“First of all, shoutout to Mali,” L’Etang said. “That was the perfect pass. I was kind of panicking at the moment. It was in slow-mo. But I made it. After that, everybody jumped on me. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
The clock hit zero as the shot fell. Dayton players rushed the court to celebrate with L’Etang and formed a mosh pile in the same spot where the Flyers celebrated Jordan Sibert’s game-winning 3-pointer against Purdue Fort Wayne in 2014 and Josh Cunningham’s last second shot against Ball State in 2017.
Officials reviewed L’Etang’s basket and put 0.2 seconds left on the clock. With that little time, Loyola would have had to tip in a final shot, and it did not get a shot off.
This was Dayton’s first victory at UD Arena on a shot with less than 1 second on the clock since that basket by Cunningham in Anthony Grant’s first game as Dayton coach. It was Dayton’s second home victory this season on a go-ahead basket in the final 10 seconds. Malachi Smith’s 3-point play with 8 seconds remaining beat UNLV on Dec. 17.
Smith surprised L’Etang and everyone else on the court with the pass.
“I was like, ‘What are you doing?’” Dayton guard Enoch Cheeks said. “He caught it, and I was in awe. I was in shock. Glad it worked out.”
Grant said Dayton had not practiced that particular situation — going full court with 3.7 seconds on the clock after the game-tying basket by Jalen Quinn. Smith caught the in-bounds pass near the 3-point line and took one dribble before making the pass.
“Just the headiness of Malachi to be aware,” Grant said. “Just the presence of mind to see the clock and understand the situation, to be able to advance it and survey the floor, and then to be able to make a pinpoint pass like that. That’s an innate skill that he has. And then for Amaël, as a freshman on that stage, to be able to go out and finish the play, that’s huge.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. The Flyers got back on track — for one game at least: Dayton (12-5, 2-3) ended a three-game losing streak and avoided its first four-game losing streak in Atlantic 10 Conference play since January 2014.
The victory also prevented Dayton from losing two straight A-10 games at home — with no road games in between — for the first time since 2012 when it lost to Rhode Island and Duquesne in a five-day stretch.
Dayton sat alone in 14th place entering the game, ahead of only Fordham, and is now tied for eighth place with six teams, including Loyola (11-7, 2-3).
2. Enoch Cheeks enjoyed a career night: Dayton’s fifth-year guard scored 26 points. He made 10 of 14 shots, including 6 of 9 3-pointers. He made a game-tying 3 with 5:44 to play in the second half and a go-ahead 3 with 2:39 to play. In overtime, he made a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 46 seconds to play.
Cheeks has made 9 of 14 3s in the last two games after a six-game stretch in which he made 1 of 18.
In recent weeks during his shooting slump, Cheeks said, “I was just going back to basics, back to my routine, blocking out the outside noise, getting lots of rest, staying true to myself and just trying to contribute in other ways to the game. Today my preparation took over, and I was able to showcase what I’ve been working on.”
Credit: David Jablonski
3. Instead of fighting out of a big hole, this time Dayton blew a double-digit lead: The Flyers faced large deficits in three of their last four losses — 18 against Cincinnati, 16 against George Washington and 20 against George Mason on Wednesday — but this time they had the big lead. The Flyers led by 13 points early in the second half.
Loyola rallied with a 10-0 run, cutting Dayton’s lead to 48-47 with 10 minutes, 13 seconds to play. With 7:29 to play, Loyola tied the game on a 3 by Desmond Watson. Then Watson gave Loyola a 55-52 lead on a 3 with 6:34 to play.
Loyola made 5 of 6 3s in the final eight minutes of the second half and 1 of 3 in overtime. Loyola made its last three shots in the final 30 seconds inside the paint, while Smith made 3 of 4 free throws on the other end.
“I thought our guys did a good job coming out with aggression and playing the game the way we need to be able to play it in the first half,” Grant said, “and then in the second half, it flipped. They got it going from the 3-point line, and we knew coming in that was going to be something that was a key to the game. They erased the double-digit lead really quickly. But the word that we’ve used a lot this year with our group is resilient, and they were able to weather that storm and find a way.”
STAR OF THE GAME
With 26 points, Cheeks topped the previous career high of 24, which he scored in his junior season at Robert Morris. He had 23 points twice earlier this season against Ball State and Western Michigan. Against Loyola, he tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and had five of Dayton’s seven steals.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton made 21 of 27 free throws, while Loyola made 9 of 14.
LOOKING AHEAD
Dayton plays Duquesne at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh. Duquesne beat St. Bonaventure 75-57 on Saturday in Pittsburgh for its third straight victory.
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Duquesne, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 95.7, 1290
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