Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 29th November 2018 - Photo by William Cherry/Presseye Marist College's Isaiah Lamb with Dartmouth College's Brendan Barry during Thursdays game in the Samson bracket of the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic at the SSE Arena, Belfast. Following its successful inaugural year, the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, presented by the Sport Changes Life Foundation, takes place from Thursday 29th November – Saturday 1st November in Belfast’s SSE Arena. Doubling in size for its second year, this year’s tournament has welcomed eight NCAA Division I college basketball teams including University at Albany; University at Buffalo; Dartmouth College; LIU Brooklyn; Marist College; University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; University of San Francisco; and Stephen F. Austin State University and their fans as they go head-to-head in two tournament brackets, ‘Samson’ and ‘Goliath’ to hoist the coveted Belfast Classic Cup.
Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 29th November 2018 - Photo by William Cherry/Presseye Marist College's Isaiah Lamb with Dartmouth College's Brendan Barry during Thursdays game in the Samson bracket of the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic at the SSE Arena, Belfast. Following its successful inaugural year, the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, presented by the Sport Changes Life Foundation, takes place from Thursday 29th November – Saturday 1st November in Belfast’s SSE Arena. Doubling in size for its second year, this year’s tournament has welcomed eight NCAA Division I college basketball teams including University at Albany; University at Buffalo; Dartmouth College; LIU Brooklyn; Marist College; University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; University of San Francisco; and Stephen F. Austin State University and their fans as they go head-to-head in two tournament brackets, ‘Samson’ and ‘Goliath’ to hoist the coveted Belfast Classic Cup. Credit: Photo Courtesy William Cherry/Presseye

Belfast, Northern Ireland — The Dartmouth College men’s basketball team shrunk a 20-point deficit down to seven with fewer than five minutes to play, but Marist managed to withstand the run and defeat the Big Green, 76-58, on Thursday in the first game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic at the SSE Arena Belfast.

Brian Parker led the Red Foxes (2-4) with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting while dishing out six assists, while sophomore Chris Knight had 16 points and seven rebounds to pace Dartmouth (3-4).

Trailing, 56-36, after Marist opened the second half on a 15-5 surge, the Big Green slowly fought its way back into the game, whittling the deficit down to 13 at 58-45 on a Brendan Barry 3-pointer, the 100th of his career, with still 12:47 remaining.

Knight kept Dartmouth within 13 with his putback dunk four minutes later, only to have David Knudsen knock down his second 3 of the second stanza to make it a 63-47 Red Fox lead. Freshman Taurus Samuels answered that trey with one of his own on his way to a season-high 11 points, sparking an 11-2 Big Green run. Six of those points came courtesy of Knight, including the last two on a pair of foul shots to make it a 65-58 contest with 4:27 on the clock.

But Marist held Dartmouth scoreless the rest of the game, tallying the final 11 points to seal the deal. Parker started that scoring with a short basket in the paint followed by converting the second of two free throws. After Darius Hines hit a bunny in the lane, Marist sank its final six foul shots, boosting their final total at the line to 14-of-15 (.933).

Marist finished the game shooting 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the floor and 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from the perimeter. Joining Parker in double figures were Funk with 14 points, 12 in the first half, and Hines with 10. On the glass, the Red Foxes enjoyed a 32-25 advantage, led by Aleksander Dozic with a game-high eight rebounds.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, shot a season-low 37.7 percent (20-of-53) overall and a near-identical 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from behind the arc.

Dartmouth will play in the consolation game of the Belfast Classic at 11:30 a.m. today against Albany, which lost to LIU Brooklyn, 80-77.

Notes: Dartmouth is now 2-5 all-time against the Red Foxes. … this was the first game for the Big Green outside of the United States. … Barry is the 17th player in Big Green history with 100 3-point field goals; he is the NCAA’s current career leader in accuracy behind the arc at 46.7 percent (100-of-214). … Samuels has recorded a season high in points in four straight games.