Dartmouth Opens Belfast Classic with 76-58 Defeat

Thursday, November 29

Belfast, Northern Ireland

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

3-4

Marist

2-4

Dartmouth

Marist

Sophomore Chris Knight led Dartmouth with 16 points

Photo by: William Cherry / Presseye

Dartmouth Opens Belfast Classic with 76-58 Defeat

11/29/2018 2:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Big Green closed a 20-point gap to seven with four minutes left, but could get no closer

By: Rick Bender

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Dartmouth shrunk a 20-point deficit down to seven with fewer than five minutes to play, but Marist managed to withstand the run and defeat the Big Green in the first game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic at the SSE Arena Belfast on Thursday evening, 76-58. Brian Parker led the Red Foxes (2-4) with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting while dishing out six assists, while sophomore Chris Knight had 16 points and seven rebounds to pace Dartmouth (3-4).

Trailing 56-36 after Marist opened the second half on a 15-5 surge, the Big Green slowly fought their way back into the game, whittling the deficit down to 13 at 58-45 on a Brendan Barry 3-pointer, the 100th of his career, with still 12:47 remaining.

Knight kept Dartmouth within 13 with his putback dunk four minutes later, only to have David Knudsen knock down his second triple of the second stanza to make it a 63-47 Red Fox lead. Freshman Taurus Samuels answered that trey with one of his own on his way to a season-high 11 points, sparking an 11-2 Big Green run. Six of those points came courtesy of Knight, including the last two on a pair of foul shots to make it a 65-58 contest with 4:27 on the clock.

But Marist held Dartmouth scoreless the rest of the game, tallying the final 11 points to seal the deal. Parker started that scoring with a short basket in the paint followed by converting the second of two free throws. After Darius Hines hit a bunny in the lane, Marist sank its final six foul shots, boosting their final total at the line to 14-of-15 (.933).

The game began well for the Big Green as Knight provided three buckets down low, and Barry and James Foye drained 3-pointers for an early 14-6 lead. But the Red Foxes responded by scoring the next 18 points, the last dozen in a 90-second span courtesy of four long balls — three by Ryan Funk — for a sudden 24-14 Marist advantage.

An Adrease Jackson 3-pointer brought Dartmouth within seven at 28-21, but Marist rattled off eight straight points for its largest lead of the half at 36-21. After Samuels and Funk traded triples, however, Samuels began a 7-0 run by hitting the second of two free throws and a trifecta with junior Ian Sistare following up that long ball with one of his own. The Red Foxes were able to boost their lead back into double digits at the half on a layup by Aleksander Dozic before forcing the Big Green into an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Marist finished the game shooting 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the floor and 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from the perimeter. Joining Parker in double figures were Funk with 14 points (12 in the first half) and Hines with 10. On the glass, the Red Foxes enjoyed a 32-25 advantage, led by Aleksander Dozic with a game-high eight rebounds.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, managed to shoot a season-low 37.7 percent (20-of-53) overall and a near-identical 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from behind the arc. Knight ended the night 7-of-13 from the floor and 2-of-2 at the charity stripe for his 16 points. Samuels got nine of his 11 points on 3-of-5 accuracy on 3-pointers and 2-of-4 at the line, while Barry also tallied 11 points and matched junior James Foye with three assists.

Dartmouth will play in the consolation game of the Belfast Classic tomorrow at 5 p.m. local time (noon EST) against the loser of the Albany-LIU Brooklyn game this evening. Marist will take on the winner of that contest in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. local (2:30 p.m. EST).

Notes: Dartmouth is now 2-5 all-time against the Red Foxes … this was the first game for the Big Green outside of the United States … Barry is the 17th player in Big Green history with 100 3-point field goals; he is the NCAA's current career leader in accuracy behind the arc at 46.7 percent (100-of-214) … Samuels has recorded a season high in points in four straight games.