You can do almost anything with an Apple Watch. You can even check your heart rate. For most of the first half Saturday afternoon, the 13,407 fans at UD Arena experienced rising pulse rates as Dayton flirted with the kind of loss they avoided in November and December, the kind of non-conference defeat they haven’t suffered in more than two years.
Longwood, one of six teams in the country with 12 victories entering the weekend, built a 23-15 lead in the first nine minutes and did not trail in the first 21 minutes. The Flyers lacked the spark that had carried them to six straight victories before a 10-day holiday break.
“In the first half, we were trying to get back in the flow of things,” Bennett said, “but we’ve got a good team. We always find a way to get through adversity.”
Dayton used a 19-3 run over an 8½-minute stretch in the second half to take control of the game and coasted to a 78-69 victory. The Flyers (10-2) won their seventh straight game and their 17th straight non-conference home game. They are off to their first 10-2 start since 2019-20 when they finished 29-2 and their fourth 10-2 start in the last 10 seasons.
“We’ve got to keep going, and we can’t be complacent,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said, “and we’ll be just fine.”
Longwood (12-3) lost its second straight game after a 12-game winning streak. It shot 53.6% from the field in the first half and built a 37-34 halftime lead.I’m r
“I’m really impressed with Longwood’s team,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Just watching them on film, sometimes it’s difficult to gauge a team’s toughness and speed and skill level. That’s a really good team we played today. They’ve got a lot of a lot going for them as they head into conference play. I thought they came out and they hit first in terms of boxing terminology and our guys responded in the back half of the first half. Then throughout the second half, we played with really good competitive character, and that’s what you want to see.”
Holmes led Dayton with 27 points and 10 rebounds. He made 9 of 13 shots from the field, including 3 of 5 3-pointers. Kobe Elvis and Koby Brea each scored 12. Bennett had 11 points.
The Flyers shot 28.6% from 3-point range in the first half but 53.8% in the second half to finish at 40.7% (11 of 27), just short of their season average (41.7). Brea made 2 of 7 3s as his season average fell to 52.9 to 50.7. He entered the game as the nation’s most accurate 3-point shooter among players who attempt at least 2.5 per game.
Dayton still ranks second in the nation in 3-point accuracy behind Baylor (47.0).
“With our team, we’re not going to hit shots all the time,” Bennett said, “but we have the confidence to keep shooting, and eventually they’re going to fall. That’s what happened.”
Dayton starts Atlantic 10 Conference play at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Davidson (10-3), which beat the Ohio Bobcats 72-69 on Saturday in Cleveland for its seventh straight victory. Dayton, Davidson, Saint Joseph’s (10-3), George Mason (11-2) and George Washington (10-2) all have double-digit victory totals in non-conference play.
With a NCAA Evaluation Tool ranking of 25 entering the weekend, Dayton seems to have done enough in non-conference play to earn a NCAA tournament at-large bid but knows it has to keep building that resume as the calendar turns to 2024.
“At Dayton, hopefully, we can create paths where we don’t have to just rely on winning three or four games at the end of the year to get to the tournament,” Grant said, “and we can build a resume where we can be an at-large caliber team. That’s what we tried to do, and I think right now where we stand, we have an opportunity as we move into conference play to control our destiny. It’s a new season. Everybody’s 0-0 right now.”
NOTES: Kobe Elvis injured his left ankle with 1:52 to play. He was fouled on the play and stayed on the court to shoot the free throws, making both, but then left the game. He was icing the ankle on the bench at the end of the game. “I think he’s fine,” Grant said. “The game just ended, so I don’t really know a whole lot. ... Grant said Dayton will redshirt freshman guard Marvel Allen. “When you miss two months of practice and preseason, as he as he has,” Grant said, “it’s tough, especially for a true freshman, to come in and be able to get quality minutes with the rotation we have.”
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