SATURDAY’S GAME
Illinois-Chicago at Dayton, 2 p.m. Saturday, FS Ohio, 95.7, 1290
A group of young Puerto Rico fans started the game Sunday at Coliseo Roberto Clemente cheering for Boston College. At some point, just before ESPN turned its cameras on them, they started rooting for Dayton.
That was a wise choice. Puerto Rico, after all, sends about 25 students to UD every year. There’s a local alumni chapter in San Juan that gathered after Friday’s game against Connecticut.
San Juan is not exactly Dayton with palm trees, but Dayton and its fans made themselves at home for four days around town and also at thePuerto Rico Tip-Off. In the third-place game Sunday, the Flyers pulled away in the final minutes to beat Boston College 65-53.
Boston College led 2-0 in the first minute and never led again, but it tied the game three times in the second half, the last time at 47-47 with 8:56 to play. From that point forward, Dayton did to Boston College just what Connecticut did to Dayton in the semifinals. The Flyers outscored the Eagles 18-6.
Considering Dayton (3-1) played an eight-man rotation in all three games in the tournament and was playing its third game in four days, that run at the end of the game looked even more impressive.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” coach Archie Miller said. These events are very mentally and physically taxing. There’s a lot that goes in to playing these amount of games in a short span. To our guys’ credit, I thought we prepared for every game really well.”
Dayton improved to 9-3 in four in-season tournaments under Miller. Seven of those victories have come against teams in the five so-called power conferences, like the Atlantic Coast Conference, which includes Boston College.
The Eagles (2-3) played Dayton closer than they did two years ago in the Charleston Classic, where the Flyers won 87-71, but they fell apart in the final minutes.
Dayton led 54-52 with four minutes to play. Boston College missed its next five shots and turned it over twice in the next three minutes.
An ally-oop dunk by Jordan Sibert off a pass from Dyshawn Pierre put the exclamation point on Dayton’s run. The Flyers led 58-52 with 2:18 left and expanded their lead at the free-throw line in the final minutes.
It was fitting Sibert and Pierre connected on that play because they carried the Flyers. Sibert scored 20. Pierre had 16. After making 1 of 11 3-pointers in Dayton’s first two games in Puerto Rico, Sibert made 5 of 9 Sunday.
“That comes from my coaches, my teammates,” Sibert said. “They’re telling me every day, ‘Just keep shooting. We know you’re going to make it. Hold your follow through.’ When you’ve got guys who support you like that and tell you how confident they are in your shot, it’s only a matter of time before you find that confidence again and start knocking down your shot.”
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