Dartmouth Defeated by Canisius in First Round of CIT, 87-72

Wednesday, March 18

Buffalo, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

14-15

Canisius

17-14

Dartmouth

Canisius

Dartmouth Defeated by Canisius in First Round of CIT, 87-72

3/18/2015 9:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jamal Reynolds and Zach Lewis scored 22 and 20 points, respectively, to lead host Canisius to an 87-72 victory over Dartmouth at the Koessler Athletic Center on Wednesday evening in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Golden Griffins (17-14) shot 52.7 percent from the floor and led by double digits for nearly the entire second half to dispatch of the Big Green (14-15), who were making their first postseason appearance in 56 years.

Senior Gabas Maldunas was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor in what turned out to be his final college game as he matched junior Alex Mitola with 15 points to lead Dartmouth. For Mitola, his third of five three-pointers boosted his career scoring total past 1,000 points, joining Maldunas among the 27 players in Big Green history to reach the milestone.

But Dartmouth was unable to contain the balanced attack of the Golden Griffins as five players scored in double figures led by the duo of Reynolds and Lewis. Reynolds did most of his damage at the free throw line, converting 12 of his 13 attempts while knocking down 5-of-7 field goals to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds for a double-double and six assists. Lewis, meanwhile, rained down four three-pointers in just seven tries among his 7-of-13 performance from the floor.

“We were a little too slow in our defensive rotations to effectively contain Canisius tonight,” said Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier during the postgame press conference. “Their athleticism gave us problems, and they were simply the better team tonight. This was a lesson for our players as we continue to build the program. While playing in the postseason was a terrific step for us, we still have a ways to go to get where we want to be.”

The game began well for the Big Green as they opened up a 19-14 advantage after a little more than 12 minutes of action. Mitola erased an early four-point deficit with consecutive three-pointers, then Dartmouth went inside with layups from five different players, including freshman Taylor Johnson's three-point play.

But after junior Connor Boehm dropped in a shot underneath the basket with 7:51 left in the half, Canisius went to a zone defense that, combined with the experimental 30-second shot clock, seemed to give the Big Green problems and helped the hosts rattle off nine straight points. Josiah Heath, who tallied 14 points on the evening, provided the last two buckets with a dunk and a layup before Dartmouth briefly recovered on consecutive layups by Boehm and freshman Miles Wright to tie the score at 23.

Over the final four minutes of the half, the Big Green managed only Mitola's trifecta that put him over 1,000 points while the Golden Griffins poured in 15 points. Reynolds gave Canisius the lead for good when he cut to the hoop and was fed by Jeremiah Williams (12 points) for a layup, then Williams drilled a three-pointer. After Mitola responded with his trey, the Griffs finished the half on a 10-0 run with Kassius Robertson (13 points) providing the last five with a three and two foul shots, sending Canisius into the intermission with a 38-26 lead.

The difference in first 20 minutes came down to outside shooting as the Golden Griffins drained 6-of-12 (.500) from behind the arc, three by Lewis, while Dartmouth could only hit 3-of-14 (.214), all three by Mitola.

Canisius did not let up as the second half began, gradually building its lead to as many as 21 when Lewis got out on the break and finished a three-point play with 14:18 showing on the clock.

Yet the Big Green, who had rallied from a 24-point deficit with 14 minutes to play to beat Brown on March 6, would not give in. It took less than two minutes to rip off 11 straight points as junior Malik Gill got three points the hard way before Johnson and Wright each hit three-pointers around a Canisius timeout.

The magic from that win over Brown was running on empty, however, as the Golden Griffins withstood the charge and went back ahead by 17 with just under nine minutes left. But Gill started another surge with a trey, and Mitola added two more to once again make it a 10-point game at 67-57 with 7:12 remaining.

Canisius answered with an 8-0 run, but still Dartmouth would not relent. Some pressure defense forced led to a couple of turnovers and easy buckets for Maldunas, the second of which was a run-out dunk on his 100th career steal. Combined with another three-point play for Gill — who finished the game with 13 points — again the Green were within 10, this time with 2:11 on the clock.

Johnson finally closed the gap to single digits at 81-72 with his second three-pointer of the night (matching his career-high of nine points) with 1:03 to play, then had a chance to cut it to seven with two foul shots 12 seconds later. But both shots rimmed out, and Canisius scored the final six points to close out the game.

The Golden Griffins will play at Bowling Green State (21-11) in the second round of the CIT on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Notes: Maldunas became just the fourth player in Ivy League history to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career … Dartmouth is 3-3 all-time against Canisius and 10-8 in postseason games throughout its history … the Big Green attempted 33 three-pointers in the game, their most in over a decade.