring the first 10 points, starting with another Barry 3-pointer and ending with a corner three from senior Taurus Samuels. McLean hit one of two free throws before fifth-year senior Aaryn Rai laid in a shot, then he and Wade converted two foul shots a piece to put Dartmouth up by 34, 65-31, with 15 minutes to play.

At that point, the Big Green were shooting 54.5 percent (24-of-44) from the floor and 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from downtown. It wasn't long before head coach David McLaughlin started to substitute liberally, getting each of his active players minutes on the court.

"After a really good performance last night, we had to continue to respond after our loss last weekend, and I thought the guys did," McLaughlin said after the win. "Especially with back-to-back games, we needed to be the tougher team, and our guys really competed right off the bat. When you are sharing the juices, moving the ball quickly and shots start falling, it just becomes contagious. Guys coming off the bench were getting stop, making shots, and all of that energy can be contagious, resulting in a game like tonight."

The scoring slowed considerably over the final 15 minutes, but there was never any doubt as to the outcome. Dartmouth wound up knocking down 28-of-69 field goals (.406) and 13-of-40 (.325) from the perimeter, not to mention 10-of-14 (.714) at the charity stripe.

McLean ended the evening with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-6 on 3-pointers after entering the game 5-of-32 from distance. As a team, Columbia shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) overall and 29.6 percent (8-of-27) on their long balls. The Dartmouth defense also forced 20 turnovers that led to 21 points.

Dartmouth will next host Yale (15-10, 9-2 Ivy) — which had its seven-game win streak ended tonight to fall into a first-place with Princeton — on Tuesday night at Leede Arena, playing to keep pace with Harvard in the Ivy League standings. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, while a free audio stream will also be available through DartmouthSports.com featuring Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy on the call.

Notes: Dartmouth swept the series from the Lions for the second straight season … the 29-point win was the Big Green's largest margin of victory over any Division I opponent since a 77-44 victory at Maine on Dec. 11, 2019 … Barry needs 10 3-pointers over the final three regular-season games to break the program's career total of 242 set by Jim Barton '89 … the Crimson, which will host the Ivy League Tournament this year, will play Princeton twice next week with serious implications as to whether or not they get that fourth spot … Adelekun did not miss a field goal all weekend, hitting 7-of-7 last night against Cornell last night in scoring 19 points … the Big Green swept the weekend from Cornell and Columbia, giving them back-to-back wins for the first time since winning three straight to close out November.