NEXT GAME
Dayton at Saint Joseph’s, 7 p.m. Tuesday, CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
Devin Oliver spotted Kendall Pollard on the bench after Duquesne’s last shot fell short and the final buzzer sounded Saturday. The senior and the freshman made eye contact. Then they ran at each other and jumped for a picture-perfect hip bump about two feet off the court.
A photographer would describe the moment as a “jub shot,” jub being short for jubilation. There was plenty of that after a 57-54 victory over Duquesne at the CONSOL Energy Center.
There was also frustration, sorrow, excitement, joy and relief — in that order — as the Flyers avoided the type of bubble-bursting loss that would have had March Madness experts crossing their name off “First Four In” or “First Four Out” lists all over the country. Dayton trailed for the first 36 minutes, overcame an 18-point deficit in the second half and ended on an 18-3 run to record one of its more improbable victories of the season.
The Flyers (19-8, 7-5) won their sixth straight game. They are 6-0 in February and can record their first perfect record in this month since 1971, when they were 8-0, with a victory Tuesday at Saint Joseph’s.
“We just stuck with it,” Oliver said. “I don’t know what it is with us getting off to these slow starts, but credit to our team for sticking with it and grinding one out.”
For the second straight game, the Flyers scored two points in the first four minutes. Just like Wednesday at home against La Salle, they trailed 17-7 midway through the first half.
Tenth-place Duquesne (11-15, 3-10) made 8-of-12 3-pointers in the first half. The last one, by Desmond Ridenour at the halftime buzzer, hurt most. It put the Flyers in their biggest halftime hole of the season, 39-25. Duquesne forward Ovie Soko scored 19 of his 26 points in the first half.
“Our guys knew what to do,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “We’ve been in a lot of big games. We’ve played a lot of big games on the road. We’ve been down. We haven’t played well early. They understand if they stick with it, we’ll be OK.”
After shooting 51.7 percent in the first half, Duquesne shot 14.8 percent in the second half. It missed its last 11 shots from the field and scored three points in the last 7:30, all at the free-throw line.
Dayton trailed 51-39 with 7:54 to go when the momentum turned in its favor for good. Five straight points by Dyshawn Pierre, then four straight by Oliver, then five straight by Jordan Sibert, who led the Flyers with 18, gave Dayton a 53-51 lead with 3:09 to play.
Duquesne tied at 53 at the 1:23 mark as Soko made 1-of-2 free throws. Then Pierre put the Flyers ahead for good with a tough jumper in the lane at the 1:07 mark.
Soko had a chance to tie at the line with 18 seconds to play. Again he made 1-of-2. After the second miss, Dayton made a series of four quick passes to avoid the foul and scored on a wide-open dunk by Sibert with 10 seconds left. Duquense missed two desperation 3-pointers in the final seconds.
“I can’t even say enough about the diversity of the guys on this team, just different guys stepping up,” Oliver said. “Dyshawn didn’t have the greatest first half, but he made some huge plays in the second half. And Sibert made plays down the stretch.”
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