The urgency in the air was palpable as John Golden '15 missed on a shot as the buzzer sounded to give Columbia the win and deny the Big Green's hopes of winning their first Ivy League game. Columbia's center Mark Cisco hit a 13-foot baseline jumper seconds before, breaking the deadlock and stealing the win.
Tyler Melville '14 said Dartmouth coach Paul Cormier anticipated Cisco's presence as offensive threat.
"Coach told us to keep the offense on attack and play good defense on their bigger men," Melville said. "Cisco, their leading scorer, was doing a lot so he told us to cover him."
Cisco put up 18 points for the Lions on Friday night.
Columbia led Dartmouth for the majority of the game, but the Big Green never trailed by more than six points. Jvonte Brooks '15 led the offense with a season-high 17 points and eight rebounds.
Brooks said that the team played well on offense for the majority of the game.
"We wanted to attack them on the inside because we thought we had the advantage down low," he said. "They had the same plan, which was ironic. We executed our plan well, and it just came down to our last shots."
Trailing 56-52 with less than five minutes to play, Brooks cut the Lions' four-point lead with two free throws, and Golden put up two points with a shot from the paint to tie the game. Brooks was fouled again and sank two more free throws, putting Dartmouth in the lead for the first time since the score was 14-12.
Dartmouth could not sit on the lead, however, when Cisco posted up down low and took a shot. The Lions stole the ball on the opposite end, but were thwarted by Golden as he raced down the court to steal the ball back from behind.
R.J. Griffin '13 got off a pass to Melville, who sank a shot from the left elbow as the shot clock buzzed to put Dartmouth up 60-58.
Dartmouth and Columbia traded foul shots to tie the game at 62 with 49 seconds on the clock. The Lions' Brian Barbour ran the pick-and-roll to Cisco, who nailed the final baseline jumper to win the game.
Melville says Cisco was tough to cover, but the team put in much effort.
"We could have done a better job on Cisco as a team, but overall, everybody played hard," he said.
A large deficit in the first half had Dartmouth trailing Cornell throughout most of the game on Saturday night. Although the Big Green got back on its feet in the first half with the help of Kirk Crecco '12 and his season-high 15 points, a fragmented defense allowed Cornell many easy shots to win.
Brooks said the team did not handle Cornell's quick offense well.
"Columbia is more of a slow, aggressive team, and Cornell is really fast on the attack," he said. "We haven't played a lot of teams like that this year, and we didn't handle the quickness well. That's what hurt us in the first half, and we couldn't make that up."
Dartmouth held on, however, coming back from an 11-point deficit early in the second half. In the last 6 minutes of the game, Cornell managed to take advantage of Dartmouth's foul trouble by sinking nearly every foul shot.
The Big Green appeared to have a chance at turning the game around with 1:30 left in the game. Brooks sunk a three-pointer, bringing it up to 57-59. In the final minute, Dartmouth had possession, but lost it and then fouled Cornell. Because the Big Green was in double bonus, Cornell received additional free throws.
The foul shots gave the Big Red an extra edge to come out ahead. Melville said the fouls made the end of the game difficult for the Big Green.
"There were some calls that didn't go our way, but we also got some good calls," he said. "We have to adjust to the way the officials call the game and learn to put more or less pressure on the ball depending on how the refs call it."
Dartmouth shot just 19-for-54 (.352) from the floor against Cornell with just three three-pointers in 17 attempts (.176). The Big Red bested the Big Green in almost every statistical category, shooting 22-for-53 (.415) on field goals and 5-for-19 (.263) on three-pointers. The Big Red's Shonn Miller boasted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Dartmouth will face Princeton University at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 and the University of Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11.
Brooks said the team is looking to capitalize on its potential to close out the season.
"It's all mental at this point," he said. "We lose a lot of games we shouldn't. It's time to dominate and get some wins now. Coach will of course come up with a good game plan like he does, and we'll execute."
