Dayton basketball: Flyers rally from 13-point deficit to beat Northwestern

The Dayton Flyers earned one of the most important non-conference home victories in coach Anthony Grant’s eight seasons, rallying from a 13-point first-half deficit to beat Northwestern 71-66 on Saturday at UD Arena.

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (2-0) took advantage of its first home game against a Big Ten opponent since 1997. Northwestern (1-1) was the last Big Ten team to play at the arena and also the last team to lose there.

Dayton had not beaten Northwestern since that 1997 game, losing at Northwestern in 1998, on a neutral court in Chicago in 2016 and at Northwestern last season.

This was Dayton’s 18th straight victory at UD Arena. It won its final home game in 2023 and was 15-0 at home last season.

Stars of the game: Enoch Cheeks and Nate Santos each scored 16 points for Dayton, combining to make 13 of 19 shots.

Nic Martinelli scored 32 points for Northwestern on 12-of-16 shooting.

Key stat: Dayton made 8 of 21 3-pointers (38%). Northwestern made 5 of 20 (25%).

Turning point: Dayton trailed 51-41 with 10:50 to play when it began a 15-1 run. Dayton tied the game on two free throws by Malachi Smith and took the lead on a dunk by Enoch Cheeks.

A layup by Cheeks gave Dayton a 56-52 lead with 4:58 to play.

Dayton turned up the pressure in the final 10 minutes of the second half. Northwestern’s offense never found a rhythm after that.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Ball State (1-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at UD Arena.

Ball State lost 71-66 at Georgia State in its opener and beat Division III Franklin College 87-60 on Friday.

Ball State finished 15-16 last season. It was picked to finish seventh out of 12 teams in the Mid-American Conference.

Dayton last played Ball State in Anthony Grant’s first game as head coach in 2017, winning 78-77 on a last-second shot by Josh Cunningham. The Flyers lead the series 6-1.

Credit: David Jablonski

FIRST-HALF RECAP

A 12-0 run carried Northwestern to a 32-24 halftime lead against the Dayton Flyers on Saturday.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Nick Martinelli scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting for Northwestern.

Santos made 2 of 3 3-pointers, scoring nine points for Dayton.

Key stat: Northwestern had a 21-12 rebounding advantage and a 7-1 advantage in offensive rebounds. Northwestern outscored Dayton 9-1 in second-chance points.

Slow start: Dayton missed its first 5 3-point attempts but made 4 of 7 the rest of the way, shooting 33.3% (4 of 12).

Turning point: Dayton cut Northwestern’s lead to 15-14 with 8 minutes, 40 seconds left in the half after back-to-back 3s by Malachi Smith and Nate Santos. Northwestern then scored 12 straight points in the next four minutes, taking a 27-14 lead.

Lineup change: Smith returned to the starting lineup in place of Posh Alexander, who started Monday in an 87-57 victory against Saint Francis. Smith started the two exhibition games in the preseason.

Injury news: Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern’s leading returning scorer, was sidelined for the second straight game with an injury. Dayton’s Isaac Jack was also not in uniform for the second straight game.