Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Marist on November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
2:00 PM
Men's Basketball
vs Marist
Saturday, February 11
Hanover, N.H.
2:00 PM
Dartmouth College
83
vs
76
Princeton
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Dartmouth Bounces Back in a Big Way, Beating First-Place Princeton, 83-76
2/11/2023 6:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Big Green now own a win over Yale, Harvard and Princeton in the same season for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign
HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth men's basketball team used a 30-8 second-half run to turn a seven-point deficit into a 15-point lead, on the way to a big 83-76 bounce back win over first-place Princeton on Saturday afternoon in Leede Arena. The Tigers rallied to as close as two with 2:08 remaining, but the Big Green were 10-of-10 from the free throw line over the final two minutes, and 18-of-19 for the game, to help seal the victory.
With the win, Dartmouth improves to 5-5 in Ivy League play and 9-15 overall. Princeton falls to 16-7 overall and 7-3 in the league. With four regular-season games remaining, the Big Green are currently tied with Cornell for fifth place, one game behind Brown and Penn in third.
The win snapped Dartmouth's eight-game losing streak against Princeton and gives the Big Green victories over Yale, Harvard and Princeton in the same season for the first time since 2008-09. That was also the last time Dartmouth stood .500 or better after 10 Ivy League games.
"On Monday, we said this is who we are, but this is how we played," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "It's not a version of what we want to be. Both those teams played extremely well against us last weekend and they're playing extremely good basketball right now. This is what we need to do to have a great week. Here's what we need to accomplish on Monday; we need to win the day today, and that was just the start of it.
"I thought we had a really good week of prep."
It showed on Saturday, with two Big Green players eclipsing 20 points for the third time this season and second time against Princeton. This time, senior Dame Adelekun scored 25 points while junior Dusan Neskovic added 21. They shot a combined 17-of-25 from the floor, with Adelekun at 10-of-14 and Neskovic shooting 7-of-11. Adelekun hit both of his 3-point attempts, his first-career game with multiple threes.
Sophomore Romeo Myrthil came off the bench and played a huge role at both ends of the floor, recording a career-high 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
"He has been producing in practice, and the staff said we need to give him a shot and he grasped his opportunity," said McLaughlin. "It's a great lesson; you have to always be ready. You just don't know when that opportunity is going to come. He grasped it and he played great on both ends of the floor."
Sophomore Ryan Cornish led Dartmouth in rebounds with eight, while adding eight points and three assists.
Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton with 23 points.
Dartmouth came out flying, taking an early 10-0 lead after Adelekun's first of two 3-pointers.
A few minutes later, Princeton took its first lead after a Keeshawn Kellman basket extended its run to 13-2 and gave the Tigers a 13-12 advantage.
The ensuing few minutes saw five lead changes until four straight Adelekun points, followed by a Neskovic layup, put the Big Green ahead, 23-18 with 8:19 left in the first half.
Myrthil's first of two 3-pointers put Dartmouth ahead, 26-21 with 6:13 on the clock, but the Tigers outscored the Big Green 19-9 the rest of the half. Evbuomwan scored the final four points of the stanza to give Princeton a 40-35 halftime lead.
Kellman opened the second half with a layup to extend the margin to seven, but Dartmouth had a major answer. An Izaiah Robinson 3-pointer sparked what proved to be a 12-0 run (which would eventually extend to 30-8). In that sequence was a Princeton flagrant foul, which saw Neskovic to knock down two free throws to tie the score, then Adelekun convert a layup to put the Big Green back in front, 44-42 with 17:49 on the second-half clock. Just 35 seconds later, Adelekun converted his second 3-pointer for a 47-42 lead.
Princeton pulled within 49-47 before a 9-0 Big Green run, highlighted by seven points from Neskovic, gave Dartmouth its largest lead at 58-47 with 12:39 remaining. That advantage swelled to as much as 15 after an Adelekun 3-point play made it 65-50 with 10:08 on the clock.
For the game, the Big Green shot exactly 50.0 percent from the floor (28-of-56) and 42.9 percent from 3-point range (9-of-21). Princeton finished at 39.7 percent (27-of-68) and 30.0 percent from behind the arc (9-of-30). Dartmouth held a 39-33 edge in rebounds.
With the win, Dartmouth has now beaten each of the top four teams in the preseason Ivy League poll.
The Big Green now hit the road for three straight games, beginning with games next weekend at Cornell on Friday (6 p.m.) and Columbia on Saturday (7 p.m.).
With the win, Dartmouth improves to 5-5 in Ivy League play and 9-15 overall. Princeton falls to 16-7 overall and 7-3 in the league. With four regular-season games remaining, the Big Green are currently tied with Cornell for fifth place, one game behind Brown and Penn in third.
The win snapped Dartmouth's eight-game losing streak against Princeton and gives the Big Green victories over Yale, Harvard and Princeton in the same season for the first time since 2008-09. That was also the last time Dartmouth stood .500 or better after 10 Ivy League games.
Dartmouth's bounce back came after a pair of double-digit defeats at home last weekend, vs. Brown and Yale.GREEN AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE. @DartmouthMBB ends a brief two-game skid by topping league-leading Princeton 83-76 in Hanover. The Big Green — who were led by Dame Adelekun's 25 points — even their conference record at 5-5 to stay right in the middle of the #IvyMadness hunt. 🌿🏀 pic.twitter.com/WoQJhsXnOG
— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) February 11, 2023
"On Monday, we said this is who we are, but this is how we played," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "It's not a version of what we want to be. Both those teams played extremely well against us last weekend and they're playing extremely good basketball right now. This is what we need to do to have a great week. Here's what we need to accomplish on Monday; we need to win the day today, and that was just the start of it.
"I thought we had a really good week of prep."
It showed on Saturday, with two Big Green players eclipsing 20 points for the third time this season and second time against Princeton. This time, senior Dame Adelekun scored 25 points while junior Dusan Neskovic added 21. They shot a combined 17-of-25 from the floor, with Adelekun at 10-of-14 and Neskovic shooting 7-of-11. Adelekun hit both of his 3-point attempts, his first-career game with multiple threes.
Sophomore Romeo Myrthil came off the bench and played a huge role at both ends of the floor, recording a career-high 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
"He has been producing in practice, and the staff said we need to give him a shot and he grasped his opportunity," said McLaughlin. "It's a great lesson; you have to always be ready. You just don't know when that opportunity is going to come. He grasped it and he played great on both ends of the floor."
Sophomore Ryan Cornish led Dartmouth in rebounds with eight, while adding eight points and three assists.
Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton with 23 points.
Dartmouth came out flying, taking an early 10-0 lead after Adelekun's first of two 3-pointers.
Princeton quickly responded, scoring 11 of the next 13 points, as a Ryan Langborg trey got the Tigers within 12-11 with 15:13 on the clock.16:56 1st | Big start for the Big Green! Dame knocks down a triple to give Dartmouth a 10-0 advantage.
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
📺: @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/cLMf7phPep#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/6pW4G79ign
A few minutes later, Princeton took its first lead after a Keeshawn Kellman basket extended its run to 13-2 and gave the Tigers a 13-12 advantage.
The ensuing few minutes saw five lead changes until four straight Adelekun points, followed by a Neskovic layup, put the Big Green ahead, 23-18 with 8:19 left in the first half.
Myrthil's first of two 3-pointers put Dartmouth ahead, 26-21 with 6:13 on the clock, but the Tigers outscored the Big Green 19-9 the rest of the half. Evbuomwan scored the final four points of the stanza to give Princeton a 40-35 halftime lead.
Kellman opened the second half with a layup to extend the margin to seven, but Dartmouth had a major answer. An Izaiah Robinson 3-pointer sparked what proved to be a 12-0 run (which would eventually extend to 30-8). In that sequence was a Princeton flagrant foul, which saw Neskovic to knock down two free throws to tie the score, then Adelekun convert a layup to put the Big Green back in front, 44-42 with 17:49 on the second-half clock. Just 35 seconds later, Adelekun converted his second 3-pointer for a 47-42 lead.
Princeton pulled within 49-47 before a 9-0 Big Green run, highlighted by seven points from Neskovic, gave Dartmouth its largest lead at 58-47 with 12:39 remaining. That advantage swelled to as much as 15 after an Adelekun 3-point play made it 65-50 with 10:08 on the clock.
From that point forward, the Tigers slowly chipped away, getting as close as two, 73-71, after four points in the span of 11 seconds. But the Big Green buckled down defensive down the stretch, and hit their free throws, to wrap up the critical victory.13:25 2nd | Great hustle leads to a Neskovic basket and Leede Arena is rocking! Big Green with an eight-point advantage.
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
📺: @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/cLMf7phPep#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/RT0Yr4gxTo
"To Princeton's credit, they chipped away at the foul line, they got us in foul trouble and they played a little bit of a different defense, which didn't get us tight, but it slowed us down," said McLaughlin.Another amazing win in front of an amazing home crowd 🗣💪✅#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/rS657gvO7k
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
For the game, the Big Green shot exactly 50.0 percent from the floor (28-of-56) and 42.9 percent from 3-point range (9-of-21). Princeton finished at 39.7 percent (27-of-68) and 30.0 percent from behind the arc (9-of-30). Dartmouth held a 39-33 edge in rebounds.
With the win, Dartmouth has now beaten each of the top four teams in the preseason Ivy League poll.
The Big Green now hit the road for three straight games, beginning with games next weekend at Cornell on Friday (6 p.m.) and Columbia on Saturday (7 p.m.).
Hear from head coach David McLaughlin following today's big win over first-place Princeton!#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/xtx8c64ISO
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
Dusan Neskovic eclipsed 20 points for the second time in as many games against Princeton, and the media caught up with him after today's big win.#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/7Kw1vsnYld
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
Hear from Dame Adelekun following his 25-point effort and the huge win over first-place Princeton!#TheWoods🌲| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/weXr8NlZ0Z
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) February 11, 2023
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