Eagle Times Staff
HANOVER, NH — A Jayden Williams 3-pointer gave the Dartmouth men’s basketball team a 6-5 lead just 1:11 into Wednesday night’s contest, Dec. 6, and the Big Green wouldn’t look back as they rolled past in-state rival UNH, 76-64, in a matchup of New Hampshire’s two Division I men’s basketball programs. Dartmouth led by as many as 23 in the second half, due to a total team effort, led by a career-high 28 points from Williams. Williams finished 8-of-10 from three-point range, giving the Big Green important offensive production to help offset Dartmouth missing its top two scorers (senior Dusan Neskovic and sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day) due to injury.
The Big Green turned the ball over just five times, with the first not coming until 5:41 into the second half. It marked Dartmouth’s lowest turnover total since also having five on Dec. 19, 2021 at Cal, and was tied for the fewest turnovers in Division I men’s college basketball this season.
With the win, the Big Green improve to 2-5 while UNH falls to 6-4. It was the first time the teams squared off since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellations of games in 2021 and 2022.
“I thought our guys executed at a really high level, and that execution lasted throughout the first 20 minutes at both ends of the floor,” said Dartmouth Head Coach David McLaughlin. “UNH is a very transition-based team. They have a great identity and they’re well coached. Watching them coming into the game, we knew they were going to try and score early and often. They got a couple early looks out of their transition attack and once we were able to slow that down and really defend in the half court, it allowed us to gain some confidence on the offensive end.
“And then, Jayden Williams was making shots,” McLaughlin said. “When we’re shooting the ball like that, you can really stretch the floor and play inside-out.”
It wasn’t just Williams who impressed.
Junior Ryan Cornish scored a season-high 14 points, knocking down three from behind the arc. Sophomore Jackson Munro scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting while junior Romeo Myrthil had eight points, knocking down 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Senior Jaren Johnson struggled a bit shooting but continued to fill up the box score; on Wednesday, he had seven points, eight rebounds, four assists, a career-high two blocks and a steal.
Williams also set career highs in rebounds (5), assists (4) and blocks (2). His eight made threes were just one from tying the program record and tied for the fifth most nationally this season.
“Jayden felt it early on,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve seen that before from him. He’s a terrific talent, he works really hard, and he wants to be really good. That’s what I really, really like and respect about him. I thought he also had a really good defensive game. He had four assists and one turnover because they were guarding him a certain way, so he was able to put the ball on the deck in the second half.”
Naim Miller led three Wildcats in double figures, scoring 15 points. Preseason first team All-America East honoree Clarence Daniels was held to eight points on 4-of-14 shooting, due in large part to the defense of junior Connor Christensen, who was making his first-career start.
Williams knocked down a 3-pointer just 16 seconds into the game, which was a sign of things to come. He hit another triple just 55 seconds later to give the Big Green a 6-5 lead, as 5-3 would mark UNH’s only lead of the game.
A Myrthil 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down ended more than a 6-minute scoreless drought for both sides, giving Dartmouth an 11-5 advantage.
After a pair of Christian Moore free throws pulled the Wildcats within five, the Big Green responded with a 9-2 run, five of the points coming from Cornish. Two Johnson free throws put Dartmouth ahead 25-13 with 10:19 on the first-half clock.
The ensuing minutes saw the Big Green lead hover between single and double digits, when six consecutive Williams points — via two 3-pointers — gave Dartmouth a 36-22 lead. Meanwhile, the Big Green defense held the Wildcats scoreless for more than four minutes around that time.
A big Williams and-one dunk, then a Williams 3-pointer on the following possession, gave the Big Green a 41-26 halftime lead.
“Some guys were hurt, so I felt like I had to step up,” said Williams. “The team helped me in that; they were super unselfish. A lot of my threes came off passes and none of them really came off of a drive. It’s just my teammates getting me open, teammates getting me ready to shoot.”
Dartmouth carried the momentum into the second half, as consecutive threes in the span of 31 seconds — from Munro and Williams — put the Big Green ahead, 50-32. Moments later, two Johnson free throws gave Dartmouth its first 20-point lead at 52-32.
Eventually, Dartmouth’s lead swelled to as much as 23 following Cornish’s second 3-pointer in the span of 1:08, giving the Big Green a 67-44 lead with 8:55 on the clock.
New Hampshire used a late 7-0 surge to pull within 74-61 with 1:33 remaining, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Dartmouth cruised to the 76-64 victory.
“We talked at halftime to let’s make sure this carries over to the next 20, and I think it did for the most part,” said McLaughlin. “They made a couple plays at the end, but I thought we executed really well. Guys played with confidence and I really thought in an unselfish manner today.”
For the game, the Big Green shot 45.0 percent from the floor (27-of-60), including 42.4 percent from 3-point range (14-of-33). UNH finished at 34.8 percent (23-of-66) and 25.0 percent from behind the arc (5-of-20). The Wildcats finished with a 45-35 edge in rebounds. There were just 12 total turnovers in the game — seven for UNH and five for Dartmouth.
The Big Green remain home on Saturday to host Marist at 4 p.m. on ESPN+. To purchase tickets, head to DartmouthSports.com/tickets.
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