Grant: Dayton moving in right direction with another close victory

The Flyers (4-1) finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 65-62 victory Saturday against Mississippi (4-1) at UD Arena, knocking off a Southeastern Conference team from the Magnolia State for second time in eight days.

This was Dayton’s third three-point victory, all of which have been decided when the opponent missed a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“It’s good for us,” said Dayton guard Rodney Chatman, who scored 21 points, his most in a Dayton uniform, on 8-of-13 shooting. “Of course, we want to win by more, but getting this experience is key. You’re going to see a lot of that in conference play. Getting that experience, learning from wins, that will benefit us.”

Dayton opened the season Dec. 1 by beating Eastern Illinois 66-63. Josiah Wallace missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. It then lost 66-64 at home to Southern Methodist on Dec. 5 when Emmanuel Bandoumel hit a jump shot with 0.2 seconds to play.

A 66-60 victory against Northern Kentucky on Dec. 8 followed. Even that game wasn’t secured until Crutcher made two free throws with 20 seconds remaining.

The most dramatic victory came Dec. 12 in Atlanta when Iverson Molinar missed a game-tying 3-pointer in the second overtime, allowing Dayton to beat Mississippi State 85-82.

In this game, it was Ole Miss guard Devontae Shuler who got the final shot. A trio of Flyers — Chatman, Jalen Crutcher and Jordy Tshimanga — surrounded him. The shot still hit both sides of the rim before bouncing away.

Dayton improved to 18-5 against the SEC since 2008 and 7-0 all time against Ole Miss.

“This was an extremely hard-fought, very physical game,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “We knew that coming in, just watching them on film. We had a healthy respect for how hard they played defense. They set the tone early. I was proud of our guys for being able to adjust.”

The Flyers trailed 31-24 at halftime and fell behind by nine points twice early in the second half. The momentum turned when Chatman scored five points in 21 seconds, starting a 9-0 run that ended with a 3-pointer by Crutcher. The Flyers led 44-41 with 10:56 to play.

Crutcher led Dayton with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Jordy Tshimanga also played a key role by scoring six of his eight points in a three-minute span in the final six minutes. The Flyers did not trail in the final six minutes but never led by more than five.

Dayton won the game in part by making 8 of 15 3-pointers. Crutcher made 4 of 6. Ibi Watson made 3 of 4, scoring 11 points.

The outside shooting helped make up for a 41-24 rebounding advantage for the Rebels, who grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Dayton’s two and outscored Dayton 12-2 in second-chance points.

The Flyers did a much better job in the second half of denying Ole Miss offensive rebounds. The Rebels grabbed four offensive rebounds in the second half and outscored Dayton 4-0 in second-chance points.

All in all, Grant was happy with the effort his team gave.

“This team is growing,” he said. “The rebounding numbers and turnovers are still not where we want them to be, but the resiliency and the toughness and the grit these guys are continuing to show and the identity they’re developing as a unit is moving us in the right direction.”