Dartmouth Falls in Season Opener at St. Bonaventure, 77-57

Saturday, November 15

St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-1

St. Bonaventure

1-0

Dartmouth

St. Bonaventure

Dartmouth Falls in Season Opener at St. Bonaventure, 77-57

11/15/2014 9:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — What was a one-point deficit at the half turned into a 20-point defeat for the Dartmouth men's basketball team on Saturday night as host St. Bonaventure handed the Big Green a 77-57 defeat in the season opener for both squads. Marcus Posley and Jaylen Adams led the Bonnies (1-0) with 16 points apiece, while Andell Cumberbatch registered a double-double with 10 points and rebounds.

Junior guards Alex Mitola and Kevin Crescenzi led Dartmouth (0-1) with 10 points each, but the Big Green managed to shoot just 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from the floor and turned the ball over 19 times — nine coming in the decisive first eight minutes of the second half. The Big Green fared well on the glass with 41 rebounds compared to 39 for St. Bonaventure with junior Connor Boehm grabbing a game-high 11 boards.

Dartmouth appeared poised to make a run at upsetting the Atlantic 10 foe when the first half ended with St. Bonaventure sporting a one-point lead, 28-27. But the Bonnies turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and scored 11 of their first 15 points off of turnovers to open up a 43-30 advantage.

A tip-in by senior center Gabas Maldunas seemed to stem the tide, but Jalen Adams (not to be confused with high scorer Jaylen Adams) immediately responded with a three-pointer, his first of two in the second stanza on his way to 11 points on the night. St. Bonaventure gradually boosted its bulge to 16 points at 49-33 midway through the second half.

Crescenzi scored his first points with just under nine minutes to play with a long-range bomb, beginning a modest 9-2 spurt that freshman Taylor Johnson capped with a jumper on the break to cut the deficit back to single digits at 51-42 with 6:48 on the clock. But Jalen Adams' second triple quickly erased the thought of a late comeback as the Bonnies scored 27 points in the final six minutes, including the final nine points of the game to enjoy its biggest lead when the buzzer sounded.

The Big Green began the game with a nifty Mitola layup, then led again by one when Boehm knocked down an 18-footer following a Posley trifecta. St. Bonaventure gradually opened up its largest lead of the first half at 21-11 as Iakeem Alston provided a three-point play with seven minutes left in the period.

But Dartmouth clawed its way back into the game, beginning with Mitola's first of two three-pointers. After Posley dropped one through the iron, Maldunas canned four straight free throws, followed by two more from Mitola to make it 23-20. Cumberbatch sank 3-of-4 at the line before Boehm drained two of his own. Boehm and Posley then traded buckets before Johnson closed the gap to one with a three-pointer to end the first half.

The Big Green began the second half with the ball, but a turnover denied them the opportunity to take the lead, and St. Bonaventure quickly pulled away.

The Bonnies shot 40.6 percent (26-of-64) for the game and even better (9-of-21, .429) behind the arc. The St. Bonaventure defense came up with 12 steals to contribute to those 19 Dartmouth turnovers, while the visitors did not pilfer the ball even once.

Dartmouth will search for its first victory of the young season when it plays at Hartford on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. St. Bonaventure hosts Siena on the same night at the same time in the second of four consecutive home games to open the 2014-15 campaign.

Notes: Freshman Miles Wright got the starting nod from head coach Paul Cormier in place of senior John Golden, who is out for the first 4-6 weeks with an injury ... Maldunas and junior Tommy Carpenter were both seeing their first action since suffering injuries last January ... this was the first-ever meeting between Dartmouth and the Bonnies ... Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier is now 6-6 in season openers with the Big Green.