Big Green Fall Short in Final Minute Against Maine, 73-68

Saturday, December 10

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-8

Maine

4-6

Maine

Dartmouth

Big Green Fall Short in Final Minute Against Maine, 73-68

12/10/2016 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Wes Myers and Austin Howard combined for 54 points, including the last six in the final minute of play, to lift visiting Maine (4-6) to a 73-68 victory over Dartmouth (0-8) at Leede Arena on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Evan Boudreaux led the Big Green with 19 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.

After freshman Brendan Barry converted two foul shots with 59.1 seconds to give Dartmouth a 68-67 lead, Myers drove into the lane and got a layup to fall 12 seconds later. Junior Miles Wright then got a wide-open look from behind the arc at the top of the key, but the ball bounced off the front of the rim and Myers grabbed the rebound.

Myers canned both ends of the one-and-one to put the Black Bears up three, and the Big Green decided to go for a quick basket, only to have two layup attempts by sophomore Guilien Smith fall off the iron. Howard corralled the second miss and was fouled, sending him to the line to shoot two. Although he missed the first, the second dropped through for a four-point lead with 9.4 seconds to play. Boudreaux tried to get off a quick three-pointer, but it was blocked by Andrew Fleming, sealing the victory.

Neither Myers nor Howard had ever scored 20 points in a game, but both topped the mark this afternoon as Myers tallied 31 — 27 in the second half — and Howard 23. The duo combined to shoot 11-of-16 after halftime while their Maine teammates went just 2-for-13 with both field goals courtesy of Fleming.

Howard provided all of the Maine scoring in the first five minutes to allow the Black Bears to open up an early 10-2 lead. When Myers hit the second of two foul shots a minute and a half later, Maine had its largest lead of the half at 13-4.

Dartmouth shook off its early shooting struggles to embark on a 21-3 run spanning seven minutes. Barry started it off with a three-point play, and Smith had another after a Dickinson putback. A Howard three-pointer after 13 straight Big Green points was the only blemish during the stretch, and Boudreaux capped the outburst with a trey of his own for a 25-16 advantage.

The Dartmouth lead reached as many as 12, first at 30-18 when senior Mike Fleming popped a trifecta and again with 3:07 until halftime on another bucket by Emery. But Maine finished the half on a 9-2 spurt started with a three-pointer by Myers — his first of nine field goals and three triples — to close the gap to five, 36-31.

For nearly the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Big Green maintained their lead between five and eight points. Twice the Black Bears whittled their deficit down to five on Myers three-pointers, only to have Dartmouth answer right back with one of its own, first from freshman Ian Sistare, and then another from Boudreaux.

But that first trey for Myers began a string of 14 straight Maine points by the junior guard from Brooklyn. His last four brought the Black Bears within two, 52-50, before Howard knotted the game with a jumper from inside the left elbow. Maine briefly took a lead on a Fleming dunk with 8:10 to play, but Wright responded with a three-pointer to reclaim the lead for Dartmouth.

Twice the Big Green boosted their advantage to four, only to have Maine tie the score again. Howard's three-pointer with 3:12 to play evened things up at 65, and both teams twice failed to take the lead. Dartmouth finally ended the drought by hitting the second of two free throws, but Myers put the Black Bears back on top with a left-handed layup with 1:17 on the clock. Barry then drained two foul shots, setting up the final minute for Maine.

Boudreaux was 7-of-16 shooting with two three-pointers for Dartmouth in scoring 19 points to go with his season-high 12 rebounds for the 6-8 forward. Smith added 12 points and a career-best six rebounds, while Wright contributed 10 points. As a team, the Big Green bested Maine on the glass, 39-34, while shooting 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the floor and 69.2 percent (18-of-26) at the charity stripe. Dartmouth also knocked down six three-pointers, but needed 20 tries (30 percent) to do so.

Maine finished with very similar numbers, hitting one more field goal in one more attempt (23-of-55, .418) and one more free throw (19-of-26, .731). But the Black Bears also had two more trifectas and turned the ball over 10 times compared to 12 for Dartmouth, although the Big Green outscored Maine off of those turnovers, 13-7.

Dartmouth will play its next three games on the road in search of its first win of the 2016-17 season, starting at Hartford (3-8) on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. Maine will next square off against Quinnipiac down in Portland, Maine, on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 1 p.m.

Notes: Dartmouth has lost its first eight games of the season for the first time since the 1977-78 campaign. That team went on to win 10 games … Boudreaux has led the Big Green in scoring and rebounding in all eight games thus far … he is also the team's active scoring leader with 616 points, passing Wright (610) for that honor … Myers is the first player to score 30 in a game at Leede Arena since Wright tied the arena record with 39 last year against LIU Brooklyn … in Dartmouth's three home games, an opposing player has scored at least 27 points in each one.