San Francisco Pulls Away in Second Half to Defeat Dartmouth

Saturday, November 24

San Francisco, Calif.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-3

San Francisco

6-0

Dartmouth

San Francisco

Freshman Taurus Samuels scored 10 points to reach double figures for the first time.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

San Francisco Pulls Away in Second Half to Defeat Dartmouth

11/24/2018 6:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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

Trailing by three early shortly after halftime, the Big Green saw the Dons go on a 15-0 run

By: Rick Bender

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Dartmouth quickly shaved an eight-point halftime deficit down to three in the first minute of the second half, but San Francisco went on a 15-0 run to put the game out of reach and defeated the visiting Big Green on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gym, 84-65. Frankie Ferrari led the Dons (6-0) with a season-high 19 points, while sophomore Chris Knight paced Dartmouth (3-3) with 15.

Ferrari hit 8-of-16 from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers, plus dished out seven assists to lead three USF players in double figures. He was joined by Matt McCarthy off the bench with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, as well as Charles Minlend with 14 as the Dons shot 49.3 percent (33-of-67) overall and a robust 44.0 percent (11-of-25) from the perimeter.

Knight scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half as the Big Green kept within striking distance and briefly held a lead. Sophomore Adrease Jackson chipped in 13 points — thanks to draining 3-of-5 from downtown — while leading Dartmouth with seven rebounds, and freshman Taurus Samuels hit double figures for the first time in his career with 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

"We saw some drastic improvements on this road trip, and it wasn't easy with the travel we did," Big Green head coach David McLaughlin said after the game. "We made a significant jump in play from our last game, which is part of the growth we need. There team has so much more room for growth, and while we compete well now, we will continue to get better."

Ferrari scored the first seven points for the Dons to give the hosts an early lead, but Knight kept Dartmouth in striking distance with eight straight points of his own, making it a 12-10 game after barely five minutes had elapsed.

Less than four minutes later, Knight hit the second of two free throws to get the Big Green back to even at 18 apiece. After Remu Raitanen converted two fouls shots for USF, Samuels gave Dartmouth its first lead of the afternoon by raining in a 3-pointer from the right wing. The two teams traded buckets until Charles Minlend ripped the nets for three to put the Dons up by four at 29-25.

Knight added two more buckets with a Ferrari layup sandwiched between, but Jordan Ratinho sparked an 8-0 run with a fast-break dunk. McLaughlin looked to stem the tide by calling a timeout with 2:39 left in the half and his team suddenly facing a 10-point deficit, 39-29.

Samuels, a 6-0 guard, answered the call with a layup around the 6-9 McCarthy, and Jackson matched a Ferrari 3-pointer with one of his own off the glass, leaving the Dons up, 42-34, at the break. The difference was due to how well the teams turned the few miscues in the first half into points on the board; San Francisco posted eight off of five Dartmouth turnovers, while the Green failed to score off the four by the Dons.

In the second half, senior Guilien Smith provided the first points with a layup, and Jackson followed with his third triple to close the gap to three, leading to a USF timeout. Twice Dartmouth got the ball back with a chance to possibly tie the game, but could not convert. Ferrari and Jackson each scored in the paint before Nate Renfro drained a trey from the corner, which started the 15-point run over the next four minutes. Ratinho and Jamaree Bouyea also hit long balls during the game-altering stretch, and Bouyea capped it with a pair of foul shots for a 59-41 lead with 12:47 to play.

Knight finally ended the run with a short baseline jumper, but it didn't slow the Dons as they held Dartmouth to just six points over a 12-minute span and increased their lead to as many as 28 on a Minlend bucket with 5:45 to go. The Big Green managed to find their outside stroke over the final 5:20 with six 3-pointers — two by both junior James Foye and freshman Wes Slajchert — bringing the final deficit to 19 points.

San Francisco held a 41-31 advantage on the boards, led by McCarthy, and outscored the Big Green in the paint by a 34-24 margin.

After taking the red-eye back to New Hampshire tonight, Dartmouth will fly to Ireland on Monday night to play in the Belfast Classic on Nov. 29-30. First up for the Big Green will be Marist (1-3) on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. (EST) in a game that will be televised on CBS Sports Network with Dave Ryan and Pete Gillen calling the action.

Notes: Dartmouth entered the game 12th nationally in 3-point percentage (.440) and with the flourish at the end of the game nearly matched that mark at 11-of-27 (.407) … five of the 14 active players on the Big Green roster got the chance to play in their home state, including junior forward Will Emery who hails from San Francisco. Also from California are Jackson (Santa Margarita), Samuels (Oceanside), junior Ian Carter (Los Angeles) and Slajchert (Oak Park).