Strong Defensive Effort in 59-47 Loss at Old Dominion

Wednesday, November 30

Norfolk, Va.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-5

Old Dominion

4-2

Dartmouth

Old Dominion

Strong Defensive Effort in 59-47 Loss at Old Dominion

11/30/2016 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Box Score (HTML)

By: Dartmouth

NORFOLK, Va. — Dartmouth came up with its best defensive effort of the season, holding host Old Dominion to a 28.8 percent field goal percentage, but the Monarchs (4-2) were able to fend off the upset-minded Big Green (0-5) in a 59-47 battle in front of 5,260 fans at the Ted Constant Center on Wednesday night.

Dartmouth trailed by just three, 45-42, with five minutes to play after sophomore Evan Boudreaux, who led all players with 16 points, hit the first of two free throws. Although he missed the second, the Big Green had four opportunities to close the gap even further thanks to their defense.

But ODU's Brandan Stith blocked a layup attempt, Boudreaux and sophomore Guilien Smith both could not get three-point shots to fall for the tie on the same possession, and Dartmouth turned the ball over the next time down. That turnover was doubly costly as Jordan Baker converted the miscue into his third three-pointer of the night to double the Monarch lead to six at 48-42 with 2:20 to play. The triple was just the fourth field goal of the second half for Old Dominion.

Junior Miles Wright responded by slicing through the Monarch defense for a layup, but the floodgates had opened as Stith slammed home a dunk, and Denzell Taylor followed with a putback to make it an eight-point game with 50 seconds remaining.

Old Dominion, just a 56.8 percent free throw shooting team entering the night, knocked down 5-of-6 foul shots to negate a trifecta by senior Mike Fleming, and B.J. Stith sealed the victory with a slam on a baseball pass with 15 seconds on the clock.

The Monarch's length caused problems for Dartmouth during the game as they won the battle on the glass, 43-35, with 17 offensive rebounds. And ODU forced 16 turnovers that led to 19 points, while committing just eight that led to only two Big Green points.

“We knew coming into this game that it would be a physical contest,” said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin following the game. “I thought we matched their physicality, particularly early, but some foul trouble helped them go on a run in the first half. But we stuck with our game plan, and our defense helped us get back in the game by forcing some tough shots. We are still learning who we are, but we certainly found out more about ourselves in this game.”

Boudreaux provided most of the Big Green offense for the first 10 minutes of the game with a pair of three-pointers, a layup and two free throws. But Old Dominion had its long-range game going with five three-pointers — two each from Baker and Caver — to open up a 21-12 lead.

The fouls started to add up for Dartmouth, but the physical play contributed to holding the Monarchs to just two more field goals for the rest of the first half. Boudreaux, senior Ike Ngwudo and freshman Ian Carter each had two fouls with more than eight minutes left, and senior Wesley Dickinson joined them with two late in the stanza.

The Old Dominion defense was just as stout, however, limiting the Green to just four more buckets by the time halftime rolled around. Smith popped a trey, as did junior Cameron Smith, before Dickinson put back the only offensive rebound of the opening half and Wright drove through the Monarch trees for a layup.

Old Dominion still maintained an 11-point advantage at the break at 33-22, however, by converting 8-of-10 free throws.

The Monarch lead hit a game-high 13 points when B.J. Stith hit two free throws as Guilien Smith went to the bench with three fouls less than a minute into the half. But Dartmouth whittled away, going on a 14-3 run capped by Wright with a three-pointer off the inbounds pass after the first media timeout and a layup to make it a 38-36 game with 13:20 to play.

Baker answered right back with a layup of his own before the two teams embarked on a four-minute scoring drought, ended by ODU's Trey Porter with one free throw.

The two teams traded baskets before Carter launched a shot from the left wing with the shot clock about to expire, collecting his first career three-pointer to bring Dartmouth back within two at 43-41 with 7:42 remaining.

Old Dominion converted 2-of-4 free throws before Boudreaux hit his freebie, leading to the frenetic last few minutes.

Boudreaux went 4-of-8 from the floor with three triples and 5-of-6 at the line for his 16 points — the lone Big Green player in double figures — to go with a team-high nine rebounds. The Dartmouth bench combined to hit 7-of-9 field goals and 3-of-4 from long range to contribute 19 points, six courtesy of Dickinson down low.

Caver joined Baker with 14 points for ODU, plus dished out five assists, while Brandan Stith added 11 points and three of the team's eight blocks. Trey Porter came off the bench to haul in 10 rebounds. The Monarchs hit 19-of-26 free throws (.731) compared to just 7-of-9 (.778) for the Green.

Dartmouth next plays at Boston College (3-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in an attempt to earn its first victory of the season.

Notes: Boudreaux has led the team in scoring and rebounding in all five games this season … the last team Dartmouth held below 30 percent from the floor was Colby-Saywer (.293) in an 80-42 win on Jan. 17, 2013 … the last Division I team was Elon (.291) on Dec. 17, 2011 in a 62-54 triumph.