The Big Green fell in love with the number 18 Saturday night when they capped off their 18-win season with an 18-point victory over the Yale. Fortunately, that didn't put them in 18th place in the Ivy League, but rather earned them a second-place tie in the Ancient Eight.
Using the hot shooting of guards PJ Halas '98 and Sea Lonergan '97, Dartmouth powered through their final two games of the season with a weekend sweep of Yale and Brown on the road. The two victories gave the Big Green an overall record of 18-8, their best finish in nearly a decade. Dartmouth finished their Ivy League campaign 10-4, tied for second-place with Harvard. The second place finish was Dartmouth's best finish under Head Coach Dave Faucher.
Not knowing quite to expect after being eliminated from the Ivy League title hunt last weekend, the Big Green came out on fire in the first half against Brown, taking a 31-20 lead to the locker room. The Bears battled back throughout the second half and managed to tie up the contest at 44-44 on two free throws by Aaron Butler with just over five minutes remaining.
Relying on their senior leadership and composure, Dartmouth didn't fall apart but rather responded to the Brown challenge by using a 16-5 spurt to put away the game.
"It was a battle all of the way, but we weathered it, particularly with our foul shots at the end. This team has come a long way from where we started four years ago," co-Captain Kenny Mitchell '97 said.
Lonergan took advantage of his final trip to Providence by scoring 20 points against the Bears while backcourt mate Halas chipped in 19 points. Mitchell added 10 assists to round-out the solid play of the backcourt.
"I'm pleased with the way we played," said Faucher, who used the weekend sweep to even his record with the Big Green to an even .500. "We got through that tough drought in the first 10 minutes of the second half. We had to do it the old fashioned way, we had to earn it."
The Big Green certainly earned a victory in their final game of the season by burying Yale, 78-60. The win completed a season sweep of both Brown and Yale and gave the Big Green a 6-1 record on the road in Ivy League play, with the only loss coming in a two-point defeat at Princeton.
"After the ups and downs of the past three weekends, this was definitely a great way to go out," said senior center Brian Gilpin '97, who scored 15 points and recorded 5 blocks.
While Halas poured in a team-high 20 points, Saturday night was definitely senior night for the Big Green. Mitchell tied a season high with 12 assists to go along with his 12 points. Furthermore, his three steals on the evening gave him a new single-season record for steals with 70.
Lonergan finished in double digits for the eighth straight night with 17 points. However, perhaps the biggest contributions came from reserve forwards Jason Fisher '97 and Chris Butler '97.
Fisher contributed two points in his fourteen minutes of inspired play while Butler's 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds capped the season and four hard fought years for the Big Green's six seniors.
Unfortunately, forward Keith Stanton '97 was forced to sit the game out with a knee injury.
"We played some terrific basketball this weekend," Faucher said. "We showed courage and class, and this says so much about our seniors and the program."
