“It was really fun,” said forward Petras Padegimas, a freshman from Lithuania. “I loved every moment.”
“Even though it was an exhibition,” said junior forward Nate Santos, a transfer from Pittsburgh, “we could tell the support is second to none and people love their Dayton Flyer basketball.”
Santos first experienced UD Arena in March during the First Four while playing for Pittsburgh. Sophomore forward Isaac Jack, like Bennett and Padegimas, had never seen a game at UD Arena. Jack’s family traveled from Port Alberni, B.C., to Dayton for the game.
“It was amazing,” Jack said. “There was tons of energy. The atmosphere was great. It was really great playing in front of my family.”
The Flyers will play in front of another crowd of 13,407 at 2 p.m. Saturday. They face Cedarville University, a Division II program from Greene County, in their second and final exhibition game before the regular-season opener Nov. 6 against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Dayton coach Anthony Grant spread the minutes between the 12 scholarship players last weekend in a 78-70 loss to Ohio State. Everyone played at least nine minutes. No one played more than 25. He said Tuesday he didn’t know how he would handle playing time in this game.
“Some of that will be decided by what we do in practice the next couple of days,” Grant said. “Overall to me, it’s about just trying to allow these guys to figure out the system and to figure out each other.”
Last year, in an 80-42 exhibition victory against Capital University, eight players saw between 18 and 28 minutes of action. Injuries limited Grant’s choices in that game. Starting guards Malachi Smith and Brea were sidelined.
Smith and Brea overcame offseason surgeries to get back on the court for preseason practices this fall. Each played more than 20 minutes against Ohio State. Anyone with a courtside seat might have glimpsed the one-inch scars on Brea’s legs where he had rods inserted to help with his stress fracture issues. He gets asked about the scars all the time. They remind him of what he went through to get to this point.
“It was the first game after my surgery,” Brea said, “and it was good to feel the love and to be in that environment. I feel I’ve still got a lot of more work to do to get back in shape, and little by little, I’m getting used to my legs. I think it’ll come along, but it’s going to take some time.”
Dayton worked Brea back into the practice routine gradually when preseason practices began.
“I would do one day on, one day off,” he said, “and then we went to two days on, one day off. We were building little by little. Now I’m full go.”
While Brea is entering his fourth season with the Flyers, three of his teammates — freshmen Jaiun Simon, Marvell Allen and Padegimas — got their first tase of college basketball Sunday. Padegimas put up the best numbers, eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes, though he also had three turnovers, one of which led to a fast-break layup for Ohio State in the final minute of the first half.
“I definitely felt comfortable,” Padegimas said. “I felt all the support from the fans.”
Simon, the first 2023 recruit to commit to the Flyers last fall, had three points and three rebounds in just under 12 minutes. He made his first shot on his first offensive possession but missed his next four.
“When I first got out there, I was nervous,” Simon said. “And then I had an open shot and scored pretty fast. All the nerves just went away.”
Allen was the last scholarship player to see action. He played all nine of his minutes in the second half. He scored four straight points at the free-throw line to tie the game at 52-52. Like the other freshmen, he seemed unfazed by the big stage.
Dayton outscored Ohio State 7-0 when Allen was on the court, giving him the best plus-minus numbers on the team.
“I was confident,” Allen said. “I’ve been preparing for that moment my whole life.”
Award news: Dayton junior forward DaRon Holmes II was one of 20 players named to the watch list for the Karl Malone Award this week. The award honors the best power forward in college basketball.
The other players nominated were: Enrique Freeman, Akron; Coleman Hawkins, Illinois; Grant Nelson, Alabama; Oso Ighodaro, Marquette; Keshad Johnson, Arizona; Julian Reese, Maryland; Trevon Brazile, Arkansas; Norchad Omier, Miami (Fla.); Fouesseyni Traore, BYU; Tolu Smith, Mississippi State; Tristan da Silva, Colorado; Jevon Porter, Pepperdine; Bryce Hopkins, Providence; Kyle Filipowski, Duke; Adem Bona, UCLA; Graham Ike, Gonzaga; Alex Karaban, UConn; J’Wan Roberts, Houston; and Drew Pember, UNC Asheville.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Cedarville at Dayton, 2 p.m., 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
About the Author
