Dartmouth Done In by 19-Point CSUB Run in 69-62 Loss

Monday, December 14

Bakersfield, Calif.

10:00 PM

Dartmouth College

CSU Bakersfield

Dartmouth Done In by 19-Point CSUB Run in 69-62 Loss

12/14/2015 11:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Cal State Bakersfield rode a 19-point run in the second half to defeat the visiting Dartmouth Big Green on Monday night at the Icardo Center, 69-62. Dedrick Basile scored 21 points and Aly Ahmed provided a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Roadrunners (6-3) to their third straight victory.

A pair of freshmen led Dartmouth (3-5) on the scoreboard as Evan Boudreaux and Guilien Smith had 14 and 13 points, respectively. While the Big Green forced 21 turnovers, their 44-29 deficit on the glass and 39.0 percent shooting from the floor proved to be too much to overcome.

Dartmouth, trailing by three at the start of the second half, got a three-pointer from senior Kevin Crescenzi and a three-point play from sophomore Miles Wright to take a 33-32 lead barely a minute into the half. For the next six and a half minutes, however, Cal State Bakersfield scored 19 straight points, seven coming from Basile, while the Big Green turned the ball over seven times, and missed six field goals and two free throws.

With still 12 minutes to play, Dartmouth went to work at chipping away at the 18-point deficit. Senior Connor Boehm, who had 11 points, ended the drought with a layup. After a pair of Crescenzi free throws, sophomore Taylor Johnson rained down a three-pointer to bring the Green within 11 at 51-40.

Johnson negated Basile's third trifecta of the night with a three the hard way, and Smith provided the next six points on a three-point play and a triple, closing the gap to seven at 56-49 with 4:34 to play. Boudreaux added a bucket in the paint and suddenly Dartmouth was back in the game with four minutes to go trailing by five.

That would be as close as the Big Green would get, however, as Jaylin Airington knocked down a key three-pointer and Cal State Bakersfield — which missed its only free throw of the first 37:30 — sank 8-of-11 from the line in the final 2:30 to secure the win.

After Dartmouth fell behind in the first few minutes, 7-2, Boudreaux took matters into his own hands, scoring seven straight Big Green points — the last on the team's lone three-pointer of the first 20 minutes — to knot the score at nine.

The Roadrunners kept pounding the ball down low for some close-range buckets, two by Ahmed and two more by Brent Wrapp, with an Airington triple mixed in for good measure, stretching the CSUB lead to 24-15 after little more than 12 minutes of action.

The two teams traded baskets until the score was 30-21, but Dartmouth was able to gain some momentum by holding the Roadrunners scoreless for the last four minutes while closing the gap to three, 30-27. Boehm drove to the basket and was fouled for a three-point play with 4.5 seconds on the clock to cap the modest six-point spurt.

Not only did Dartmouth struggle shooting the ball from the floor (23-of-59), but it left some points at the foul line as well, hitting just 11-of-20 (.550), well below their season mark of 70.4 percent entering the game. Boudreaux, who began the night hitting better than 80 percent at the charity stripe, uncharacteristically converted just 5-of-11. The most efficient Big Green scorer on the night was a player that had three points all season: Smith, who hit 5-of-8 field goals and 2-of-5 from downtown while sinking his lone free throw attempt.

The Roadrunners shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) for the game — though Dartmouth did limit them to just 4-of-13 (.308) over the final 12 minutes — and 33.3 percent (5-of-15) behind the arc to go with 66.7 percent (8-of-12) at the line. Basile was 8-of-16 with three treys and 2-of-2 on free throws for his career-high 21 points, plus added six assists and a pair of steals to his ledger, though he did turn the ball over seven times.

Three other players had exactly 10 points for CSUB: Airington, Kevin Mays (who also hauled in nine boards) and Wrapp, who dished out a game-high seven assists as well.

Boudreaux led Dartmouth with eight rebounds, and senior Malik Gill came off the bench to provide a team-high three assists and four steals.

The Big Green return to the Granite State to play at in-state rival New Hampshire in Durham on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. (EST). Cal State Bakersfield will play its third game in five days when it travels to Fresno State on Wednesday evening for a game at 7 p.m. (PST).