Dartmouth men's basketball has already exceeded expectations. Before the season began, the Green was picked to finish seventh in the Ivy League. Its lack of experience and expected lack of scoring options were supposed to keep the team from beating not only Penn and Princeton, but also the mediocre Ivy teams.
After defeating Cornell and Columbia back to back for the second time this season, Dartmouth (12-10, 8-2) still has yet to lose to a lesser Ivy opponent and has put itself in perfect position to avenge last weekend's road losses to Penn and Princeton.
Since the Big Green were beaten by the other Ivy frontrunners, each team has lost a game. On Tuesday, a remarkable Princeton comeback gave them a one point victory over Penn. But then the mighty Tigers lost their first Ivy game in three years to last-place Yale on Saturday.
Dartmouth's two victories were critical to their chances for the Ivy Championship and a birth in the NCAA tournament. And they came in dramatic fashion.
Against a big Cornell team, the Green had some difficulty getting the ball inside, but was also shooting poorly. Tied at halftime, the Green quickly went into a nosedive that saw them trailing 54-45 with 10 minutes remaining. Dartmouth worked its way back into the game and tied the score with just under three minutes left.
A tense final few minutes saw the Green pull away for a 64-57 win.
"Cornell is talented," Head Coach Dave Faucher said after the game. "They gave us some problems."
Cornell's talent was evident early. After point guard Flinder Boyd '02 put on an uncharacteristic scoring display to give the Green a 6-0 lead, the Big Red crawled back into the game. After Cornell's first score, Greg Buth '01 hit a layup on a pass from Boyd, but then Cornell answered with six points in a row. Captain Shaun Gee '00 hit a short turnaround jumper, but Cornell answered with a three pointer.
Each team continued to answer the other's scores, and neither team could achieve more than a five point lead for the rest of the half.
Buth hit a jumper and Boyd put in three more buckets, including a three-pointer that was set up by an offensive rebound made by Gee while he was on his back. But Cornell matched the Green's output with several scoring spurts.
Gee and Ian McGinnis '01 each hit two free throws to tie the score, Charles Harris '02 hit a driving layup and Gee hit another free throw to put the Green on top by three. After Cornell tied the game again, Buth hit a three-pointer on the fast break and Gee out in an inside layup for a 31-26 lead.
Buth put in another layup and Gee added three more free throws, but Cornell scored 10 points in the last three minutes of the half to tie the score yet again 36-36.
"I thought our defense was not as tough as it should be in the first half," Faucher said. "In the second half, we got a fight and a bounce in our step."
The fight and bounce was not immediately apparent, though, as the Green scored only on a Gee free throw in the first four minutes of the half. After a Buth turnaround jumper and a Gee layup at 15:09 Dartmouth endured a four-minute scoring drought that left them behind 52-41.
But a 20-3 over nine minutes run brought the Green all the way back. Charles Harris keyed the rally, scoring 10 points on three layups, two of which became three-point plays, and four free throws.
"Charles is so talented," Faucher said. "His second half [was] phenomenal."
Buth added four free throws, Gee hit a three-pointer and McGinnis had a short jumper and a foul shot to give the Green the 61-55 lead that lasted until 36 seconds remained.
Cornell did its best to recover, and got back to within four when center Jeffrion Aubry -- who grabbed fourteen rebounds for Cornell -- rebounded a missed shot and slammed home a flying dunk. But Ian McGinnis calmly nailed three free throws at the game's end and buried Cornell. "iMac," the nation's leading rebounder, had 11 boards to go with eight points. The other four Dartmouth starters all scored in double figures, with Gee leading the way with 16 points.
More importantly, the Green didn't give the ball away, and managed to disrupt Cornell's offense late in the second half. Dartmouth held Cornell's star Ray Mercedes, who had 15 points in the first half, to two points in the last period.
"We played well," Faucher said. "The game was won by a defensive stand in the last 10 minutes."
With one must-win victory out of the way, the Green turned its attention to another team from the Empire State featuring another single star player. Columbia's senior guard Gary Raimundo, whom Faucher called one of the toughest players in the Ivy League, would give the Green fits. He scored a game-high 27 points, but it was not enough to down Dartmouth. In another close game, the Green prevailed 66-61.
The first half of the Columbia game was another back-and-forth affair that saw neither team lead by more than seven points. It was also a low-scoring half, as teams seemed to trade baskets every other minute. Charles Harris opened the game with a three-pointer, but then Columbia scored eight straight. A layup by McGinnis, a Gee three-pointer, two free throws by Boyd and a Buth layup kept the game within five, and three-pointers by McGinnis and Buth reduced the lead to four and then three.
Then disaster almost struck. On Columbia's next possession, Flinder Boyd picked up his third foul and Brian Laibow '00, a converted shooting guard, came in to play the last six minutes of the first half. But Laibow capably ran the offense and played ferocious defense, allowing the Green to gain a 28-27 lead at halftime after trailing 23-18 when he entered the game.
"We don't win that [game] without six minutes from Brian Laibow," Faucher said.
The Green attained its first-half advantage thanks to referees' calling a number of touch fouls that probably didn't exist on either side. But Gee hit four free throws and a 25-foot three pointer, Harris hit a free throw and Buth put in a layup to round out the scoring.
On the half, the Green had hit 71.4 percent of its three-point attempts, and held the Lions to 16.7. Dartmouth's hot hands from behind the arc made up the difference between nearly equal field goal percentages and a seven shot deficit.
The game's second half was much more eventful than its opening act.
With Shaun Gee scoring nine points in the first eight minutes of the second half, the Green scored 16 during that time. But Columbia continued to match Dartmouth.
An Ian McGinnis layup, a Boyd three-pointer and six straight points from Buth opened a 10 point lead the Green would maintain for the next eight minutes. By 3:29, Gee had followed Buth's spree with six straight points of his own, and Dartmouth led 61-51. The crowd mistakenly began to pack up to leave. In two and a half minutes, the Lions roared back for 10 consecutive points and tied the game with 58 seconds left. With 44 seconds remaining, a Boyd layup gave Dartmouth a two point advantage.
Then Columbia made its last mistake of the game. On offense, a Lion player charged into Shaun Gee, who had firmly planted himself in the paint, and was whistled for a foul. After the inbounds, Columbia fouled Harris, who hit a free throw. Then the Lions failed to score on their trip down the floor and fouled Gee, who hit both of his free throws to ice the game.
The game had been tense at the end, but once again the Green had emerged victorious from a very close contest.
"We almost pulled away," Faucher said. But in close games, "We have a resiliency."
The Green proved themselves worthy of a shot at the Ivy title because they beat the teams they should beat. Next weekend the Green will face teams that it has to beat, but may not be expected to.
"It's down to a three-team race," Faucher said.
Penn and Princeton both disposed with Dartmouth on their home floors two weeks ago, and have continued to play well despite losing a game apiece. In 32 of the last 34 years, one of those two teams has represented the Ivy League in the NCAA tournament as league Champion. Princeton has won the Ivies the last three years, and Penn had done so the three years before that.
Both teams feature All-Ivy guards and talented centers. Both teams will be favored on the road.
"The [upcoming] weekend is as big a weekend as I've been involved in in Dartmouth basketball," Faucher said.
There's nowhere to go but up.
