For several years now, UD has invited fans to add to the spectacle by waving their phones in the air as the starters hear their names called. Hundreds of points of light, most from the Red Scare student section, add to the vibe. It helps that the Flyer Faithful fill the stands for every game — 62 straight sellouts and counting. Even if all 13,407 fans aren’t adding to the atmosphere, enough to do to ramp up the energy before tipoff.
In the first four minutes Wednesday, Dayton fed off that energy and whatever leftover fire that remained from a 71-66 victory Saturday against Northwestern, building a 10-0 lead that would prove to be the difference in a 77-69 victory against Ball State.
Ball State, which missed its first 12 shots, outscored Dayton by two the rest of the way and won the second half 43-36.
“We came out with great focus,” Dayton guard Enoch Cheeks said. “I think toward the end of the game, we just started to worry about other things and were not really focusing on what we needed to focus on.”
A 37-17 lead dwindled to 41-26 at halftime and then to 53-48 midway through the second half. That’s where Ball State’s comeback stalled.
“They made the run, and to our guys’ credit, we responded,” Grant said. “We were able to get stops. We’re able to get out and make plays, build the lead back, and then, obviously, to (Ball State’s) credit, they continued to play.”
Dayton pushed its advantage to 17 points only to have Ball State end the game on a 17-8 run.
“They’ve got some dynamic guys,” Grant said. “They did some things in the second half that we hadn’t seen, that we’ll learn from and be better from. We’ll watch the film. We’ll see where we need to make some adjustments on the defensive end. Offensively, I thought we were good in spurts, and then we got a little sloppy.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton extended four streaks with the victory:
• The Flyers are 3-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season when they started 5-0. This is the third time in coach Anthony Grant’s eight seasons the team has started 3-0. It started 4-0 in the 2018-19 season.
• The Flyers have won 19 straight home games. That’s the fifth-longest streak in school history and the third longest since UD Arena opened in 1969. The Flyers won 30 home games in a row from March 2008 to January 2010 and 27 in a row from February 2014 to December 2016.
• Dayton has won 15 straight games against Mid-American Conference schools. The only conference that Dayton plays regularly and has had more success against is the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Flyers have 18 straight victories against MEAC teams since a loss to Howard in 1980.
• Dayton improved to 6-0 against Ball State in the modern era
This game did not have the drama of the last matchup against Ball State in the 2017-18 season when Josh Cunningham’s basket in the final seconds beat the Cardinals 78-77.
Once Dayton halted Ball State’s momentum, the only question in the final minutes was what the final margin of victory would be. The eight-point edge will not help Dayton in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, which awards dominance, and resulted in a drop from No. 29 to No. 36 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings.
The Flyers won thanks to Cheeks scoring 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Malachi Smith played his third strong game in a row, tallying 16 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Isaac Jack made his season debut after missing the first two games with a lower-body injury and scored 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
Dayton won despite shooting 21.1% (4 of 21) from 3-point range. It has shot below 30% in two of its three games and is shooting 27.8% on the season.
“Basketball is always going to be a 40-minute game,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “That’s the lesson for our guys today. We talked about it at the half. Being up 20 going into the last four minutes, we understood that we needed to try to get the momentum going into the second half. They were able to make a few plays and cut it to 15 (at halftime). Momentum is a funny thing.”
Credit: David Jablonski
SATURDAY’S GAME
Capital at Dayton, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 1290, 95.7
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