Freshman Kyle Casey recorded Harvard's first double-double of the season in Saturday's 62-58 win at Dartmouth. Casey had 19 points and 10 boards and made a key three-pointer as time expired in the first half. Co-captain Jeremy Lin poured in 19 points of his own to go with six assists.

HANOVER, N.H.—In the Ivy League season, nothing is guaranteed—especially the second time around. Despite having dominated Dartmouth just two weeks ago back home, the Harvard men’s basketball team found itself struggling to repeat that performance Saturday night at Leede Arena in front of 1,555 fans.

Coming off a nail-biting win over St. Francis, the Big Green was looking to avenge a 74-57 drubbing at the hands of the Crimson—which hadn’t played a game since the squads’ last matchup.

Add in a cold shooting night for Harvard, and the time seemed right for Dartmouth to take advantage.

But Crimson freshman Kyle Casey scored 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and co-captain Jeremy Lin chipped in 19 points and six assists to help Harvard (13-3, 2-0 Ivy) slip by Dartmouth, 62-58.

The Big Green (4-12, 0-2) was led by guard Ronnie Dixon’s season-high 15 points.

Dartmouth basketball has found itself in the headlines recently due to a head-coaching change, as well as the drug-related arrest of a player last week, but the squad was anything but distracted in its league home opener.

The Big Green’s energetic play surprised the Crimson with a 13-0 spurt in the game’s early going.

“They play with a lot of heart, considering the stuff that’s been going on with their team,” sophomore center Keith Wright said.

While Dartmouth played well, Harvard’s field goal attempts—whether they were wide-open threes or lay-ins up close—simply weren’t falling.

“Usually a lot of the shots that we were taking go in,” Casey said. “Our shots were in rhythm for the most part...shots weren’t falling today, so [we’ve] just got to go back and fine-tune some things.”

After missing all but one of its first 10 shots, Harvard settled down and slowly clawed its way back, tying the game at 22 when freshman guard Brandyn Curry whipped a quick pass to Wright for an easy lay-in.

The Crimson would close out the half’s remaining 3:30 on a mini-run, and Casey’s buzzer-beating three-pointer sent his team into the locker room with a 31-27 lead.

“I was really complimentary of our guys for getting us back in the game in the first half,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I thought we made a tremendous effort to make it close.”

Dartmouth responded with increased defensive intensity in the second frame. Capitalizing on the game’s slower pace—each team only picked up four fast-break points—the Big Green took a one-point advantage with 15:12 to play on a three-point play by guard Robby Pride.

But the lead would be short-lived.