It was a tale of two halves for the Big Green in both games over the weekend, but in the end it is the best of times for Dartmouth basketball.
After the disappointing loss earlier in the week to Harvard, a much-needed sweep of Ivy foes Cornell and Columbia has re-established the Big Green as a contender to Princeton for the Ivy League crown.
After the disappointing loss earlier in the week to Harvard, a much-needed sweep of Ivy foes Cornell and Columbia has re-established the Big Green as a contendor to Princeton for the Ivy Crown.
The 75-66 victory over Cornell followed by a 73-57 thumping of Columbia raised the Big Green's overall record to 11-3 and 3-1 in Ivy League play. Most importantly, the Big Green seemed to regain their shooting touch by posting their most points back to back Ivy League games in the last three years.
"I think the Big Green is back," guard Sea Lonergan '97 said. "We're playing strong, we're playing together and I think we worked ourselves out of the funk that we had been in."
Cornell came into Leede Arena Friday night with a perfect game plan to stop the Big Green and worked it to perfection in the first half. Taking advantage of Dartmouth's shooting troubles, Cornell's zone defense took away center Brian Gilpin '97 and forced the Big Green to beat them from the perimeter.
The Big Green and their guards were unable to respond to the challenge as they connected on only five of 18 attempts from three point range and shot 34.5 percent, their worst shooting half of the year. As a result, Cornell took a 32-26 lead to the half paced by forward John McCoy's 12 first-half points.
Facing the reality of dropping to 1-2 and out of the Ivy League title race, the Big Green responded by coming out of the locker room on fire. Dartmouth took a 43-37 lead and control of the game with a 15-3 run early in the second half as they took advantage of four steals and converted them into fast break points, scoring on five consecutive possesions.
Point guard Kenny Mitchell '97 ignited the team by coming up with seven of those points as part of his inspiring second half that saw him score10 points along with four steals while dishing out five assists.
Cornell closed the lead to within two points but another spurt by the Big Green, led by Halas, Seth Newsome '99 and Shaun Gee '00 put away the Big Red for good. Gee's dunk sparked a 21-8 run that was propelled by four three-pointers from Halas.
Guard Sea Lonergan '97 led three players in double figures for the Big Green with 19 points as the Big Green ended their shooting woes by hitting on 55percent of their shots in the second half.
Just like the night before, Dartmouth used a sizzling shooting perfomance in the second half to put away a pesky Columbia team. The Big Green used hot three point shooting by Halas and a dominating performance by Gilpin in the post to take a nine point lead with five minutes remaining in the half.
However, as would be the pattern throughout much of the game, the clearly outmatched Lions rallied late in the half behind Ivy League scoring leader C.J. Thompkins and his 14 points to cut the halftime deficit to 32-31.
The Big Green looked as if they were poised to discard the Lions when they went on an 11-6 run to take a six point lead. Columbia refused to roll over though and came back with six points of their own to tie the ballgame. Suddenly the Big Green seemed about to fall apart with Gilpin in the locker room having his ankle taped and Mitchell on the bench with four fouls.
Instead, Dartmouth responded by playing their best basketball of the year as they outscored the Lions 25-8 in the next nine minutes as they scored on 12 of their next 13 possesions. Lonergan started the run with a layup followed by an athletic play by Gee that resulted in a conventional three point play.
On the ensuing possesion, Newsome, who is shooting over 57 percent from three in league play, followed with a three from the top of the key and the Big Green never looked back as they shot 67 percent in the second half to silence the Lions. Halas's fourth three-pointer of the game and ninth of the weekend gave Dartmouth a 17 point lead with just under five minutes left in the contest on their way to the eventual final of 73-57.
"When Gilpin went out and Kenny had four fouls, we went back to basics of execution," head coach Dave Faucher said.
Halas tied a career high with 19 points as the Big Green had their best shooting performance of the year, shooting just under 59percent for the game.
"This weekend gave us a big confidence boost," Stanton said. "These victories has helped the entire team to realize that we have what it takes to be successful."
The team now has the next 10 days off before traveling to Vermont on Jan. 21.
