No. 23 Rhode Island Deals Dartmouth an 84-61 Defeat

Friday, November 11

Kingston, R.I.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-1

Rhode Island

1-0

Team	1	2	F
Dartmouth	26	35	61
Rhode Island	39	45	84

No. 23 Rhode Island Deals Dartmouth an 84-61 Defeat

11/11/2016 9:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

KINGSTON, R.I. — David McLaughlin faced a difficult task in the first game of his first season as Dartmouth's head coach, traveling to 23rd-ranked Rhode Island on Friday night. The Rams didn't make it easy on him or the Big Green as Rhode Island (1-0) defeated Dartmouth (0-1) in front of 6,052 fans at the Ryan Center, 84-61.

E.C. Matthews, who missed all but 10 minutes of last season due to an injury, returned to the floor to lead the Rams with 21 points in 23 minutes of action while hitting 9-of-12 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers. Hassan Martin wasn't far from a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks as Rhode Island's length wreaked havoc all night with 12 steals and 11 blocked shots.

Dartmouth got a double-double from sophomore Evan Boudreaux, who tallied 14 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. Classmate Guilien Smith chipped in 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with one of the Big Green's four trifectas, while senior Ike Ngwudo tallied a career-high nine points in his first career start. Even with the raucous crowd, Dartmouth kept its cool at the foul line, converting 19-of-23 free throws (82.6 percent).

The Big Green played well out of the gate, leading 12-11 after five minutes of play as four Dartmouth players hit five layups out of the team's first nine shots. Shortly thereafter, Martin knocked down an outside jumper to give the Rams the lead for good at 13-12.

Still, the Rhode Island lead wavered between two and six points for the next 11 minutes. Ngwudo hit the first Big Green three-pointer of the year from the top of the key to close the gap to 18-16, and layups by freshman Ian Sistare and junior Taylor Johnson kept Dartmouth close.

But spurred by a breakaway dunk by Christion Thompson, the Rams went on a 9-2 spurt over the final four minutes of the half to enjoy a 13-point advantage at the break, 39-26.

Just about everything for the first five-plus minutes of the second half went Rhode Island's way as it doubled its lead thanks to a 17-4 run. Matthews and Martin accounted for the first nine of those points before Jarvis Garrett drained a jumper and a three-pointer. When Matthews stole the ball and finished with a three-point play, the Rams led by a score of 56-30.

Rhode Island stretched its lead to at least 30 on four occasions, topping out at 31 on a Martin dunk with 7:34 to play. And after Stanford Robinson hit the second of two free throws to make it an 84-54 game with two minutes left, the Big Green scored the final seven points on a three-pointer by senior Mike Fleming, a jumper from the left wing by Ngwudo and a pair of free throws by Sistare.

Dartmouth finished the game shooting 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the floor and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from outside the arc. The defense held the Rams to 41.4 percent (14-of-34) on field goals in the opening stanza, but they hit more than half of their shots in the second half (19-of-36, .528) to finish the game at 47.1 percent.

Next up for the Big Green is their home opener on Tuesday night against Fairfield at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network and broadcast locally on KOOL 93.9 (93.9 and 96.3 FM) with Brett Franklin calling the action and Jill Glessner providing analysis. Visit ildn.tv for information on how to subscribe to the ILDN and catch 19 of the men's games this season.