Marist basketball unravels late, drops opener to Dartmouth

A nip-and-tuck affair had Marist coach John Dunne waiting anxiously for a breakaway surge in the season opener against Dartmouth.

His Red Foxes finally pulled out to a nine-point lead midway through the second half. But instead of settling in, Marist unraveled and allowed Dartmouth to storm back into the contest with the Big Green ultimately winning 69-62 and spoiling a debut before 890 at McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie on Monday, November 2.

A pair of free throws by Myles Parker with 10:53 left put Marist on top 47-38, the largest margin after an opening 23 minutes that was played was basically a 2-4 point affair.

That’s when the game turned: Marist missed nine of its final 12 shots and turned the ball over five times. Dartmouth surged with eight consecutive points and finally took the lead on a 3-pointer by Sam Civello with 5:52 left, a lead the Big Green never lost.

“The first half was kind of expected; their pressure really affected us,” Dunne said. “I thought we settled in for a little bit in the second half. Once we got that lead, I thought we were going to relax and take it from there. But give them credit; they battled, they take you out of rhythm.”

Marist finished with 18 turnovers, which Dartmouth turned into 14 points, and the Red Foxes shot 37 percent. Grad student Jadin Collins-Roberts hit all but one of a dozen free throw attempts, but his 1-for-9 field-goal shooting left him with just 13 points – he also had seven turnovers. Sophomore Myles Parker scored 13 off the bench. Freshman Dywane Chess and sophomore Jordan Gabriel each had eight. Edward Onyia had six boards.

Dartmouth shot 45 percent and hit eight 3-pointers. Four double-digit scorers included Cameron McNamee (12), Anton Strelnikov (12), Camerton Hiatt (11) and Landon Williams (10).

Marist will host Maryland-Baltimore County in the first America East-Metro Challenge game at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Red Foxes’ second Challenge game will be 1 p.m. Sunday at UMass Lowell.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Marist basketball unravels late, drops opener to Dartmouth