Dartmouth Athletics
HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth men’s basketball team jumped out to a 9-1 lead and would never trail, on the way to a 63-54 win over Boston University on Wednesday night inside Leede Arena. The Terriers evened the score at 39, but the Big Green immediately answered with a 9-0 run via a trio of 3-pointers, two coming from junior Romeo Myrthil as part of his career-high 18-point effort. Boston University would get as close as four on multiple occasions down the stretch, but Dartmouth always led by at least two possessions for the game’s final 12:44.
“Good win at home for our guys, a win I think they deserved,” said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. “They’ve been working hard. We’ve been dealing with some injuries, but it’s really good to have a nice team win where everyone steps up. I thought we started strong on the defensive end and finished strong, which was a hallmark of this game, and I thought we had contributions on the defensive end from everybody.
“Really impressed with how as a unit, we stayed with the game plan and finished strong.”
Myrthil’s 18 points easily broke his previous career high of 12 points, and he did it on just seven field goal attempts. He finished 5-of-7 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
“I would say confidence, but more thanks to my coaches and teammates, I’ve found my spots a little better,” said Myrthil, when asked what was working. “Maybe before, I’d try to attack, but not really at the right times. Now, I think I’ve found my areas in the offense where I can be aggressive for it to be beneficial for us. Just being aggressive in the right spots at the right times is the step I’ve tried to take.”
As a team, no Big Green player had more than eight field goal attempts in a truly balanced effort. Senior Jaren Johnson also finished with double-figure points, tallying 10 along with seven rebounds to tie for the team lead. Junior Ryan Cornish grabbed seven boards as well, while scoring nine points on 3-of-5 shooting. Sophomore Jackson Munro chipped in nine important points.
The win snapped a 3-game losing streak for Dartmouth against Boston University and gave the Big Green just their second win over the Terriers since the turn of the century (now 2-5 since 2000). Dartmouth also allowed its fewest points against Boston University since a 64-53 win on Jan. 27, 1962 — 19 games ago in the all-time series.
All the success came despite Dartmouth’s top two scorers, senior Dusan Neskovic and sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day, missing their third straight games due to injury.
The Big Green got off to a fast start, with Munro scoring five of their first nine points. A Munro 3-pointer put Dartmouth ahead 9-1 just 3:35 into the contest.
Dartmouth went on to extend its lead to 10 and then 13, as a Nikola Dimitrijevic 3-pointer made the score 19-6 with 10:45 left in the first half.
A Ben Roy free throw made BU’s run 11-4, pulling the Terriers within six. Johnson responded with a pair of short jumpers in the span of 44 seconds to give Dartmouth a 27-17 lead with 5:01 on the clock. A Robert McRae III 3-pointer helped the Big Green regain a 10-point, 33-23 advantage, before five straight Terriers’ points over the final minute trimmed Dartmouth’s lead to 33-28 at the half.
Early in the second half, a Munro 3-pointer play gave Dartmouth a 36-30 lead, but BU responded with nine of the next 12 points to pull even. An Ethan Okwuosa layup tied the score at 39 with 14:55 left in the second half.
The Big Green answered in a big way, knocking down three 3-pointers in the span of 2:03 — two from Myrthil with one from Jayden Williams sandwiched in between. Myrthil’s second trey in that sequence gave Dartmouth a 48-39 advantage, forcing a Terriers’ timeout with 12:10 on the clock.
A couple minutes later, two Myrthil free throws extended the Big Green lead to 51-39 with 9:39 left in the second half. Boston University answered with a 7-0 run, with the final three points scored by Roy to pull his side within 51-46. In the ensuing minutes, the Terriers twice got within four (53-49 and 55-51), but the Big Green were 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minute to ice the 63-54 victory.
For the game, Dartmouth shot 48.8 percent from the floor (21-of-43), including 36.8 percent from 3-point range (7-of-19). Boston University finished at 36.8 percent (21-of-57) and 17.4 percent from behind the arc (4-of-23). The Big Green were 14-of-18 from the free throw line (77.8 percent) compared to the Terriers’ 8-of-19 (42.1 percent). BU held a slim 32-31 edge in rebounds.
The Big Green now turn their focus to a road game at Le Moyne this Saturday. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on NEC Front Row.
“When you have a good team win like that, I want our guys to enjoy it, but to be ready to move on tomorrow,” said McLaughlin.
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