Hanover
“It’s too hard for me to come back with another team,” said Maker, who worked under Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher from 1991-2002. “I want them to win, so when we play them, there’s a conflict of interest. It’s just too much.
The visitors’ 75-69 victory wasn’t much fun for the hosts, either. The Big Green dropped to 0-3 under new boss David McLaughlin and although Miles Wright produced 16 second-half points to keep his team in the contest, the junior’s maddening inconsistency was once again on full display. Kallid Hart scored 22 of his game-high 27 points after intermission to improve Marist to 2-4.
Wright, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year two seasons back, set the Leede Arena scoring record with 39 points during last winter’s opener and had 14 other occasions when he scored in double digits. He also had 11 games during the same campaign in which he scored six or fewer points.
How many points did Wright have during Saturday’s first half? Zero. Even four or five might have made the difference for his team in the end.
McLaughlin pointed out that Wright played only 11 minutes before intermission because of foul trouble and lauded his output after the break. Still, there’s no question Dartmouth needs to be able to rely on the Boston native as much as it does sophomore Evan Boudreaux, last year’s league Rookie of the Year. The big forward contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds against Marist, his second double-double this season and the 12th of his college career. Boudreaux has led the Big Green in rebounds 24 times in 30 college games.
“Miles is a really good player because he can play multiple positions,” McLaughlin said his 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard. “He can post a guy up, he can be on the wing and he can drive. We’re trying to make him a more complete player by having him use screens and make reads off of certain plays. What he needs to do is allow the game to come to him and not force the issue, which is what he did in the second half.”
Why is Wright so important? Because Dartmouth has no reliable option at either center or point guard. The 6-8, 220-pound Boudreaux has to shoulder his team’s inside scoring and defensive burdens, while senior Mike Fleming and junior Taylor Johnson mostly split duties at the point, although neither is totally suited for it. Cameron Smith, who started 17 games there as a freshman last season and was honored as the team’s most-improved competitor, has played eight minutes as a sophomore.
Dartmouth went more than 10 minutes without scoring midway through the first half and trailed by 12 points five minutes before intermission. The hosts were behind at only 28-27 by halftime and regained the lead at 38-37 five minutes after the break.
It was neck-and-neck the rest of the way and the Big Green led, 67-65, with 2 minutes, 36 seconds to play. A Red Foxes 3-pointer, followed by a missed Boudreaux shot that gave the visitors a 68-67 lead with a little less than two minutes remaining. Dartmouth got the ball back but wound the shot clock down to single digits and left Guilien Smith to attempt a shot from along the right baseline and against two defenders.
“I guess we just tried to work it around too much and got stuck in that spot,” said Smith, who had 15 points and four rebounds. “Especially in the corner against two guys, that’s a tough shot. I just tried to throw it up and see what happened.”
Said McLaughlin: “I was hoping their defense wasn’t set and we could get a quick ball screen to get into the paint and maybe draw a foul or score. I probably should have called a time out, but we had scored on ball screens the previous two possessions.”
Marist came back the other way and Fleming was called for a foul while chasing an opponent across the top of the arc and away from the ball. The Red Foxes sank both free throws and all but ended the game with a minute to play. Wright missed a 3-point attempt with 46 seconds remaining and Boudreaux another with 11 clicks on the clock.
“That’s a tough call,” McLaughlin said of the whistle on Fleming. “Mike’s a really hard-nosed defender and he was guarding the screen the way we were taught to guard the screen.”
Smith said Dartmouth is improving its ball movement, defensive communication and rebounding. Maker said the Big Green “made it difficult for us at times” and credited Hart, who hit on 9-of-14 field-goal attempts, including a pair from well beyond the arc.
“I remember looking at that last (Dartmouth men’s basketball) Ivy League championship banner from 1959 every day for 11 years,” said Maker, who was hired as head coach at Williams (Mass.) College in 2008 by then-athletic director Harry Sheehy, now in his seventh year in the same role at Dartmouth. “Coaching here is definitely a challenging job, but I think Sheehy is providing the necessary resources for Dartmouth to be more competitive and that (McLaughlin) is a great hire.
“I love Dartmouth and someday they’re going to get it done here. I’m optimistic about their future.”
Notes — The Dartmouth football coaching staff experienced upheaval this week. Keith Clark, formerly the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, will now focus on the latter job only. Quarterback coach and passing game coordinator Chris Rorke, running backs coach Chad Nice and tight ends coach Kyle Metzler were fired a year after the Big Green shared the Ivy League title. The team was 4-6 overall and 1-6 in league play this season. … Maker, who first came to Dartmouth at age 19 to work summer camps under former Big Green coach Paul Cormier, said he took his team to Hanover restaurant Everything But Anchovies for dinner Friday night. … McLaughlin declined to say whether Dartmouth, which is playing without a captain, would name any this season. “It’s more important that we have a great team culture across the board than it is to have captains,” he said. … Attendance was announced at 1,215. … Dartmouth plays its next four games and seven of its next eight on the road, beginning with Virginia clashes at Longwood and Old Dominion this week. A Dec. 3 visit to Boston College follows.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.