Dartmouth Men Making First Trip Ever to UMass Lowell

GAMEDAY INFORMATION at UMASS LOWELL RIVER HAWKS
Date & Time:	Wednesday, December 10, 8 p.m.	Dartmouth	Stats	UMass Lowell
Location:	Lowell, Mass.	2-4	Record	6-3
Arena (Capacity):	Costello Sports Center (2,100)	Won 1	Streak	Lost 1
All-Time Series:	Big Green lead 1-0	63.8	Scoring	66.3
Tickets:	Information	.458	FG%	.434
Broadcast // Stats:	AmericaEast.tv / Live Stats	.400	3FG%	.384
Logistics:	Directions // Parking // Seating Chart	.620	FT%	.663
Twitter:	@DartmouthSports // @DartmouthMBK	+3.0	Reb Margin	-3.3
Dartmouth Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	12.8	Assists	11.4
UMass Lowell Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	13.2	TO	12.

Building on a Victory
•   Dartmouth would like to break its early-season pattern of losing two then winning one when it travels to UMass Lowell on Wednesday evening.
•   Last time on the floor, the Big Green cruised to a 74-51 victory over Maine, the second straight year they have beaten the Black Bears by 20-plus.
•   Junior Alex Mitola continued his sharp-shooting ways with four three-pointers and a game-high 18 points. The co-captain leads the Ivy League with 3.0 triples per game and ranks sixth at 14.7 ppg.
•   The only other player that averages in double figures, junior Connor Boehm at 10.5 ppg, chipped in a season-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds in the win over Maine. The power forward is also third in the league with 8.3 caroms a night.
•   Dartmouth has had its share of problems at the foul line this year, shooting just 62.0 percent as a team. But freshman Taylor Johnson came off the bench to show how it's done by canning 7-of-8 at the charity stripe.
•   Junior Brandon McDonnell got his first meaningful minutes of the season and made the most of them by contributing seven points and a game-high eight rebounds to match a personal best.
•   As a team, Dartmouth leads the league in three-point percentage at exactly 40 percent.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier reaches a milestone with this game — 500 games as a collegiate head coach between Dartmouth and Fairfield.

Series vs. UMass Lowell
•   This is just the second meeting between the two schools on the hardwood. Dartmouth won the first last year in Hanover, 77-59.
•   Five Big Green players scored in double figures in the win, including Gabas Maldunas (16), Connor Boehm (14) and Alex Mitola (10).
•   The River Hawks are in their second year at the Division I level having joined the America East Conference.
•   This is the fourth of five games Dartmouth will play against America East schools this season having lost to Hartford and New Hampshire but beaten Maine.
•   Dartmouth is 115-101 against current America East schools with most of those games coming against UNH (32-33) and Vermont (59-39).

Scouting the River Hawks
•   UMass Lowell just had a six-game winning streak snapped by another Ivy League school, Cornell, on Saturday, 71-60.
•   Among those six triumphs were a pair against NJIT, which beat Michigan on the road this past weekend.
•   When it comes to scoring, the River Hawks look to redshirt freshman guard Jahad Thomas, who is shooting over 60 percent and averaging 15.0 ppg.
•   The 6-2 Thomas also grabs 5.7 rebounds a game, second to only forward Kerry Weldon (5.8).
•   Another scorer has emerged of late in guard Marco Banegas-Flores, a graduate student who transferred from Northeastern. He was named America East Player of the Week after putting up 37 total points in two games last week while draining 7-of-11 three-pointers.
•   As a team, the River Hawks have shot well from long range with nearly eight per game at a 38.4 percent clip.
•   Banegas-Flores is UML's best free throw shooter at 85.2 percent, but as a team the River Hawks convert about two of every three foul shots.
•   UMass Lowell is coached by Pat Duquette, in his second year as a head coach with a 16-21 record. He spent the previous three years as the associate head coach at Northeastern, and was also an assistant coach at Boston College for 13 seasons.

Game Available on AmericaEast.tv
Fans who won't be making the trip to Lowell, Mass., can still watch the game for free online courtesy of AmericaEast.tv. Tip time is at 8 p.m. as UMass Lowell is having Club Sports Night at the Costello Sports Center.

Mitola Doubling Up on Digits
Alex Mitola has scored in double figures in each of the first six contests this season and ranks sixth in the league at 14.7 ppg. No Big Green player has had more than five in a row in one season since Alex Barnett '09 had at least 10 in his last 15 games in 2008-09. Going back to last season, Mitola's streak stands at 10 games.

Back Over 50 Percent
By hitting 7-of-9 field goals against Maine, Connor Boehm improved his field goal percentage to .561 this season (23-of-41), which leads the Ivy League. But he also bumped his career field goal percentage over .500 (.503). Only seven other Dartmouth players ever with at least 200 field goals have hit on at least half of their shots, led by Brian Burke '84 (.572, 406-of-710).

First Action of 2014-15
Two players got their first taste of game action in the 74-51 win over Maine on Dec. 6. First came sophomore Ike Ngwudo, who played the final four minutes and grabbed two rebounds. For freshman Alex Wolf, his two minutes on the court were his first as a collegiate player. He was rewarded with a trip to the foul line where he scored his first point, and he also hauled in a carom off the glass.

Swipe Right and Left
Stealing isn't normally a character trait that one would find appealing, yet the Dartmouth Big Green went ahead and stole away. Ten times, to be exact, against Maine on Dec. 6. It was the first game with at least 10 steals since swiping the ball 10 times against Lesley last New Year's Eve.

McDonnell McDoes It
After playing a mere 13 minutes over the first five contests, Brandon McDonnell finally got to stretch his legs, so to speak, in the 74-51 victory over Maine on Dec. 6. The junior forward notched seven points and a game-high eight rebounds in 16 minutes, and even drained a three-pointer, just the fifth of his career. He also added a block and a pair of steals to fill out his ledger.

Another Shot at the Buzzer
In each of Dartmouth's last three games, it has taken a shot as time expired that would give the Big Green a victory or leave them with a loss. Connor Boehm began the stretch well by draining a three-pointer against IPFW to lift Dartmouth to a 68-67 triumph on Nov. 28. Two days later, Malik Gill put up a frantic three-point try from 25 feet, but only drew iron in a 65-63 loss to New Hampshire. Most recently, it was Alex Mitola giving it a go with a 12-footer in the lane at Longwood. One high bounce off the back of the rim and out left the Green on the wrong end of a 74-73 score.

Johnson Gets It Done at the Line
Free throws have been troublesome for the Big Green this season with the team shooting just 62.0 percent, which would be Dartmouth's lowest in at least 50 years. With the veterans struggling, leave it to a freshman to show how it's done. Taylor Johnson converted 7-of-8 foul shots against Maine, which will hopefully inspire the others to follow suit.

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