Dartmouth men’s basketball, who led by as much as 12 points, collapsed in the second half to fall to Brown 79-76 on Feb. 14.
“Tough evening for our group,” head coach David McLaughlin said. “I thought we got a little bit out of our flow in the [second] half.”
The weekend started off with a difficult loss to Ivy League leaders Yale, who put on an excellent performance to pull away in the second half and defeat the Big Green 83-70 on Friday night.
“We definitely have things to learn from,” Connor Amundsen ’28 said after the Yale loss. “There’s some room that we need to make up and things that we need to get better at.”
Saturday’s game against Brown was Dartmouth’s Senior Night, which honors the teammates in this year’s graduating class for their four years on the team. Seniors Jayden Williams ’26, Brandon Mitchell-Day ’26 and Jackson Munro ’26 took pictures at half court with their families and received a round of applause from the Hanover crowd.
“I love it here,” Williams said. “I’ve had a lot of good times here, especially the last four years with my brothers. Being a senior just means taking care of the younger guys.”
Dartmouth came out against Brown swinging, hitting five of its first six shots to jump out to an early lead, including a pair of triples from Kareem Thomas ’28. Dartmouth’s lead continued to grow, reaching as much as 12 points with fewer than three minutes to go in the first half. The Bears hit a couple of shots, but a Mitchell-Day bucket with just one second to go in the period gave Dartmouth an 8-point lead going into the break.
A big reason for Dartmouth’s initial success was its pace of play. The Big Green pushed the ball down the court, catching Brown defenders on the back foot. Dartmouth took advantage and attacked the basket, forcing Brown to foul or give up easy points. Thomas, who had had a few down games, including shooting just 25% from the field against Yale the night prior, exploded for 22 points.
“I think it’s just having confidence in yourself, no matter the ups or downs,” Thomas said. “We always talk about trying to keep a level head, even when things don't go away.”
Thomas made his biggest impact at the free throw line, hitting 10-of-11 free throws. The Big Green hit 22 of its 27 shots from the charity stripe, echoing its foul shooting against Brown earlier this year, when Dartmouth went 24-of-28 in a thrilling overtime win.
So when the buzzer sounded to end the first half, everything seemed normal; Dartmouth was executing its gameplan and Brown didn’t have an answer.
In the second half, that lead started to slip away.
“I think it was just a little sense of complacency on the players’ part,” Thomas said. “We just have to be able to step on people’s necks and … keep our foot on the pedal.”
Dartmouth’s turnovers started to give the Big Green problems. Dartmouth’s seven second half turnovers gave Brown 16 easy points.
Dartmouth turned the ball 32 times over the weekend double-header as both its opponents clogged passing lanes and opportunistically swiped at the ball, hoping to poke it free.
“You’re looking at two teams that are heavy in the gaps. That’s the way they defend and you got to make smart decisions when teams are defending that way,” McLaughlin said. “We had some very good possessions where we did it well, and the same guys didn’t do it well in other possessions.”
Turnovers helped Brown’s Landon Lewis. His 10 consecutive points in the opening minutes of the second half helped Brown close the gap to just one point, and — after a few minutes of back and forth action — they took the lead. It was their first lead since the opening minute of the game.
Lewis torched the Big Green, going 12-of-15 for 30 points, 21 of them coming in the second half.
“Lewis made back to back threes,” McLaughlin said. “I think that loosened him up a bit and gave him some confidence.”
The two teams traded baskets deep into the half, with seniors Williams and Munro showing their experience and hitting a couple of triples each in difficult situations to keep the team in it.
Williams’ 24 points, which led the team, were not enough as Brown continued to make shots.
“Defensively, these numbers are atrocious,” Thomas said. “We just got to get stops, and that’s where we lost the game. We can’t let a team shoot 70% from the field and 90% from three.”
Brown’s lights out shooting helped them maintain a narrow 3-point lead. With nine seconds left, Brown had a chance to ice the game with a pair of free throws.
Miraculously, Brown’s Jeremiah Jenkins missed both of them, giving Dartmouth a chance to send the game to overtime.
Williams grabbed the ball, pushed the ball up court, but couldn’t find anyone. He eventually passed to Mitchell-Day, who was fouled. There were only 1.9 seconds left in the game.
“I thought we were in good space to attack the rim or get a quick two,” McLaughlin said. “Looking back, I probably should have called time out and given the guys a set [play] on the sideline, which I didn’t.”
Mitchell-Day missed his free throw, Brown grabbed the rebound and time expired, completing Dartmouth’s collapse.
Since starting 2-0 in Ivy League play — its best start in the Ivy League since the 1998-99 season — the Big Green have only managed to win two of their last eight games and now sit tied for fifth in the standings.
The win for Brown, which sits last in the Ivy League, snaps its six-game losing streak.
The Big Green travel to New York City next week to take on Columbia University in the first of a three-game road trip.
“We’re still in it,” Williams said.
