Despite missing out on the Ivy League tournament, the Harvard men finished the season on a high note, adding a 66-58 defeat of third-place Dartmouth to last week’s upset of regular-season champion Yale.
The Saturday matinee victory at Lavietes Pavilion, coupled with Brown’s defeat to the Elis, leaves the Crimson (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) in fifth place, one game ahead of the Bears and only one game away from a three-way tie for third with the Big Green and Princeton.
Despite the disappointing result, Dartmouth (14-13, 8-6) can hang its hat on an incredibly successful regular season, one in which the team bettered its eighth-place position in the league’s preseason media poll and earned its first appearance in Ivy Madness.
Both teams came out of the gate fast and hot, with Harvard hitting seven of its first eight and Dartmouth making four of its first six from the field and both attempts at the free throw line.
The shooting cooled down slightly after the opening media timeout, but the game was close.
With the Big Green up 19-17, the Crimson went on a quick 7-0 run with Chandler Pigge leading the way. The junior guard muscled a layup over junior guard Brandon Mitchell-Day and then stole a telegraphed pass from rookie guard Connor Amundsen before going in for the uncontested slam.
Following a mid-range jumper from first year guard Robert Hinton that kept Harvard’s lead at five, 30-25, Pigge was seen favoring his right foot and had to be helped off the court by another first year guard, Austin Hunt.
Fortunately, Pigge returned later in the afternoon.
Hunt nailed a triple from the right elbow at the 2:55 mark to make it an eight-point game, but senior guard Romeo Myrthil responded with a driving layup and junior forward Jackson Munro knocked down two free throws to cut the deficit to four, 35-31.
Sophomore forward Thomas Batties II made his own three-pointer from the top of the key and Hinton blew past senior guard Ryan Cornish to hit a layup that finished the 5-0 run and sent Harvard to the locker room up 40-31.
The Big Green had lots of success this season on the offensive and defensive side of the three-point line, but that was not to be found over the opening twenty minutes.
Dartmouth entered the game shooting 36% from three but shot a mere 14% (1-for-7) in the first half. On the other side of the ball, the Big Green limited teams to 29% for the season but the Crimson managed to shoot 31% (4-for-13).
While the long ball was a problem for the visitors, so was the pressure defense. Harvard’s activity forced Dartmouth into 10 turnovers and nine converted points, but the Big Green could not get any points off of the Crimson’s three turnovers.
Buckets were harder to come by at the start of the second half, but Harvard used a 9-2 run to stretch its lead to a game-high 16, 49-33, within the first five minutes.
The Crimson were up 51-37 with less than 11 minutes left in regulation when the Big Green finally got hot from the outside.
Senior forward Cade Haskins, who was mired in a 0-for-13 three-point streak, including a 0-for-3 start on the afternoon, made four straight triples in only two-in-a-half minutes to make it a 53-49 contest.
Harvard was still up four, 59-55, for several minutes as both teams had trouble finding the net, but two Mitchell-Day free throws made it a two-point game with 2:44 left on the clock.
After misses from both ends, the Crimson had the ball and Hunt connected on a deep three from the top of the arc to up Harvard lead to 62-57.
On the next possession, Amundsen found himself being guarded by Batties and took advantage of his speed to get past the big man. As the talented rookie was close to the hoop, the 6-foot-7 forward from Washington, D.C. quickly recovered to block the layup and snatch the rebound.
Hunt and Haskins were both cold from three, so it was still a five-point game with under a minute to go.
Once Harvard beat Dartmouth’s pressure and got it passed midcourt, the Big Green fouled Batties, who converted both free throws to make it 64-57.
Mitchell-Day took a left-handed shot over Pigge, but his shot went around the rim and ended any chance the Big Green had of leaving with a victory.
Harvard only managed to hit 30% (6-for-20) from two and 25% (2-for-8) from three but went 80% (8-for-10) from the free throw line. Fortunately, the defense was locked in, holding Dartmouth to 45% (5-for-11) from inside the arc, 31% (4-for-13) from downtown and only seven attempts from the charity stripe.
Hinton led the way for the Crimson, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds, while Batties and Hunt added 11 points each.
Haskins, whose scoring was limited to his short second-half burst, ended the afternoon with a game-high 12 points for the Big Green.
Mitchell-Day had a 12 point, 10-rebound double-double in the defeat, and Cornish finished with a rare triple double of 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 turnovers.
Tommy Amaker ends the season with his 303rd victory at Harvard and wins over two of the top three teams in the Ancient Eight. However, his program will miss the Ivy League Tournament for the fourth straight season and will need to find a way to get back into the upper division in 2026.
After being defeated by a Crimson team that showed the other three Ivy Madness participants a successful game plan to limit the Big Green’s prolific offense, Dave McLaughlin, a contender for Ivy League Coach of the Year, will need to get his team to regroup for its semifinal matchup next Saturday against No. 2 seed Cornell at Brown’s Pizzitola Sports Center.