Frenetic Comeback in Final Minute Falls Just Short at BU, 78-76

Saturday, December 14

Boston, Mass. / Case Gym

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

6-5

Boston University

4-7

Dartmouth

Boston University

Taurus Samuels

Photo by: Brian Foley

Frenetic Comeback in Final Minute Falls Just Short at BU, 78-76

12/14/2019 3:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth scored 16 points in the final minute but fall to Terriers

By: Rick Bender

BOSTON, Mass. — Dartmouth scored 18 points in the final 90 seconds while Boston University missed seven free throws in that span, but the host Terriers held on to defeat the Big Green on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym, 78-76. All five starters scored in double figures for BU (4-7) as the team ended a five-game skid, while Dartmouth (6-5) got a career-high 22 points from sophomore Taurus Samuels.

When Javante McCoy, who finished the game with 14 points, sank two free throws with 1:32 to play, the Terriers seemed to have the game well in hand at 69-58. But Samuels quickly sank a jumper to cut the deficit down to single digits, and BU missed the front end of a one-and-one on two straight possessions to give the Big Green hope.

Samuels drove for another quick bucket, going all the way to the rim, and senior James Foye answered two Terrier free throws with a 3-pointer to make it a six-point game, 71-65, with 47.9 seconds still to play. Foye and Samuels added another layup each to keep whittling away at the BU lead before Samuels was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer, making the last two shots to close the gap to four at 75-71.

Following another missed free throw among two by Alex Vilarino (10 points), Foye launched another trifecta, this time with 14.3 seconds showing, bringing Dartmouth within two at 76-74. Again the Terriers hit 1-of-2 at the line, allowing Samuels to race to the rim with a quick shot that was ruled good on a goaltend with 5.8 seconds to play, leaving the Big Green trailing by one, 77-76.

Once again, BU left the door open as McCoy hit only the second of two foul shots with 4.6 seconds remaining, but Dartmouth could not quite get a shot off before the buzzer sounded that would have forced overtime.

Boston University led for nearly the entire game save for the first couple of minutes. A Jonas Harper 3-pointer and a Walter Whyte three-point play gave the Terriers an early 10-3 advantage, only to have Dartmouth chop it back down to one, 18-17, on back-to-back layups by Samuels and senior Ian Sistare with 7:22 left in the half.

But Jack Hemphill answered with a layup to start an 11-point BU run that included two more triples by Harper and Whyte, boosting the Terrier's lead to a game-high dozen points. Foye, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting despite battling an illness, broke the spell with his first 3-pointer in the game, and Samuels later added another, but Dartmouth trailed by 10 at the break, 39-29.

In the second half, the Big Green roared back, starting the stanza on a 14-5 burst to climb back within one again at 45-44, capped by a Samuels trey, a finger roll by sophomore Wes Slajchert and a layup by junior Chris Knight (11 points). But the only points Dartmouth would score for the next six minutes came on another Knight basket in the post, and Whyte drained his third 3-pointer to help the Terriers build their lead back to nine, 55-46.

The difference remained between five and nine points until McCoy hit his two free throws with 1:32 to play, leading into the frantic Big Green rally.

Samuels was 9-of-18 from the floor, 2-of-9 from distance and 2-of-3 at the line to account for his 22 points. Junior Aaryn Rai joined him, Foye and Knight in double figures with 10 points, while Sistare hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.

Whyte finished the afternoon 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 from downtown in leading BU with 17 points while Max Mahoney added 16 on 7-of-10 shooting. Both players had six boards to lead the Terriers on the glass, and McCoy dished out eight assists.

Boston University entered the game shooting 43 percent overall and 29.5 percent from the perimeter, but went 27-of-46 (.587) on all field goals and 7-of-16 (.438) on 3-pointers to emerge victorious. Dartmouth, which was just 5-of-21 (.238) from deep and shot 44.6 percent overall, had a 33-29 edge on the boards and committed just eight turnovers to 12 for the Terriers, eight coming in the second half.

Dartmouth returns to Hanover to play its first home game in over four weeks when it hosts Central Connecticut State (0-9) on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Hundreds of middle schools students will be in attendance for Education Day with the game televised regionally on NESN and streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher on the call. A free audio stream featuring Brett Franklin calling the action will also be available through the official website of Dartmouth athletics, DartmouthSports.com

Notes: Beginning the day eighth in the country in 3-point percentage, Foye hit 3-of-4 to boost his season accuracy to 53.7 percent (29-of-54) … Samuels is the fourth Big Green player to score 20 or more points in a game this year, joining Foye, Knight and Rai, all of whom have done it once each … Dartmouth dropped to 22-8 all-time against BU and 1-4 at Case Gym.