“Pump it up.
“You got to pump it up.
“Don’t you know, pump it up.”
The lyrics don’t explain what needs pumped up , but it was obvious Tuesday, the spirits of the Dayton Flyers needed inflated. Four days after a deflating 63-62 loss at home to Virginia Commonwealth, which literally stole the game in the final 30 seconds with two steals, UD started to rebuild its confidence with a 68-61 victory against Davidson.
Dayton ran off seven straight victories the last time it had the air taken out of it in a 77-49 loss at Virginia Tech. The goal now is a similar response. This was the first step as Dayton (13-6, 5-1) completed a season sweep of the defending Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season champions and kept pace with VCU (14-5, 5-1) atop the standings one third of the way through the schedule.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about since the game against VCU: being able to move on,” Dayton forward Toumani Camara said. “We’ve still got a long season. We weren’t at our best today. I think it was kind of like a rough game. But we fought through the second half, and we were able to come through.”
Eighteen days earlier, Dayton beat Davidson 69-55 in North Carolina with 32 points from DaRon Holmes II. He scored four points on 2-of-4 shooting. It was his least-productive performance since he scored two points on 1-of-5 shooting in a 60-52 loss at UNLV in the third game of the season.
“It was a smart decision from them to take him away,” Camara said. “We’re a team where it can be anybody’s night on any day.”
Camara scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and blocked three shots. Who else stepped up to lead Dayton?
Credit: David Jablonski
1. Mustapha Amzil: The third-year forward scored 19 points, his highest total since scoring 20 in a 74-62 victory against Southern Methodist in the second game of the season. He made 5 of 8 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws.
With Dayton trailing 23-16 in the first half, Amzil made a 3-pointer and was fouled on the shot. He made the free throw to convert the four-point play, starting an 8-0 Dayton run in a 51-second stretch. He also made two technical free throws in the first half and three free throws after another foul on a 3-point attempt late in the game.
“I think Mustapha has really matured in terms of his understanding,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “We have a saying: we have to have guys who have the ability to play well when what you think you do well isn’t going well, so you can impact winning by making plays defensively and rebounding. We have a lot of guys that are growing and understanding that. I think ‘Stapha was a great example of that. We’re asking him to play multiple positions, to play on the wing, to play in the post, to defend multiple guys, perimeter players, post players, and I think he’s done a really good job in terms of understanding what he has to do on both sides.”
2. Mike Sharavjamts: The freshman point guard had nine points, seven assists and no turnovers in 29 minutes. He committed the turnover that led a VCU 3-pointer in the final minute Friday, but Grant was quick to point out in his postgame press conference on Tuesday that Sharavjamts played well in the VCU game until that moment.
“Mike had a great game the other night,” Grant said. “He played 31 minutes and handled the press with zero turnovers. The only other turnover he had was a traveling turnover against a team that presses and disrupts you. He controlled the game and gave us a (16-point) lead in the first half. He’s got to grow in some areas. At the end of the game, that one mistake didn’t define how he played. He played really, really well for a freshman against some veteran guys.”
3. R.J. Blakney: Blakney showed Dayton fans the bottom of his shoes twice on arena-rattling dunks. He swings on the rim as his feet fly in the air after dunks. He had one in the first half in the 8-0 run and another on a fast break during a 15-2 Dayton run in the first five minutes of the second half. The Flyers turned a 32-29 halftime deficit into a 44-34 lead at that point and led the rest of the way.
Blakney scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting and also played a part in shutting down Davidson’s leading scorer, Foster Loyer, who scored seven points on 3-of-11 shooting.
4. Koby Brea: Davidson trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half but twice had 3-point attempts to cut the Dayton lead to one point later in the half on back-to-back possessions. Then Koby Brea made a 3-pointer at the 3:37 mark to push Dayton’s lead back to seven points. The Flyers sealed the victory by making nine free throws in the final three minutes.
Brea scored eight points and made 2 of 3 3-pointers. He has shot 61.9% (13 of 19) from 3-point range in six A-10 games.
5. Malachi Smith: The sophomore point guard, returning from an ankle injury after missing 11 games, had five points and five assists in 15 minutes in his first appearance since November.
“It was great to get Malachi back out there,” Grant said. “I thought he was terrific today in terms of just controlling the things he could control. It’s not easy to come out after missing so much time and play with the poise that he had today. I know his teammates are excited to have him back. It’s great. All of us are really excited to have him back. It’s great to see the reception that he got being back on the court.”
Kobe Elvis, who has missed 11 straight games with a knee injury, was in uniform for the second straight game but did not play.
“He’s day to day,” Grant said. “We’re moving in the right direction.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dayton at George Washington, 12:30 p.m., USA Network, 1290, 95,7
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