Granite State Battle goes to New Hampshire

Monday, December 30

Durham, N.H. / Lundholm Gymnasium

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-7,0-0Ivy League

New Hampshire

7-6,0-0America East

Dartmouth

New Hampshire

Trevon Ary-Turner scored 11 points for the Big Green.

Photo by: Brian Foley

12/30/2019 3:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth shot 31.7 percent in dropping a 70-56 decision to its in-state rival

By: Rick Bender

DURHAM, N.H. — A one-point deficit midway through the second half turned into a 70-56 defeat as Dartmouth dropped its first game after the Christmas holiday at New Hampshire at Lundholm Gymnasium in front of 438 brave souls on a snowy Monday afternoon. Sean Sutherlin overcame foul trouble to score a game-high 22 points for the host Wildcats (7-6), while Chris Knight countered with 15 points and nine rebounds — narrowly missing out on his second straight double-double — for the Big Green (7-7).

Dartmouth entered the second stanza trailing, 24-20, but a 10-2 run capped by a pair of baskets by New Hampshire native Ian Sistare gave the Green a 34-30 lead, their first since the opening two minutes, with 13:41 to play.

New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion called a timeout, and his team responded with eight straight points, starting with back-to-back 3-pointers by Marque Maultsby and Nick Guadarrama that led to a 15-3 run as the Wildcats hit every shot they took in the two-and-a-half minute span. Trevor Ary-Turner, who provided 11 points, popped a trey from the top of the key for the lone Dartmouth points in the sudden rally.

The Big Green clawed back by scoring eight of the next nine points, closing the gap to one at 46-45 as Taurus Samuels and James Foye each drilled shots from behind the arc. But the next six-plus minutes belonged to UNH as it opened up a 64-49 advantage thanks to an 18-4 burst while going 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from long range. Dartmouth, meanwhile, saw its scoring dry up, hitting just one field goal in 12 attempts during the game-decisive run.

The first half was a defensive struggle as both teams had trouble finding the range. After scoring on each of its first two possessions, Dartmouth could muster only two points during a 10-plus minute stretch. Sutherlin, meanwhile, provided five points in the Wildcats' 12-2 extended run before picking up his second foul and sitting the last 12:48 of the half. And when Nick Guadarrama — New Hampshire's leading scorer this season — was whistled for his second foul with more than 10 minutes left in the stanza, the Big Green had a golden opportunity to take control of the game.

Trailing 14-6, Dartmouth traded buckets with UNH before ripping off six straight points, capped by an Ary-Turner triple, to close the gap to two at 16-14. Following a UNH timeout, reserve Chris Carbone responded for the Wildcats, drilling back-to-back threes to boost their lead back to eight.

Another six-point Big Green run featured a Knight bucket and four free throws, but Maultsby hit a floater in the lane to allow the Wildcats to take a 24-20 advantage into the locker room despite the team shooting 31.3 percent (10-of-32) for the half and 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from distance.

Dartmouth, however, struggled even more than its hosts, hitting 7-of-25 (.280) from the floor and 1-of-8 (.125) from the perimeter, not to mention 5-of-9 (.556) at the foul line. Both teams had 21 rebounds and zero points off of the nine combined turnovers.

Sutherlin finished the game 8-of-10 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the foul line to account for his 22 points in just 22 minutes on the court. Maultsby (12 points, four assists) and Guadarrama (10) joined him in double figures, and Chris Lester led all players with 11 rebounds. New Hampshire finished the day shooting 42.1 percent (24-of-57) after lighting up the nets at a 75 percent clip (12-of-16) over the final 13:30 of the game.

The Big Green overcame their first-half shooting woes in the first 11:15 of the second stanza, going 8-of-15 (.533) from the floor and 3-of-6 (.600) from long range. But after Foye's finger roll in the lane made it a 46-45 contest, Dartmouth was just 4-for-20 (.200) the rest of the way and ended the game at 19-of-60 (.317), its second lowest percentage of the season, and 4-of-19 (.211) from downtown. Foye joined Knight and Ary-Turner in double figures with 11 points, and Sistare led the Green with 10 rebounds.

Next up for the Big Green is a showdown with their Twin State rival, Vermont (8-5). The two teams will square off at Leede Arena in Hanover as Dartmouth hosts the Catamounts for the 104th meeting in the series. The Green hold a 57-46 all-time advantage, but Vermont has won 19 of the last 20 meetings. The game will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Dave Faucher calling the action, while a free live audio broadcast featuring Brett Franklin will be available through the official website of Dartmouth athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: New Hampshire leads the all-time series with Dartmouth, 36-34 … Knight scored his 900th point late in the game and enters the new year with 902 to his name. The junior is well on pace to become the 30th Big Green player to hit the 1,000-point milestone later this season … the Big Green finished December with a 2-5 record after going 5-2 in November.