Defense Shines in 55-49 Victory Over FGCU

Monday, November 11

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-0

Florida Gulf Coast

0-3

Team	1	2	F
FGCU	29	20	49
Dartmouth	29	26	55

Aaryn Rai had a key 3-point play late in the game and finished with 10 points.

Photo by: Doug Austin

11/11/2019 9:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth held the Eagles to just six field goals in the second half.

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth opened the second half on a 12-point run, then let its defense do the work as the Big Green handed visiting Florida Gulf Coast University a 55-49 defeat on Monday night at Leede Arena. Chris Knight had 13 points to lead Dartmouth to its first true 2-0 start to a season since the 1996-97 season, while the Eagles managed just six field goals and 20 points in the second half to drop to 0-3 on the young season.

With the teams knotted at 29 at the intermission, Knight got the Big Green run started with a layup off a feed from Taurus Samuels. A minute later, Trevon Ary-Turner ripped a 3-pointer from just to the right of the top of the key, and after a FGCU turnover, Knight scored in the lane again. A Knight block at the other end led to a pair of free throws by the 6-7 junior, and another Eagle turnover set up Ary-Turner in the corner for another triple and a sudden 12-point advantage, 41-29, less than four minutes into the half.

FGCU managed to cut the deficit in half on a 3-pointer and a three more the hard way, but Ian Carter and Aaryn Rai dropped in consecutive buckets to boost the lead back to 10, and the difference was still 10 with 9:08 to play after Rai rebounded a blocked shot and laid it in.

The Big Green offense went cold from there, however, going scoreless for the next six minutes. But the Eagles could only close the gap to three on a Caleb Catto 3-pointer sandwiched between a Zach Scott pull-up jumper and a Justus Rainwater lefty hook in the lane with 5:09 on the clock. From there, FGCU would score just two more points.

Rai finally broke the Dartmouth drought with a 3-point play after another offensive rebound with 3:07 to play. Catto canned a pair of fouls shots two minutes later, but the defense closed out the victory as the Eagles missed their last four shots.

The first half featured five lead changes and four ties with neither side leading by more than four until Ary-Turner hit the first of his three long balls of the night for a 22-17 lead with 7:48 remaining in the half. Another triple by James Foye, who also had three treys and 11 of his 12 points in the first half, three minutes later built up the Big Green advantage to eight, 27-19. But FGCU ripped off a 10-2 run to close the half, ending with a Scott 3-pointer in the final seconds to tie the game at 29.

While both teams hit just over 40 percent of their field goals in the first half, the second half was a different story with Dartmouth going just 9-of-30 (.300) and the Eagles a paltry 6-of-23 (.261). For the game, the Big Green hit 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the floor, while FGCU was at 34.0 percent (17-of-50).

Knight had to work for his 13 points, hitting 5-of-16 field goals, but Foye (12 points on 4-of-9, 3-of-7 from three) and Rai (10 points on 4-of-7 with a 3-pointer) were the efficient exceptions in the game. Ian Sistare led Dartmouth's efforts on the glass with seven rebounds as the Big Green had the edge with 41 to the Eagles' 35.

Scott led FGCU with 15 points on 5-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-9 from long range, and Catto added 12 on 4-of-9 shooting and 3-of-8 from downtown. Rainwater provided eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Dartmouth will next play in the River Hawk Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell this weekend, beginning on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with its first meeting with Merrimack, who opened the season with a victory at Northwestern in its first season as a Division I program.

Notes: Dartmouth initially began the 2004-05 campaign with a 1-1 record, losing its second game to Lehigh. But after the season ended, Lehigh was forced to forfeit 13 games due to the use of an ineligible player, including the game against the Big Green. So, techincally Dartmouth won its first two games that season., but it was the 1996-97 squad that won both games on the court en route to an 18-8 campaign and 10-4 mark in the Ivy League.