Big Green Cruise to 79-69 Victory at Maine

Wednesday, December 9

Bangor, Maine

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-3

Maine

2-6

Dartmouth

Maine

12/9/2015 8:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

BANGOR, Maine — Sophomore Miles Wright scored 19 points while freshman Evan Boudreaux provided a double-double with 18 points and a season-high 13 rebounds as Dartmouth cruised to a 79-69 victory over Maine at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday evening. The Big Green (3-3) led by double digits for nearly the entire second half as they recorded their first road win of the season.

Ryan Bernstein led the host Black Bears (2-6) with 13 points and eight assists, but Maine struggled from long distance all evening, shooting a woeful 5-of-29 (.172) from behind the arc.

Dartmouth, however, shot a season-high 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the floor while draining 6-of-15 (.400) three-pointers and 19-of-26 (.731) free throws. Senior Connor Boehm had an efficient 14 points while knocking down 6-of-7 from the floor to complement Wright (6-of-13) and Boudreaux (5-of-10).

The Big Green jumped out to a 7-0 advantage as each of its eventual three leading scorers each dropped in a shot with Boudreaux converting a three-point play. When Crescenzi popped the first Big Green triple of the night, he gave his squad a 14-8 lead after six and a half minutes.

In the span of less than a minute, Maine suddenly got its sights set by hitting three straight three-pointers for a 17-14 midway through the opening stanza. Senior Malik Gill answered the brief long-ball barrage with his first of two trifectas on the evening, which was followed by three more Boudreaux points the hard way.

The Black Bears closed the gap back to two at 26-24, leading Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier to call time to settle his team. Dartmouth then went on an 11-4 run as Boehm and Wright accounted for all 11 points to open the biggest lead of the half at 37-28 with two minutes until the intermission.

Bernstein kept the Maine deficit in single digits with consecutive jumpers, the second from behind the arc. But Dartmouth hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to maintain its nine-point advantage at the break, 42-33.

The 42 points were the most for the Big Green in the first half on the young season as they shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the floor with a trio of triples. Boehm had a team-high 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, while Boudreaux nearly had his double-double by the intermission with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Maine, meanwhile, was held to 35 percent shooting (14-of-40) and 20 percent (4-of-20) from downtown. Lavar Harewood and Till Gloger each had six points for the Black Bears, while Bernstein had five points and five assists. Fouls plagued Maine with 12 in the opening half that led to the Big Green shooting 9-of-12 at the charity stripe while the Black Bears were just 1-of-2 as Dartmouth was whistled for just three fouls.

It didn't take long for Dartmouth to boost its advantage to double digits as Kevin Crescenzi (seven points, seven rebounds, five assists) softly dropped a 16-footer through the hoop. Maine answered back with basket, but when Wright ripped off a three-pointer with 17:17 to play, the Big Green lead never fell below 10 the rest of the night.

The Black Bears did get back within 10 at 49-39, only to see Dartmouth rip off 14 of the next 18 points. Sophomore Taylor Johnson drained a trey early in the run, then capped it off with a driving layup. Wright and senior Brandon McDonnell added three-point plays during the spurt as well, extending the lead to a game-high 20 points, 63-43, with about 10:30 left in the game.

Still, Maine wasn't quite ready to concede as Shaun Lawton sparked a 12-4 Black Bear surge with a pair of baskets and two free throws. But the Big Green went to work at the foul line, converting 7-of-10 free throws over a four-minute span, boosting the lead back to 18 at 76-58 with 2:41 to play. Gill then sealed Maine's fate with a three-pointer with just over a minute to play, though the Black Bears scored the final five points to close the final gap to 10 points.

The two teams battled to a draw on the glass with each side grabbing 38 rebounds. Senior Tommy Carpenter joined Crescenzi with five assists and Gill added four more as Dartmouth dished out helpers on 18 of 27 field goals.

Harewood, who had three of Maine's five three-pointers, provided 12 points while Kevin Little and Devine Eke each had 10 for the Black Bears. Eke also contributed a team-high seven rebounds.

Dartmouth next flies out to the West Coast for a pair of games, first against Stanford on Saturday at 7 p.m. (PST). Maine starts a three-game road trip before Christmas with a showdown at Boston College on Sunday at 5 p.m. (EST).