HANOVER, N.H. – Troubles with the Wi-Fi are not new at Leede Arena. It is a notoriously dreadful place to get a signal, even when the crowd can be counted in dozens.

But the line to the restroom that wrapped far outside the door at halftime? That was definitely something that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.

And Dartmouth gave its long-suffering fans a show Friday night against undefeated Yale, leading by double digits at the beginning of the second half. But the Bulldogs were not about to let the nation’s longest winning streak go easily and dominated the paint the rest of the way, eventually outlasting the Big Green 72-67 in front of a full house.

“All season long, we’ve gotten everybody’s best effort. That’s what happens when you’re on top of the league,” Yale coach James Jones said. “I know that’s how we were when we weren’t on top of the league. They (Dartmouth) did a great job, kudos to them, they executed and we were a little lackluster in the first half, played into what they were doing defensively. But in the second half, we got back to more of our game and Yale basketball.”

It was Yale’s ninth straight win at Leede Arena since the infamous Gabas Maldunas game in 2015 that prevented the Bulldogs from winning the Ivy League and breaking their 53-year NCAA Tournament drought. They’ve been to four NCAAs and won a pair of NCAA games since.

Bez Mbeng made his case for Ivy Player of the Year by scoring 21 points, adding 12 rebounds and six assists, as well as a couple big defensive plays down the stretch. On the other side, fellow Maryland resident and senior Ryan Cornish hit six threes and scored 28 points (drawing eight fouls as well), as he presented a good argument why he should be a first-team Ivy League player. Mbeng and Cornish know each other well and, in fact, had the same personal trainer in the offseason recently.

Both would love nothing more but to meet again in the Ivy League Tournament final in a fortnight in Providence.

Dartmouth, which would have all but wrapped up its first Ivy Madness berth with a victory, still has work to do, starting with a massive game Saturday afternoon in Hanover against Brown (which won at Harvard Friday). The Big Green (13-12, 7-5) would clinch with a win over the Bears (as well as their first winning Ivy League record this century) but will have to find a way to bring the same energy they did Friday. Dartmouth has been excellent in the second halves of back-to-backs this season, including pummeling both Cornell and Princeton on Saturdays the last two weeks.

“I know these guys are going to be ready when they walk in this place tomorrow (Saturday),” Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin said. “They will take care of their bodies, we’ll dive into some film, but I have little doubt that they’ll be ready to play against Brown.”

The Big Green used a late first-half run keyed by a Cornish three to grab a 35-29 halftime lead and extended that to 40-29 when Cornish hit another long-range bomb 56 seconds after the break.

But Yale (19-6, 12-0) clearly wanted to get the ball inside, especially with John Poulakidas (13 points, 5-for-17 from the field, 1-for-4 from three) continuing to struggle from outside. The Bulldogs were just 1-for-6 from behind the arc in the second half, but they snagged eight offensive rebounds and went 13-for-17 from the free throw line, led by Nick Townsend (16 points, 12 boards) and Mbeng, who took advantage of the smaller Connor Amundsen multiple times.

“I told my guys the expectation was this place was going to be loud,” Jones said. “We knew they would have the football team and athletes yelling at us and trying to talk to you during the game.”

Cornish ended a Yale 10-0 run to give the Big Green a 44-41 lead, but it would be their last as the Bulldogs slowly applied pressure on every possession.

“There’s no panic in us, and when you have a long season, you’re going to find yourselves behind,” Jones said. “It’s almost amazing that we’ve been able to not trail the way we have. It’s something we have to contend with, and I’m happy we overcame it.”

Still, the Big Green made one final push in the closing seconds. Cornish and Mitchell-Day got layups to cut the lead to 70-67 with 20 seconds left and when Isaac Celiscar missed the front end of a one-and-one, Mitchell-Day had a decent look to tie the game with the clock winding down, but the shot hit the back of the rim and caromed to Mbeng for his 12th rebound.

“They have players like Townsend who are incredibly productive in the paint,” McLaughlin said. “Mbeng gets the ball in there with two feet in the paint and makes good decisions. They hit the offensive glass, which resulted in some paint points. They can do it in multiple ways. But we really needed to keep them off the glass. They’re going to score some, but we needed to limit it.”

Yale is the lone team in the nation to be undefeated in conference play and has never finished an Ivy season without a loss, so it has that motivation to finish with road games at Harvard and Brown. But it also has one eye on Ivy Madness, having clinched the top seed long ago.

Cornish and Mitchell-Day combined for 50 of Dartmouth’s 67 points, so the Big Green would like to be more diverse against Brown, but McLaughlin’s biggest regret was keeping Yale off the offensive glass in the second half, something Dartmouth has done very well this season (12th nationally, 75%).

“I think both teams showed why they’ve had the seasons they did so far, and it came down to a couple of plays in the second half,” McLaughlin said. “There were a couple of times where we could have rebounded the ball a little better. I think the offensive rebounds produced energy for them.”

But above everything else, the Big Green would love for Saturday’s atmosphere at Leede to match Friday’s.

“I would like to shout out our athletic department for the crowd we had tonight,” McLaughlin said. “It was an awesome environment. It’s a fun place to play when it sounds like that.”