Visiting Dartmouth hopes to complete what it started at Stanford earlier on the trip when the Big Green venture across the San Francisco Bay to take on another Pac-12 team, Cal, in a nonconference game Sunday in Berkeley, Calif.
In a one-sided rivalry that dates to 1940, Dartmouth (3-6) will seek its first win over Cal (6-5) after going 0-6 in the series. The Big Green’s most recent loss was 98-62 in 2008.
Dartmouth had never beaten Stanford, either, before shocking the Cardinal with five first-half 3-pointers en route to a 44-33 lead at the break on Thursday.
But Stanford’s Harrison Ingram forced overtime with a buzzer-beating interior move, and the Cardinal dominated the extra session en route to an 89-78 home win.
Taurus Samuels and Brendan Barry gave the Big Green a chance to win with 22 and 20 points, respectively, but Dartmouth was held to two baskets in overtime, one by Romeo Myrthil with just five seconds left.
Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin hopes his squad learned from the ups and downs of the narrow defeat, its fifth straight loss.
“I told the guys that they deserved to win the game but tentatively lost our edge at the end of the game and didn’t play to win,” he said. “We moved the ball really well, handled their pressure for most of the game and made plays, but we just didn’t make the plays we had to at the end to secure the win.”
Cal will look for its seventh straight home win as it continues a four-game homestand. The Golden Bears prevailed at home over Idaho State 72-46 on Dec. 8 and Santa Clara 72-60 on Dec. 11.
The Bears have benefited from the increased experience of veteran big man Andre Kelly playing with transfer Jordan Shepherd. They combined — Kelly assisting Shepherd — on a key 3-pointer late in the tightly contested win over Santa Clara.
“I would say our chemistry’s working really well together,” Shepherd said after he contributed 15 points and Kelly 18. “He’s proved to be a dominant force in the paint. He’s proved that all season, done it against the best bigs. It’s great to be out there playing with him.”
–Field Level Media