Pop Tarts go down before they rise again in the toaster, and the same thing happened to the Dayton Flyers, who erased all but two points of a 13-point deficit in the second half but still got burnt in a 76-72 loss to the Ramblers in a matchup of third-place Atlantic 10 Conference teams.
“I thought our guys battled,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said.
“The fight that we showed in the second half, that’s good,” Dayton forward Nate Santos said. “We kind of left it all out there.”
The moral victory won’t help Dayton’s cause in the standings. The Flyers (18-9, 8-6) will find themselves in a three-way tie for fourth place with four games to play if Saint Joseph’s (16-10, 7-6) and Saint Louis (14-12, 7-6) both win home games Saturday.
Loyola (18-9, 9-5) managed a season split with Dayton after an 83-81 overtime loss at UD Arena on Jan. 18, and it now has to be considered one of the hottest teams in the A-10 with six victories in its last seven games.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 27th game:
1. Grant wasn’t happy with the officiating: After the game, Grant brought up calls he didn’t like in his interview on WHIO Radio with the voice of the Flyers, Larry Hansgen, and did so again moments later in an interview with the Dayton Daily News.
Grant said he watched video of the calls in the locker room after the game before talking about them with the media.
“I thought there were some some calls down the stretch,” Grant said. “Man, I’ve just got to call it what it is. It was just bad. There were three pivotal calls that could have swung things in a different manner. All three of them went against us — let alone some no calls on the (offensive) side of the ball. It’s just unfortunate.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2. Loyola took control of the game early in the second half: Loyola led 38-36 early in the second half and outscored Dayton 12-2 over the next four minutes. The crucial stretch included a turnover by Dayton guard Malachi Smith that led directly to a 3-pointer by Loyola’s Sheldon Edwards.
Then back-to-back 3-pointers by Watson and Jayden Dawson gave Loyola a 50-38 lead with 14:18 to play.
Dayton cut the deficit to nine points only to fall behind by 13, 56-43 after a basket by Jalen DeLoach with 10:54 to play.
Loyola made use of the 3-pointer in the second half (4 of 9) after going away from it (1 of 5) in the first half. It shot 14 3s after shooting 44, 24 and 31 in its last three games.
Throughout the game, Loyola beat Dayton with mid-range jumpers. The Ramblers shot 55% (22 of 40) from 2-point range.
“The way we defended them in the first half maybe caught them off guard,” Grant said. “They adjusted in the second half and started having more success going to the rim and then obviously making some 3s that we know they’re capable of making. We had to make some decisions. I thought in the last 10 minutes the guys did a really good job of understanding how to put ourselves in a position where we would have a chance.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3. Jaiun Simon gave Dayton’s defense a boost: Dayton trimmed a 61-52 deficit to 61-59 with a 7-0 run. Three times it got as close as two points.
The Flyers had a chance to tie the game on a jump shot by Javon Bennett, who missed with 2:37 to play. A 3-pointer by Edwards with 2:29 to play gave Loyola a 68-63 lead. It made eight free throws down the stretch to stay on top.
Throughout Dayton’s comeback, redshirt freshman forward Jaiun Simon was on the court. He played a season-high 18 minutes. He had only three rebounds and three points but stayed in the game with four starters.
Simon did not leave the court after replacing starter Amaël L’Etang with 11 minutes, 46 seconds to play.
“I was just out there trying to play as hard as I can,” Simon said.
L’Etang didn’t return to the game. Grant didn’t turn to Zed Key either, who played a total of seven minutes and did not see action in the last 15 minutes.
Simon brought energy, Grant said.
“I thought defensively he really kind of changed the tenor,” Grant said. “They had a lot of success in the first 10 minutes of the second half against our traditional lineups. I thought Jaiun came in and did a great job, and I thought he was able to help us on offense as well.”
STAR OF THE GAME
Nate Santos led Dayton with 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He made 7 of 9 free throws.
Desmond Watson scored 22 points for Loyola, making 8 of 14 field goals.
STAT OF THE GAME
Loyola shot 50% (27 of 54). Dayton shot 38.7% (24 of 62).
LOOKING AHEAD
Dayton plays Rhode Island (17-8, 6-7) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I. Rhode Island plays at Saint Louis (14-12, 7-6) on Saturday.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Rhode Island, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 95.7, 1290
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