Fairfield Downs Dartmouth in Home Opener, 79-62

Tuesday, November 15

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-2

Fairfield

2-0

Fairfield

Dartmouth

Fairfield Downs Dartmouth in Home Opener, 79-62

11/15/2016 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Tyler Nelson scored a career-high 28 points — 20 in the second half — to lead visiting Fairfield (2-0) to a 79-62 victory in Dartmouth's home opener at Leede Arena on Tuesday evening. A 10-0 Stag run to start the second half turned an eight-point lead into an 18-point advantage, and the Big Green never got closer than 13 the rest of the night.

Nelson sank 10-of-14 shots with a pair of three-pointers to help the Stags shoot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) for the game. Curtis Cobb had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while point guard Jerome Segura and Matija Milin each chipped in an even 10 points with Segura dishing out five assists.

Dartmouth (0-2) suffered their first home-opening loss since the 2011-12 season as they shot just 33.9 percent (21-of-62) from the floor. Sophomore Evan Boudreaux paced Dartmouth with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting and a perfect 8-of-8 night at the foul line. Junior Taylor Johnson and sophomore Guilien Smith both provided 11 points as well. Joining Boudreaux with six rebounds apiece were junior Miles Wright and freshman Ian Sistare, a local product from Dublin, New Hampshire.

For the first four minutes of the game, Smith had the hot hand with a trio of three-pointers to account for all of the Big Green's points to stay even with Fairfield at nine apiece. But layups by Jonathan Kasibabu and Segura gave the Stags the lead for good before the first media timeout.

Dartmouth stayed within striking distance throughout the first half, cutting the deficit to five, 22-17, on a Sistare layup, and back down to six at 39-33 in the final two minutes of the stanza when senior Mike Fleming drained a three-pointer. Three times the Big Green had an opportunity to whittle away even more, but a turnover and two misses from the floor allowed Fairfield to finally boost its lead to eight before the break on a short jumper by Adamou Sidibe.

Nelson, Segura and Milin each had eight points at the intermission as the Stags shot a robust 59.3 percent (16-of-27) overall and rarely missed inside the arc (14-of-20 on two-point shots).

Although Dartmouth managed to hit just 11-of-30 (.367) from the floor and 4-of-13 (.308) from distance in the opening half, its stroke was just fine at the line, converting 7-of-9 (.778) at the charity stripe.

Nelson wasted little time asserting himself in the second half, popping a pair of treys before Cobb knocked down a pair of shots to finish off the decisive 10-0 run. Johnson responded with a short jumper in the paint and a three-pointer, but Nelson and Cobb answered right back with buckets of their own to damper any thoughts of a big comeback.

Fairfield led by as many as 23, 75-52, when Jerry Johnson hit the first of two free throws with 6:29 to play. In the final 1:08 of the game, however, Smith knocked down a pair of free throws and Fleming canned a mid-range jumper to keep the difference under 20 points.

Both teams had 16 turnovers on the night with 11 each in a sloppy first half. Fairfield had a slight edge on the glass with 39 rebounds to 35 for the Big Green. Dartmouth finished the game shooting a solid 78.9 percent (15-of-19) on free throws compared to 60 percent (12-of-20) for the Stags.

The Big Green will not play again for 11 days due to fall exams, hosting Marist (0-2) on Nov. 26 at 3 p.m. Fairfield plays the second of three games on the road when it travels to Wagner (1-1) — which beat UConn in its season opener — on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip.

Notes: Fairfield is now 4-0 against Dartmouth all-time … Boudreaux has scored in double figures in 26 of his 29 career games, including each of his last 20 … the three three-pointers for Guilien Smith are a career best.