The Maine Black Bears men’s basketball team returned home to the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday night for the first time since a season opening win over Merrimack, but was rudely welcomed back as the visiting Dartmouth Big Green built a 14 point halftime lead and then kept pouring it on in the second half for a 77-44 non-conference win.
A layup by Chris Knight and then two three- pointers from James Foye followed up by another from long range shot from behind the arc by Taurus Samuels quickly made it 11-0 Dartmouth just four minutes into the game. Maine (3-7) followed that with a 7-0 run of their own. The Big Green regained control and never did trail in this one later getting another three-pointer from Foye and a layup by Samuels for the largest first half lead 31-13. The guests led by a 40-26 score at the break. The Black Bears got no closer than 13 the rest of the way, and Dartmouth (6-4) scored the last 10 points of the game to roll to the 33 point victory.
Andrew Fleming led Maine in the loss with 15 points and six rebounds. Vilgot Larsson added nine points and five rebounds, while Mykhailo Yagodin chipped in eight points. Foye led all scorers with 18 points for Dartmouth. Wes Slajchert had 13 points, while Knight added 12 and Aaryn Rai had 10. The Big Green shot 55% from the floor and knocked down eight three-pointers in the win, holding the Black Bears to 35% shooting. Maine will host Quinnipiac on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
