The men’s basketball team delivered two strong performances on the road in Ivy League play this weekend, beating Dartmouth 62-50 Friday in Hanover, N.H. and battling Harvard to a double overtime loss 89-82 Saturday in Boston. The Bears (8-10, 2-2 Ivy) dominated inside the paint against the Big Green (4-13, 0-3) thanks to a stellar shooting performance by Rafael Maia ’15, who scored 21 points on 10 of 11 attempts. A comeback effort against the Crimson (12-6, 4-0) pushed the game into overtime, but Bruno could not keep pace with the Harvard offense in the second extra period.
Brown 62, Dartmouth 50
Bruno established an early lead against the Big Green and never looked back, taking an 18-9 advantage nine minutes in. Maia was a crucial part of the Bears’ post presence, scoring 12 points in the first half, all in the paint.
“We made a concerted effort to get the ball inside,” said Head Coach Mike Martin ’04. “We got Matt Sullivan (’13) the ball, and obviously got (Maia) going, so it’s a credit to our guys for the way they moved the ball and set screens.”
Maia’s exceptional inside play was complemented by strong outside shooting from Stephen Albrecht ’13, Sean McGonagill ’14 and Tucker Halpern ’13.5, who netted two treys apiece in the contest. Rebounds from co-captains Sullivan and McGonagill ensured Bruno’s dominance down low.
“It was a great team effort,” said co-captain Tyler Ponticelli ’13. “It shows that if we can execute our game plan, we can beat any team in our league on any given night.”
Bruno captured its largest lead of the game midway through the second half after Albrecht knocked down a three to bring the score to 48-29. The Big Green made a small 6-2 run in the closing two minutes of the game, but Bruno’s advantage was large enough to secure the win.
Harvard 89, Brown 82
The Crimson outpaced Bruno 11-4 in the second extra period to hand the Bears their second overtime loss in Ivy League play. The Bears dug themselves out of a 22-point deficit, but could not sustain their scoring streak in the extra periods.
“We’re very disappointed to come up short in a hotly contested league game against what we consider to be one of the better opponents in our league,” Martin said.
Bruno stuck with the Crimson in the opening minutes, trailing by three after a three-pointer from Halpern at 15 minutes. But Harvard set off on an 8-0 run in the next two minutes and led for the rest of the half, going into halftime 49-36.
“Harvard is one of the most talented teams in our league,” Ponticelli said. “It’s encouraging to know we can compete at the highest level in the Ivy League. But obviously, this was a tough one to swallow.”
In the second half, the Crimson continued to pick up steam and got out to their largest lead of the game after a three from Laurent Rivard.
But the Bears offense chipped away slowly at the lead behind McGonagill.
“It wasn’t really a quick run, but very steady and consistent,” Ponticelli said. “All of a sudden you look up and we’re down eight or seven, and that gave us confidence to come back and go for a late push.”
The Bears found themselves within 10 of Harvard after two free-throws from McGonagill with six minutes remaining. A clutch three from McGonagill five minutes later brought Bruno within two with 14 seconds left on the clock.
Sullivan intercepted the resulting Harvard inbound, and after a missed attempt, the ball found its way to McGonagill, who knocked down a midrange jumper at the buzzer to even the score 69-69.
The Bears scored nine points on three treys in the first overtime to keep pace with Harvard’s offense, despite Maia’s fouling out of the game. A three-pointer from Albrecht with 20 seconds left sent the game into a second overtime.
“We were without (Maia), so I didn’t think we had as great of a post presence in the overtimes,” Martin said. “I think we were a little too reliant on making three-point shots.”
The Bears could not sustain their momentum in the second overtime, missing four three-point attempts in the period to end the game 89-82.
“At the end of the day, we’re not here to lose close games,” Martin said.
The Bears face Princeton (10-7, 3-0) on Friday and Penn (4-16, 1-2) on Saturday.
“Princeton is undefeated in league play right now, so that will be a huge test for us,” Ponticelli said.
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