As the Dayton Flyers players slowly made their way onto the court to line up for the national anthem, the Loyola players were just finishing their vocal end-of-warmups huddle on the very same spot.
Before a turf tussle ensued, the Ramblers dispersed, except for 6-foot-10 Miles Rubin, the braided and bold big man who leads the Atlantic 10 and is one of the top shot blockers in the nation.
He called to the distant sideline and got a ball he planned to dunk and put an exclamation point on the moment.
At that very moment, the Flyers 7-foot-1 freshman walked past and with a flick of the wrist knocked the ball from Rubin’s hands and onto the court.
Although Rubin would retrieve it, then slam it, L’Etang had made a point:
This isn’t going to be that easy. I’m here, too.
Starting in place of veteran Zed Key on Saturday, L’Etang made good on that thought, as did his teammates, in a dizzying game with a spectacular ending that gave the Flyers an 83-81 victory in overtime in front of a joyous, but emotionally spent sellout crowd.
This triumph may well be one of the most defining moments of this season.
After three straight losses, the Flyers’ powerhouse start to the season suddenly gave way to questions and doubts among many of their followers.
Behind closed doors, coach Anthony Grant rallied his troops the way he always does and stressed the team concept.
“Coach just talked about weathering the storm,” said Enoch Cheeks, who led the Flyers with a career-best 26 points along with five steals, seven rebounds, a pair of assists and most of all, real moxie in the game’s most anxious moments.
“He said it wouldn’t be a process if there weren’t ups and downs,” Cheeks said. “We just had to stay true to who we were and come to practice ready to learn, ready to correct our mistakes.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Saturday’s game certainly had ups and downs.
The Flyers had a 13-point lead (44-31) four minutes into the second half, but then just 10 minutes later they trailed by three (52-55). At the end of regulation, the game was knotted 68-68.
With the game tied 81-81 with 3.2 seconds left in overtime, UD pulled off a play that will go down in Flyers’ lore.
As Nate Santos got ready to inbound the ball at the far end of the court, Malachi Smith, seeing Loyola’s nearby defender, 6-foot-9 Jalen DeLoach, had drifted away from him, had one thought in mind.
“I was telling Nate to hurry up and throw me the ball,” Smith said as he stood outside the team dressing room afterward. “I saw their big man kind of hesitating coming at me, so when I did get the ball, I had tunnel vision. I was just thinking ‘Go!’
“I was gonna shoot the ball, but it probably would have been a bad shot to be honest.
“I took one dribble and I looked up real quick and saw Frenchy (L’Etang is from Toulouse, France) was behind his man and his hand was kind of up.
“We locked eyes, so I just threw the ball over the defender so he could get it.”
“I try to make it easier for the other guys, especially the bigs, with lobs and stuff like that. I just wanted him to be able to catch it and drop it in. I didn’t want him to have to lean back for it. That probably would have messed up his shot.”
When Smith launched the unexpected pass, Cheeks at first was dismayed: “I was looking at Mali for the ball and I just saw him throw it up and I was like ‘What are you doing?’ Then I saw Frenchy down there and he caught it. I was just in awe, in shock.”
At first, so was L’Etang: “I was kind of panicking at the moment. It was in slow mo.”
But he said it was “a perfect pass,” and enabled him to lay the ball in.
“My first buzzer beater,” he said quietly.
Afer the score he let out a primal yell and then turned and did a running chest bump — make that chest to knees — with 5-foot-10 Javon Bennett before he was buried in an avalanche of bodies as his teammates from the floor and the bench mobbed him
Afterward Grant praised Smith’s “innate ability” to read the scene in a split second and make a “pinpoint pass” that the teenage L’Etang, regardless of the big stage, was able to finish.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
‘This means the world’
During his postgame comments, Grant expounded on the point Cheeks had made earlier.
He said the message the past few days has been for them to stick together as a team after their season had taken a sudden downturn:
“It’s team…It’s team…that’s where the joy is.”
And there was lot of it after this game.
Grant said it was there when he walked in the locker room immediately after the game and heard the excitement his players had for each other. And Cheeks and L’Etang heard it when they came to the media room after the game and were greeted by cheers from fans who filled the adjoining lounge.
“You hear that?” Cheeks whispered to L’Etang as they took their seats in the front of the room.
“This means the world,” Cheeks said. “Not a lot of fans in the country would come out and have a sold out arena and still be cheering and still be happy for a team that lost three straight. We’re just very grateful.”
Throughout the game Cheeks had drawn many of crowd’s cheers for the big shots he hit and his disruptive defense, highlighted by five steals.
Although he made six of his nine three-point attempts against the Ramblers and was 9 for 14 from long range over the past two games, he had made just one of 18 attempts in the six games prior. He talked about how he had continued to work in practice and in games how he tried to contribute in other ways.
In a private moment later in an Arena hallway, L’Etang said he looks up to Cheeks, a fifth-year player, as the perfect player to learn from:
“Just the way he goes about everything. He’s a good example for me.”
Earlier Cheeks had said L’Etang was like “a sponge, he absorbs all the information we give him. Some freshmen come in and think they know it all. He’s been true to himself. He’s always asking questions and working hard.”
Smith said he’s tried to take L’Etang under his wing: “We trust him. I think he’s perfect for our offense. I’m excited to play with him.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Big impact
With an injury to Key late in the first half, L’Etang played 32 minutes, far more than he’s used to when he comes off the bench. He finished with 11 points, five rebounds, a blocked shot and an assist.
He more than held his own with Rubin — who fouled out after scoring two points, grabbing four rebounds and blocking four shots — and with Kymany Houinsou, whose layup attempt he blocked in overtime.
As Houinsou crumpled to the court, L’Etang looked down and said something.
“He’s from France, too,” he said with a grin. “I played against him a couple of years ago.”
So what did he say?
“It was in French,” L’Etang said. “You don’t want to know!”
With a smile he said, “I’m kidding.”
L’Etang’s nature comes across with his teammates and the fans, especially the kids who clamored for his attention before he left the court.
He was the last to leave Saturday. He signed autographs and as he headed into the tunnel he was tall enough to reach up to the people sitting above it and smack their extended palms.
Later in the hallway you noticed he was wearing a beaded bracelet in the blue, white and red colors of the French flag. It had a white star in the middle.
“Somebody gave it to me before I left the court,” he said as he extended a long arm to show it off. “Pretty nice isn’t it?”
He meant the bracelet.
He just as well could have been talking about the game.
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