Boudreaux Scores 25 in Debut, But Big Green Fall 84-67

Friday, November 13

Newark, N.J.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Seton Hall

Boudreaux Scores 25 in Debut, But Big Green Fall 84-67

11/13/2015 9:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

NEWARK, N.J. — The Dartmouth men's basketball team got a dazzling debut from freshman Evan Boudreaux, who scored 25 points, but Seton Hall shot 61.7 percent from the floor to send the Big Green home with an 84-67 loss in the season opener. The Pirates (1-0) outrebounded Dartmouth (0-1), 45-27, while Isaiah Whitehead led the Seton Hall offense with 18 points and eight assists.

Boudreaux finished the game 7-of-14 from the floor and 10-of-11 at the line while grabbing six rebounds and swiping the ball three times in 32 minutes. Senior Connor Boehm was the only other Big Green player to score in double figures with 16 points thanks to hitting 7-of-12 field goals, including both three-point attempts. Dartmouth's leading rebounder was senior Brandon McDonnell off the bench with seven caroms, while senior Malik Gill dished out seven assists.

Foul trouble plagued the Big Green all night as they committed 32 fouls that led to 43 Seton Hall free throw attempts. But the Pirates had trouble pulling away as they converted just 22 (51.2 percent) on the night to go along with 20 turnovers.

Joining Whitehead in double figures were reserve Derrick Gordon with 14, Khadeen Carrington with 13 and Desi Rodriguez with a dozen. The starting forwards, Angel Delgado and Ismael Sanogo, had nine and eight rebounds, respectively, to lead all players and combined to hit all seven field goal attempts as Seton Hall had 48 points in the paint.

Dartmouth shot 38.1 percent (24-of-63) as a team and 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from long range, but thanks to Boudreaux canned a healthy 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) at the foul line.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for the first 14 minutes as the lead changed 10 times. Sophomore Taylor Johnson provided the first points of the season with a three-pointer for a 3-2 lead after two-and-a-half minutes. After three straight Pirate layups, Boudreaux laid one in and Boehm popped the first of his triple to knot the score at eight.

When Seton Hall took a 12-8 lead, Dartmouth roared back with seven straight points, capped by a Boudreaux three-pointer, only to have the Pirates answer right back with a Gordon trey. The two teams continued to trade the lead, and when senior Kevin Crescenzi drained a trifecta, it gave the Green a 24-22 advantage with less than seven minutes to go in the half.

As it turned out, it would be the last Dartmouth lead of the night as the Pirates tallied the next 10 points. The difference oscillated between two and six points for the remainder of the stanza, and Michael Nzei's layup with four seconds on the clock sent Seton Hall into the locker room with a 39-33 lead.

Boudreaux and Whitehead each had 12 points in the first 20 minutes for their respective teams McDonnell matched Boudreaux on the boards with five rebounds apiece to help keep the deficit to six. Seton Hall did its part to keep the game close as well, hitting just 10-of-22 (.455) at the line as five Big Green players each had two fouls, including sophomore Miles Wright — last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year — who played just three minutes because of his two early fouls.

Boehm scored seven of the first nine Dartmouth points after the intermission, but Seton Hall never let its lead dip below four points. After six minutes into the second half, the Pirates took their first double-digit lead following a Nzei layup, but Boudreaux quickly responded with a three-pointer, making it a 54-47 game.

The Big Green still trailed by seven with just over nine minutes to play after Boudreaux sank a pair of foul shots. Following a Whitehead triple, Boudreaux canned a 14-footer, keeping the deficit in single digits. But Carrington hit a short jumper in the paint, and Seton Hall gradually stretched its advantage to 15 before Nzei scored the final points to make the final score Seton Hall's largest lead of the night.

Dartmouth returns to the hardwood on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it plays at Marist (0-1), which dropped a 67-64 contest to Holy Cross this evening. Seton Hall will host Wagner (0-1) on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Notes: Boudreaux's 25 points are the most by a Dartmouth freshman since Alex Mitola had 27 at Yale on Feb. 22, 2013 … the Big Green are now 4-4 all-time against Seton Hall with the most recent meeting occurring in 1978, which Dartmouth won, 54-53.