Spieth, McGonagill Lead Brown Past Dartmouth
Sunday, February 09, 2014
Senior guard Sean McGonagill and freshman forward Steven Spieth scored 20 points each as Brown led from start-to-finish in a 75-62 Ivy League win over Dartmouth at Leede Arena Saturday evening.
Brown, who has won four of its last five games and is third in the Ivy standings, improves to 12-8 overall and 4-2 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth fell to 9-11 overall, 2-4 in the Ivy League.
“I’m happy with the win,” said Brown head coach Mike Martin. “It’s never easy to win on the road in the Ivy League. We had several players, who made key contributions.”
McGonagill, the Ivy League’s top scorer, broke out of his shooting slump, scoring 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 from behind the three point arc and 4-of 4 from the free throw line.
Spieth’s career high 20 points came on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 from the free throw line. He also had five rebounds and four steals.
“Steven was aggressive in looking for his offense early,” added Martin. “He’s a capable scorer who took advantage of what Dartmouth gave him.”
Bears’ senior forward Rafael Maia registered his eighth career double-double with 13 points and a game high 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:45 left in the game. Freshman Leland King made his first career start for the Bears and responded with seven points and nine rebounds, while sophomore Cedric Kyuakumensah had nine points.
John Golden led three Big Green players in double figures with 17 points. Alex Mitola chipped in with 13 points and Tyler Melville added 12 points for Dartmouth.
Brown jumped all over the Big Green from the opening tip, opening up a 17-3 lead in the first five minutes behind Spieth’s eight points. The Bears later extended their lead to 15 points, 27-12, on a lay-up by King with 11:36 left in the half.
Dartmouth battled back to cut Brown’s lead to five points, 31-26, on Tyler Melville’s layup, capping a 14-4 Big Green run.
The Bears closed out the half by outscoring the Big Green by a 12-7 margin to lead at intermission, 42-33. Spieth had 13 first half points to lead the Bears.
The Big Green pulled to within five points of the Bears, 50-45, with 13:31 remaining in the game on a Melville trey. But Brown responded immediately to go back up by 13 points, 58-43, on a McGonagill trey at the 10:58 mark, and maintained the double digit lead for the remainder of the game.
Brown hosts Princeton and Penn next weekend at the Pizzitola Sports Center, facing the Tigers on Friday evening, February 14, at 7:00 pm, and the Quakers on Saturday, February 15 at 6:00 pm.
