Comeback Comes Up Short at Bowling Green in 76-69 Defeat

Saturday, November 30

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-2

Bowling Green

6-2

Dartmouth

Bowling Green

Aaryn Rai men's basketball action versus Florida Gulf Coast

Aaryn Rai scored a season-high 20 points.

Photo by: Doug Austin

Comeback Comes Up Short at Bowling Green in 76-69 Defeat

11/30/2019 5:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Aaryn Rai had 20 points to help Dartmouth nearly overcome a 19-point, first-half deficit

By: Rick Bender

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — After falling behind by 19 points in the first half, Dartmouth closed to within three on several occasions only to come up short in the end as host Bowling Green handed the Big Green a 76-69 defeat on Saturday afternoon at the Stroh Center. Dylan Frye tallied a season-high 30 points to lead the Falcons (6-2) while Aaryn Rai posted a season-best 20 for Dartmouth (5-2).

Bowling Green built up its 19-point advantage with hot shooting out of the gate. Frye had 10 of the first 12 Falcon points before Trey Diggs popped a pair of 3-pointers. After Frye canned his fourth long ball of the half and Marlon Sierra hit the second of two free throws, Bowling Green owned a 32-13 advantage with 9:11 on the clock thanks to hitting 11-of-15 field goals including 7-of-9 behind the arc.

The Big Green defense finally slowed the Falcons, holding them to three field goals (all by Diggs) and nine points the rest of the half. Rai, meanwhile, added three more buckets to his two early 3-pointers to help Dartmouth outscore BGSU, 19-9, over the final nine minutes of the half and close the gap to nine at the break, 41-32. Rai finished the half with 13 points, while Frye and Diggs each had 16 with four long balls apiece to account for most of the Falcons' offense.

After the intermission, Dartmouth ambushed BGSU with an 8-2 spurt on trifectas from Taurus Samuels and James Foye, followed by a Chris Knight dunk that whittled the deficit down to three, 43-40, before two minutes had expired in the stanza.

The Falcons withstood the quick run and gradually got the lead back to nine, 54-45, with 14 minutes remaining. Again the Green had an 8-2 burst with a Rai layup sandwiched between triples from Samuels and Trevon Ary-Turner, closing the gap to three again, 56-53.

With 4:46 to play, Samuels splashed another long ball to make it a three-point game at 65-62, then did so one more time with 2:06 on the clock to keep the difference at three, 68-65, while giving him 15 points on the day, all in the second half. But Sierra — who was just 2-of-6 from downtown this year — answered with a corner 3-pointer for Bowling Green. Rai scored his 19th and 20th points on a layup with 1:26 to play, but Dartmouth could not get any closer as the Falcons, which had struggled at the line all night, sank 5-of-6 at the charity stripe to seal their victory.

"We didn't play up to the standard we have set at either end of the floor for the first several minutes of the game and that cost us," head coach David McLaughlin said. "When you fall behind, 7-0, at the first break and lose the game by seven points, you understand how much a slow start can hurt you, especially against a good team on the road. I'm proud of the way we battled back in the second half, but our guys are not satisfied with simply making it close."

Rai ended the game 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-7 from 3-point range, plus grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Samuels, who came off the bench for the first time this season, was 5-of-10 shooting, 3-of-7 from distance and canned both free throw attempts for his 15 points, while Foye added 13 with three trifectas to go with a game-high five assists, tying a personal best. As a team, Dartmouth shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) overall and 38.2 percent (13-of-34) behind the arc.

Frye finished his big day 11-of-21 from the floor and 6-of-11 from long range while Diggs added 17 points with four triples. Sierra chipped in 11 points, all but one coming after halftime, and Daeqwon Plowden led everyone on the boards with 12 rebounds. Bowling Green held a 38-30 advantage on the glass and shot 26 free throws (making only 13) off of 20 Dartmouth fouls, while the Big Green was just 4-of-6 at the line from a mere seven Falcon fouls.

Dartmouth will play the second of its five straight road games on Tuesday at Georgia State (4-3), which is coming off an overtime victory over Charlotte on Wednesday. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. with the game streamed live on ESPN+.