Hot-Shooting Eagles Send Green to Loss in Season Opener

Friday, November 13

Boston, Mass.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

0-1

Boston College

1-0

Dartmouth

Boston College

Loyola Pulls Away Late in 58-41 Big Green Loss

Hot-Shooting Eagles Send Green to Loss in Season Opener

11/13/2009 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

BOSTON, Mass. — Eleven of the 15 players on the Dartmouth roster scored, but the Big Green were no match for hot-shooting Boston College in the season opener for both teams as the Eagles scorched the nets at a 60 percent clip to win, 89-58, at Conte Forum on Friday evening. Tyler Roche scored a career-high 30 points for the Eagles (1-0) while sophomore point guard Jabari Trotter led Dartmouth (0-1) with an even 10.

Roche drained 10-of-12 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc, plus canned 6-of-9 at the foul line to enjoy his career night. He also contributed at the defensive end, blocking five shots. He is the first Eagle to tally 30 in a game since Tyrese Rice scored 46 against North Carolina on March 8, 2008.

Dartmouth managed to hit just 38.6 percent (22-of-57) of its field goals with Trotter going 4-for-12 with a pair of free throws in three attempts. Sophomore Josh Riddle did not miss a single shot all night with three field goals, a three-pointer and a pair of foul shots to score a career-high nine points.

The Big Green were outrebounded, 38-26, although no single player had more than six boards in the game. Dartmouth did win the turnover war, forcing 19 while losing the ball 17 times, but head coach Terry Dunn was unhappy with the miscues.

“We cannot give away possessions to a team of Boston College's caliber,” Dunn said after the game. “What hurt us the most was not finishing our shots. We got to the rim pretty well, but too often we just didn't finish. Foul trouble hurt us early in the game, and it was an uphill battle from there.”

Although the score was tied four times in the first five minutes of the game, the Big Green never took the lead. Yet after 10 minutes had gone off the clock, Dartmouth was still well within striking distance, trailing by four at 18-14. Senior Marlon Sanders got the offense going with back-to-back layups, and after three free throws, junior Ronnie Dixon added another under the basket to knot the game at nine.

Boston College rattled off seven straight points, but the Green regrouped during a time out and got back to within four. But a 13-2 Eagle run, punctuated by a pair of Roche triples, sent the BC lead into double figures where it remained the rest of the evening.

A Trotter three-point play only stalled the run as Boston College ripped off nine more points in a row. By the intermission, Dartmouth trailed by 22, 45-23.

After the break, the Big Green came out rejuvenated and hit their first five shots, including the lone three-pointer of the night, courtesy of Riddle. A Trotter layup cut the deficit to 15 not even three minutes into the stanza. When Boston College got a trio of layups, Sanders came right back with one of his own, making the score 55-37.

Those points from Sanders would be the last for Dartmouth for more than seven minutes as the Eagles went on a drawn-out 14-point run. Dixon finally ended the futility with a mid-range jumper from about 10 feet with 7:34 to play. The game was well out of reach at that point at 69-39, and the two sides mostly traded points for the rest of the night.

Dartmouth next heads to George Mason to take on the Patriots Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.